Ongoing stigmatization processes: the social environment

Contact person

• Mr Marie Blume, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Leipzig, Germany

Topic and question

Part of the SED policy stipulated that many things took place in secret and in some cases there is no complete documentation of what happened. People who experienced injustice as a result of SED policies are often faced with the problem that the injustice they experienced may not be believed or that their experiences may be doubted. This often leads to misunderstanding and exclusion. Within the framework of this research project, we are interested in what people nationwide know about experiences of SED injustice, how they deal with those affected and how they encounter them. To this end, we will conduct a representative population survey and use the results to develop a guideline for destigmatization and knowledge transfer.

Methodic procedure

1. Representative population survey (N=1400) with oversampling of the new German states
2. Development of a guideline for destigmatizing affected persons in the general public
3. Summary and publication of the results