Co-founder of the East German SPD: Martin Gutzeit Has Died

Martin Gutzeit, co-founder of the Social Democratic Party in the GDR and long-time Berlin state commissioner for Stasi files, has died. He passed away Tuesday at the age of 74 in a hospital. This was reported to the dpa by Gutzeit’s political ally and close friend, Stephan Hilsberg. The “Tagesspiegel” had previously reported the news. Frank Ebert, spokesperson for the Berlin Commissioner for the reappraisal of the SED dictatorship, also confirmed the news of the death of the GDR dissident, who was born in Cottbus.

Gutzeit, a Protestant theologian, co-founded the Social Democratic Party in the GDR (SDP) with Markus Meckel in October 1989. In 1990, Gutzeit was elected as an SPD representative to the first freely elected People’s Chamber of the GDR and was thus also a member of the Bundestag from October through December. From 1993 to 2017, he served as Berlin’s State Commissioner for Stasi Records and dedicated himself to coming to terms with the SED dictatorship. 

His colleague Hilsberg, also a founding member of the East German SPD, described Gutzeit as “courageous and wise.” He said Gutzeit had given the resistance movement in the GDR “the decisive push” with his idea—which he brought to fruition—to found a social democratic party. “That was the most radical step toward stripping the SED of its power.”