Former President of Germany Joachim Gauck to Accept Honorary Doctorate
„Joachim Gauck is one of the last mohicans of the group of outstanding moral figures in Eastern Europe at the end of communist time and beginning of freedom who contributed heavily to the development of freedom and democracy in this part of the world. Like Andrei Sakharov and Václav Havel, he was basically above politics and was a representative of a nation. He was a dissident in East Germany as well as a pastor, one of the founders of the democratic opposition in East Germany, and later the President of the entire Germany”, Prof. Robert van Voren, the head of the Andrei Sakharov Research Centre for Democratic Development, introduces the former President of the Federal Republic of Germany Joachim Gauck, who will be visiting Vytautas Magnus University (VMU).
On October 19th, Joachim Gauck will be awarded the VMU Honorary Doctorate. On the same day, the honourable guest will also hold a discussion with students on on how the neo-Stalinist regime of Vladimir Putin became entrenched in Russia due to the absence of desovietisation. Those who wish to attend the events are requested to register.
Joachim Gauck is granted the title of VMU Honorary Doctor for his achievements in the fields of international cooperation, peacekeeping and strengthening of democracy, and for his significant contribution to fostering the values of freedom, justice, and solidarity.
In 1967, Gauck was ordained an Evangelical Lutheran priest. Because of this, and because of his undisguised anti-communist views, he was under constant surveillance by the East German secret police (Stasi). In 1989, Gauck took part in anti-communist protests in East Germany and founded the opposition movement New Forum, which contributed to the downfall of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. From 1990, he served for a decade as Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records Agency. This FRG institution helped uncover the crimes of the former communist East German secret police. In 2012, he won the presidential election of the Federal Republic of Germany.
“Joachim Gauck had the conviction that unless you fully, openly and without reservation discuss the crimes of the past, the chance of developing a democratic future is much slimmer. It’s a precondition for a democratic state to openly and without reservation disclose and discuss the crimes of the past. In the case of Russia, this is exactly what went wrong”, Prof. Van Voren underlines one of the main principles of Joachim Gauck’s activities which is particularly relevant today.
According to the professor, the former president of Germany was also in a way a symbol of his native country’s reunification, which may inspire Ukrainians today. “After the war, Ukraine will have a major task in bringing back the occupied territories into Ukraine and make them become Ukrainian again. This is probably going to take generations. I think Gauck’s role in trying to reunify Germany is a very important example”, the political scientist said.
In his view, Joachim Gauck and Vytautas Magnus University share similar values, goals and work in the name of democracy and freedom. Founded a century ago, at the dawn of independence, the University of Lithuania (renamed to Vytautas Magnus University in 1930) has remained a vitally important hotbed for cultural, scientific and modern national ideas.
“VMU is one of those engines that has been and is involved in creating a modern Lithuania based on the rule of law and total respect of international values, human rights, and tolerance. So I cannot imagine a better figure to get the VMU Honorary Degree than Joachim Gauck”, Prof. Robert van Voren explained.
While visiting VMU, the former president of Germany will also share his thoughts on Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia. According to Prof. Robert van Voren, Joachim Gauck holds the view that Russia made a big mistake by never fully disclosing the crimes of the communist regime. Joachim Gauck implemented this in practice by spending a decade working in the Stasi Archives and exposing the crimes of the past. Prof. Van Voren claims that, because of this mistake, Russia will have to work for many years in order to free itself from putinization.
“The KGB archives were opened but only for a very short time. And the process of the KGB re-taking the country started already in the early 1990s. My theory is that now, with the putinization of the country, we probably have to go back much further than 1991. My idea has always been that we go back to 1956, the Khruschev speech at the 20th party congress, disclosing the crimes of the Stalinist regime. But recently a Russian friend of mine said, “You know, you are an optimist, actually, we need to go back to 1917, and start all over again.” It’s so horrendous. It means that everything that has been done in the 1980s, 1990s, it’s all lost. We have again a nation which is zombified by this criminal regime and there’s generations of work ahead of us”, the head of the Andrei Sakharov Research Centre for Democratic Development said.
In his activities, Joachim Gauck focuses on the crimes and political repression of communist regimes in East Germany. In 2008, he was one of the signatories of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism. This Declaration calls for the condemnation of communism, the exposure of the crimes of communists, and their punishment. The British newspaper The Independent has called Joachim Gauck “Germany’s answer to Nelson Mandela”, while The Wall Street Journal has described him as “the last of a breed: the leaders of protest movements behind the Iron Curtain who went on to lead their countries after 1989”, comparing him to Václav Havel and Lech Wałęsa.
Gauck’s political views were strongly influenced by his family’s experiences: in 1951, his father was exiled to Siberia for no reason. After four years of uncertainty, his father returned, but was significantly changed by the exile, both physically and psychologically. “The fate of our father was like an educational cudgel. It led to a sense of unconditional loyalty towards the family which excluded any sort of idea of fraternisation with the system,” the former German president writes in his memoirs.
In his academic work, Gauck has written extensively about Soviet-era concentration camps, communist crimes, and political repression in East Germany. Among his most important works is a book on the importance of defending freedom and human rights called Freedom: A Plea for the Defense of Freedom and Human Rights around the Globe (2012). Some of his awards include the Hannah Arendt Prize, the Imre Nagy Prize (Hungary), the Leo Baeck Medal, and the Order of Vytautas the Great with the Golden Chain.
Joachim Gauck’s discussion with students will take place on Wednesday, 19 October, at 2.15 p.m. in the VMU Leonidas Donskis Library (V. Putvinskio g. 23). The discussion will be moderated by Professor Robert van Voren, Director of the Andrei Sakharov Research Center for Democratic Development at VMU.
The regalia of VMU Honorary Doctor will be awarded to Joachim Gauck at the solemn meeting of the VMU Senate on 19 October at 4 p.m. in the VMU Aula Magna (Gimnazijos g. 7).
