Martin Böttger (born 14 May 1947 in Frankenhain, a village now part of

Frohburg Frohburg is a town in the Leipzig district, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated 11 km northeast of Altenburg, and 34 km southeast of Leipzig. It includes the village of Flößberg and the town Kohren-Sahlis. History Frohburg castle ...

) was a prominent civil rights activist in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. He was a member of the

Landtag of the Free State of Saxony The Landtag of Saxony (german: Sächsischer Landtag), also known in English as the Saxon State Parliament, is the legislature of the Free State of Saxony, one of Germany's sixteen states. It is responsible for legislation, control of the gove ...

from 1990 to 1994 and led the faction of

Alliance '90/The Greens Alliance 90/The Greens (german: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, ), often simply referred to as the Greens ( ), is a green political party in Germany. It was formed in 1993 as the merger of The Greens (formed in West Germany in 1980) and Alliance 90 (for ...

Life and politics

Böttger studied physics at the

TU Dresden TU Dresden (for german: Technische Universität Dresden, abbreviated as TUD and often wrongly translated as "Dresden University of Technology") is a public research university, the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, th ...

and was a Construction soldier until 1972. Since 1972 he was active in church-based peace activism. He worked as a computer programmer at Robotron Karl-Marx-Stadt until 1976 and at Versorgungskontor Leder until 1979. He worked as a research associate at the

Deutsche Bauakademie Deutsch or Deutsche may refer to: *''Deutsch'' or ''(das) Deutsche'': the German language, in Germany and other places *''Deutsche'': Germans, as a weak masculine, feminine or plural demonym *Deutsch (word), originally referring to the Germanic ve ...

until 1983. In 1982 he gained a doctorate in technical mechanics at the TU Dresden under

Günther Landgraf Günther Landgraf (14 September 1928 in Kryry – 12 January 2006 in Dresden) was a German physicist and, from 1990 till 1994, President of Technische Universität Dresden. Günther Landgraf was born in Kryry, in Bohemia (now Czech Republic). H ...

. In 1976 and 1980 he was briefly arrested by the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maintaining state author ...

for participating in first of May demonstrations using a self-made sign. In September 1983 he was arrested for a longer period for "attempted participation in a human chain during the International Day of Peace". From the year 1985 on, Böttger worked as a computer programmer at the state-owned gasoline retailer Minol. In 1985 he co-founded the Initiative for Peace and Human Rights, led this group's task force "Human rights and the judiciary" and contributed to the publication and dissemination of underground

Samizdat Samizdat (russian: самиздат, lit=self-publishing, links=no) was a form of dissident activity across the Eastern Bloc in which individuals reproduced censored and underground makeshift publications, often by hand, and passed the document ...

magazines. In 1989 he was a founding member of New Forum and the coordinator of this civil rights movement in the district of Karl-Marx-Stadt. In March 1990 he was elected into the

Volkskammer __NOTOC__ The Volkskammer (, ''People's Chamber'') was the unicameral legislature of the German Democratic Republic (colloquially known as East Germany). The Volkskammer was initially the lower house of a bicameral legislature. The upper house ...

with Bündnis 90, but immediately handed the mandate to Werner Schulz. Until 1994 he was a delegate to the Landtag of the Free State of

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

. From 1994 he was the managing director of a group of homes for the elderly in

Kirchberg, Saxony Kirchberg is a town in the Zwickau district, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated at the western end of the Ore Mountains, 11 km south of Zwickau. Notable people * Christoph Graupner (1683-1760), musician and composer. The high school ...

. From 2001 until 2010 he was the director of the Chemnitz branch of the Stasi Records Agency. He lives in retirement in Saxony and has been a Green party member of the city council of

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ...

since 2009. He is the chairman of the Martin Luther King Center for Nonviolence and Civil Courage in

Werdau Werdau () is a town in Germany, part of the Landkreis Zwickau in Saxony. It is situated on the river Pleiße, 8 km from Zwickau. The town was mentioned as early as 1304, and in 1398 it was purchased by Frederick, then margrave of Meissen, ...

. Böttger plays the organ and composes classical music.

Accolades

On 26 May 1997 he was awarded the

Sächsische Verfassungsmedaille The Sächsische Verfassungsmedaille (Saxon Constitutional Medal) is awarded by the Free State of Saxony to persons who have rendered outstanding services to the liberal democratic development of the Free State. It was founded in 1997 to mark the f ...

by the president of the Landtag of Saxony Erich Iltgen. In 2000 the

German National Foundation German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

honored him among other co-founders of the New Forum with the Deutsche Nationalpreis. On 13 October 2009 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony in celebration of the 20 year anniversary of

Die Wende The Peaceful Revolution (german: Friedliche Revolution), as a part of the Revolutions of 1989, was the process of sociopolitical change that led to the opening of East Germany's borders with the West, the end of the ruling of the Socialist Unity ...

Publications

War die SED eine kriminelle Organisation?
(PDF; 1,2 MB) ''Freiheit und Recht'', 2/2010, page 12
IFM-Archiv
Sachsen e.V.
''Absage an Praxis und Prinzip der Abgrenzung''
Pfingsten 1987, Digitalisat. Undersigned: Almut Berger, Karl-Heinz Bonnke, Dr. Hans-Jürgen Fischbeck, Reinhard Lampe, Stephan Bickhardt, Dr. Martin Böttger, Dorrit Fischer, Ludwig Mehlhorn, Anette von Bodecker, Erich Busse and Martin König.

Bürokratopoly

Bürokratopoly is an educational tabletop game. Its author Martin Böttger used to satirize the East German state in the early 1980s. The game spread in the political underground. Over 30 years after its development it was remade and optimized as a teaching aid for use in history class. Bürokratopoly captures an authentic perspective on East Germany in game form and provokes discussions of democracy, politics and human rights.

Sources

* Werner Schulz (Hrsg.): ''Der Bündnis-Fall. Politische Perspektiven 10 Jahre nach Gründung des Bündnis 90.'' Edition Temmen, Bremen 2001, *

Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk (born 1967) is a German historian and author. His work is focused on the German Democratic Republic and its Ministry for State Security (The Stasi). Career Kowalczuk trained initially as a mason, and then worked as a jan ...

& Tom Sello (Hrsg.): ''Für ein freies Land mit freien Menschen. Opposition und Widerstand in Biographien und Fotos.'' Robert-Havemann-Gesellschaft in Verbindung mit der Stiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin 2006, S. 318–320, * Eckhard Jesse (Hrsg.): ''Friedliche Revolution und deutsche Einheit. Sächsische Bürgerrechtler ziehen Bilanz.'' Christoph Links, Berlin 2006, * Karl-Heinz Baum & Roland Walter (Hrsg.): ''„…ehrlich und gewissenhaft…" Mielkes Mannen gegen das Neue Forum.'' zba.BUCH, Berlin 2008, *

Ehrhart Neubert Ehrhart Neubert (born 2 August 1940) is a retired German Evangelical minister and theologian. During its final decade he emerged as an opponent of the East German one-party dictatorship, becoming a member of the League of Evangelical Churches i ...

: ''Geschichte der Opposition in der DDR 1949–1989.'' Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Bonn 1997, . * Martin Thiele, Michael Geithner: ''Nachgemacht. Spielekopien aus der DDR'' mit einem Beitrag "Doppeltes Gesellschaftsspiel" von Martin Böttger; DDR Museum Verlag Berlin 2013,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Böttger, Martin Peaceful Revolution 1947 births Living people German civil rights activists TU Dresden alumni East German dissidents Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of the Free State of Saxony Prisoners and detainees of East Germany