page_title: Christian W. Staudinger
section_title: Youth and escape from East Germany (1968–1972)
hierarchical_section_title: Christian W. Staudinger / Life / Youth and escape from East Germany (1968–1972)
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Entlassungsschein aus der DDR von Christian W. Staudinger aus dem Jahr 1972 English: so called Entlassungsschein (a paper, the GDR dismissed people from citizenship) of Christian W. Staudinger
context_page_description: Christian W. Staudinger is a German artist who became involved in art after his escape from the GDR and the trial of a civil life. He is dedicated to the visual arts, performance and conceptual art, poetry and political arts, is a video artist and arranges installation art.
context_section_description: At age 16, Staudinger left home and went to Erfurt, where he began his apprenticeship as a waiter after his original career aspirations of being a sailor in the merchant navy and, thereafter, the boatman on inland waters had been rejected by the Stasi. People in the GDR needed a permit from the state for their career aspirations. In Erfurt he fell into circles around Eberhard Häfner and others. They had passionate discussions about politics and art, listened to the music of the so-called imperialist Staatsfeind and he came in contact with THC and LSD-25. He read Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego and Totem and Taboo by Sigmund Freud, which he had received from Eberhard Häfner. He tried to use these writings in his final examination paper—then viewed as an affront. His teacher, Mrs. Richter, expressed her enthusiasm privately but could not vote because literature of the "State-enemy" had been cited. The day after his practical test, from which he made a parody and therefore failed, Staudinger went to escape from East Germany. He wished to leave his beloved home, because emerging and fast growing doubts about the integrity of the system were growing in him. He had read the classics, but all that did not stand in comparison with reality. In addition, he wanted to become a skydiver. He was in the Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik, but in order to jump one had to be in the National People's Army or in the Stasi. The Stasi began to be interested in him and tried to recruit him as part of the OPK (operational checks on persons). He felt honoured and loved those discussions with the Stasi officers who at home always encountered violent counter-arguments. But soon the Stasi was tired, wanted names that he refused to provide, prompting the never-forgotten threat received by many former GDR-citizens: "Either you are with us or against us. Join in and out you can be something. If not, you will croak on the machine!"
   
  At the age of 18, in 1971, Staudinger and a friend made their way to Bulgaria in order to leave the country to travel to Turkey. This was the route many so-called “Republic-refugees” had chosen, as Stefan Appelius, a professor of Political Science, has researched. Only his brother was informed he was leaving so as not to endanger the family. At the Veleka river they failed to escape because the maps were wrong. They were arrested and tortured and put in a Bulgarian prison. But Staudinger lived, unlike other refugees. The Stasi in Bulgaria brought him back to East Germany, and he was put into the Stasi prison, Andreasstrasse, in Erfurt and sentenced to one year and seven months for his attempt at illegal emigration and fomenting anti-state-propaganda, which he served in Cottbus. With the help of the two lawyers Vogel & Stange (one east, one west, and in that time famous in Germany) he came straight from prison to the Federal Republic of Germany. By a tragic event, unlike many others in the GDR convicted for political offenses, came into possession of  copies of the indictment and judgment. The experiences of the flight are published in German as an audio book on YouTube, spoken by Erich Räuker. Shortly before his flight Staudinger had fathered a child, which he learned about in prison after it was  born. He managed to bring the mother and child using of family reunification to West Berlin. The West and the events of the recent past destroyed everything he had believed, so that he tried to kill himself in 1974 with 250 sleeping pills. The doctors succeeded in saving him from being clinically dead. His brother, Ulrich, later was sentenced to 4 years for reportedly subversive propaganda. Released earlier he jumped to jumped to his death in a West Berlin subway 1981.
caption: GDR-document about act of dismissing
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