Friedrich Schorlemmer, a prominent East German civil rights activist, has passed away at 80. He gained international recognition for his symbolic act of turning a sword into a plowshare during the Cold War era.
(Source: Karlheinz Schindler/Archive image/dpa)
A voice for peace and democracy
Friedrich Schorlemmer, the Protestant theologian and East German civil rights activist, died on Monday in a Berlin nursing home after a long illness. He was 80 years old. The Evangelical Press Service (epd) reported his death on Tuesday, citing family sources.
Born Friedrich-Wilhelm Schorlemmer on May 16, 1944, in Wittenberge, Brandenburg, he became a central figure in East Germany’s peaceful revolution. After studying theology in Halle an der Saale, he initially worked at the Francke Foundations and later as a student pastor in Merseburg. He then served as a lecturer at the Evangelical Preacher’s Seminary and as a preacher at the Wittenberg Castle Church in Saxony-Anhalt.
Schorlemmer gained international fame in 1983 through a highly symbolic peace action in Wittenberg, where he forged a sword into a plowshare. This act, inspired by biblical imagery, became a powerful statement against the arms race during the Cold War.
On November 4, 1989, just days before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Schorlemmer spoke at the massive government-critical demonstration on East Berlin’s Alexanderplatz. This event was a key moment in the peaceful revolution that led to German reunification.
Political engagement
Schorlemmer was also a co-founder of the Democratic Awakening Party (DA), a movement that emerged during the final days of East Germany. However, he later switched his allegiance to the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 1990, continuing his political engagement in unified Germany.
Throughout his life, Schorlemmer remained a vocal advocate for peace, democracy, and social justice, leaving a lasting legacy in German civil rights history.
