Debate about Lenin's statue: monument protection or enlightenment?

Debate about Lenin's statue: monument protection or enlightenment?

The debate about the Lenin statue in Schwerin is becoming increasingly heated. More and more voices, especially from victims' associations, are calling for the statue's monument status to be contradicted. Government representatives, including Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD), are increasingly being called upon to answer this question Baltic Sea newspaper reported.

The statue is in the Neu Zippendorf district and was erected in 1985 on the occasion of the 825th anniversary of the city's founding. From a historical perspective, it is one of the most important monuments of the GDR in the north, alongside the Rostock sailor monument and the Ernst Thälmann statue in Stralsund. While the statue is intended to stand as a memorial to Lenin's 1917 "Decree on Land" that initiated the expropriations, many see the statue as a symbol of oppression.

The mixed feelings

The State Office for Culture and Monument Preservation has classified the statue as a monument, which is said to be based on city, art and political history reasons. However, this is met with resistance. Nineteen people, including prominent representatives of victims' associations and historians such as Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk, have written an open letter to the state government and the city administration. The letter calls for the statue to be removed or at least not be honored by the state. Instead, the signatories propose to honor the memory of Arno Esch, a victim of Stalinism who was executed in Moscow in 1951.

The critics further argue that it is not enough to surround the statue with historical signs. There are proposals to “let the statue grow over” or even to place it in the inner courtyard of the former KGB prison on Demmlerplatz. A prominent education about Lenin's history and ideas in the form of a pavilion is also being discussed to educate the population about the dark past.

Protests and public opinion formation

The discussion is further fueled by protests in the past, which have repeatedly called for the statue to be torn down. Burkhard Bley, state representative for coming to terms with the SED dictatorship, said that sensitive solutions could be found when dealing with the statue, but that it should not remain unchanged NDR holds on.

While the city council wants to discuss the monument status of the statue, opinions among citizens and politicians are divided. Some will emphasize Lenin's role as a dreamer who wanted to create a just world, while others will point out unequivocally the brutal methods that accompanied his policies.

The crucial question remains whether the statue can remain in its current form or whether a rethink is necessary to do justice to the different perspectives of the past. A clear time frame as to when the city council will decide on the statue is still pending. But one thing is certain: the debate over this monument is far from over.