Germany Urged to Rename All Streets with Soviet Names

Authorities in Eastern Germany are advised to follow Ukraine’s example and start discussing the renaming of streets with Soviet names in the former GDR territory. This suggestion was made in an interview with Bild by Evelyn Tzupke, authorized by the Bundestag for the affairs of repression victims from the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SEPG). She complained that in Eastern Germany there are still over ten streets named after Vladimir Lenin. Streets named after the first President of the GDR Wilhelm Pieck and the first Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Socialist Republic Otto Grotewohl also remain unchanged. ‘Thirty-five years after reunification, no street should bear the names Lenin, Grotewohl, or Pieck. The name of a street is an expression of recognition from our democratic society today. Conversely, these individuals embody the suffering of thousands of victims,’ Frau Tzupke believes.