Güstrow: Streets with GDR past-a look at history!

Güstrow: Streets with GDR past-a look at history!

in the picturesque Barlachstadt Güstrow, located in the heart of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the history of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) is particularly impressive in the street names. These streets are not only traffic routes, but also certificates of an era that many still have in lively memory. Many of the named streets are honors of personalities who played a central role in the history of the GDR. According to Nordkurier , for example, Ernst-Thälmann-Straße remains particularly prominent.

It is reported that this street is named after Ernst Thälmann, which is considered a symbolic figure of anti -fascist resistance and was murdered in the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944. Thälmann was an important player in the KPD and his memory not only lived in Güstrow, but also over the entire GDR.

a network of memories

Karl-Liebknecht-Straße is another example of honoring socialist ideals. Karl Liebknecht, co -founder of the KPD and also a man who used his life for the communist cause, is considered the hero of the working class in the GDR. These streets not only name a geographical location, but are part of an ensemble that holds up the symbolic value of the socialist thinkers.

also mentioned Nordkurier The Clara-Zetkin-Straße, which named after the important women's rights activist and socialist representative Clara Zetkin became. In the GDR it was celebrated for her tireless commitment to equality - another sign of how the streets were named by people who stood for the socialist ideal and represented its values.

striking names of the resistance

The memory of the internationalist hero Hans Beirler is reflected in Hans-Beimler-Straße. It fell in the Spanish civil war and was honored in the GDR as a symbol of resistance to fascism. During this time, the naming of streets also served the political education and identity formation of people.

not to forget the Friedrich-Engels-Straße, which honors the co-founder of Marxism, who was considered the intellectual father of the GDR. His writings were compulsory in schools and universities, which underlines the deep roots of socialism in society.

A look at the recent past

After the wall fell and the turn came, many street names were changed in the eastern German cities to make room for new, often no less important personalities. In Güstrow, however, many of these historically charged names remained. The reasons for this are complex: local identification, the desire for historical continuity and the endeavor to make one's own history visible.

Only recently was the culture of remembrance expanded by a sad chapter. In Berlin, the graves of Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Liebknecht were vandalized, which not only represents disrespect against the history of the GDR, but also a sign of exciting tensions in memory of the communist past, as Peoples World reported.

The streets of Güstrows are more than mere paths through the city; They are living history meters who remind the challenges and fights of the past and at the same time encourage us to think about how we want to deal with our history.