Resumen de Volkspolizei und Bibelrüstzeiten - die Veranstaltungsverodnungen der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik in der Praxis der Evangelischen Kirche der Kirchenprovinz Sachsen
Church events were subject to specific governmental control in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The respective legal prescriptions were embraced in the Decrees on the Holding of Events (1951, 1970, 1980). As a specific feature, events which were beyond the range of typical church ceremonies had to be notified to the People's Police. This duty met with principal opposition from the churches when the purpose of the activities concerned was to accomplish the mission of Christian preaching - the right of which was guaranteed by the Constitution. Prominent signs of such a tense situation can be found for instance in the debate about whether bible camps for children and teenagers were to be notified or not. The question was controversial between1971 and 1973. Up to the final period of the GDR, the application of the Event Regulation Act was a source of permanent conflict. Close cooperation between the consistory, the church districts and the parishes were characteristic for treatment of the cases in dispute. The position which the Evangelical Church of the Province of Saxony took is an example of the efforts made by the Evangelical Churches to uphold their claim to freely exercise their mission of Christian preaching within the boundaries of the political and legal system of the GDR.
