Criminal Case 527 – 10/92. The trial of Erich Honecker and his last speech

Thirty years ago, criminal proceedings were instituted in the Berlin District Court against the East German politician Erich Honecker and other high-ranking members of the former GDR government and the SED (Socialist Unity Party) concerning the deaths of people attempting to flee across the inner-German border. It was supposed to be the trial of the century, but has largely been forgotten today. What is remembered above all is Honecker’s final published speech in court on 3 December 1992. Thomas Jander, head of the DHM’s collection “Contemporary Documents”, which contains the putative first version of the speech, discusses the trial and the speech in this DHM blog.