12 quotes
Without the wall through Berlin there could have been a nuclear war with thousands or millions of dead.
The Wall will still be standing in 50 and even in 100 years; if the reasons for it have not been removed by then.
It was a historic deed that preserved the liberty of our people and laid the foundations for the sustained prosperity of our socialist state.
Socialism on German soil is so intolerable to our opponent because it represents proof that the previously exploited masses can determine their fortune without capitalism.
Speech on the 40th Anniversary of the GDR (1989)
I bear the main political responsibility . . . for the fact that people trying to cross the border without authorization were shot.
Today, the GDR is an outpost of peace and socialism in Europe. We will never forget this fact; this keeps us, and should also keep our enemies, from misjudgment.
Speech on the 40th Anniversary of the GDR (1989)
We are in favor of freezing the arsenal of nuclear weapons and establishing nuclear-free zones, of freeing Europe from chemical weapons, of stopping the growth of military budgets and reducing them.
Party and Revolutionary Young Guard Firmly Allied (1984)
Nobody in (unified Germany) has the right . . . to charge me, let alone sentence me, for things I did to fulfill my responsibilities to the East German state.
Recognition of the principle of the inviolability of frontiers remains the criterion of whether or not a policy really serves peace and thus the interests of man.
Address at the third stage of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, Helsinki (1975)
In Berlin, the city of peace, your unshakable will now more than ever to do everything for the strengthening of our socialist fatherland, the German Democratic Republic, and for the safeguarding of peace, will be reinforced.
Party and Revolutionary Young Guard Firmly Allied (1984)
Imperialism bet its bottom dollar on counterrevolution. Under the circumstances, we combined political actions with administrative measures and, very shortly, we succeeded in isolating the counterrevolutionary forces from the working class.
Speech at the meeting of the party and state leaders of the Warsaw Pact (1980)
On the ruins left us by the Second World War developed everything that today surrounds us, what during the last forty years has been accomplished everywhere in the GDR, what each who visits us can see.
The FDJ — A Reliable Partner in Struggle of our Party (1984)