Martina und Rüdiger Schmidt

Biographical information

Martina Schmidt

1960 Born in Stockelsdorf and raised in Rostock
1977 Secondary school graduation
1977–1979 Professional training and graduation from commercial college in Rostock
1982–1986 Youth work, children’s prayer service and work with young adults, peace activism, assigned to communities in Rostock’s inner-city districts of St. Marien, St. Nikolai, St. Jakobi
1984–1986 Study of theology via correspondence courses at the Evangelical Theological Seminary Burckhardthaus Berlin/Potsdam
1986 Exit from the GDR to Bremen
1988–1992 Validation process and certification as community educator of the North Elbian Evangelical-Lutheran Church
2000–2002 Qualification as certified programmer and web designer, subsequent part-time work as freelance media designer; advanced training in the field of media management at the University of Hamburg
Since 1989 Active in various areas of the North Elbian Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Today employed by the North Elbian Evangelical-Lutheran Church, project management and administration at the Kirchlicher Dienst in der Arbeitswelt in Lübeck on behalf of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Northern Germany
 

Rüdiger Schmidt

1960 Born and raised in Rostock
1977 Graduation from secondary school
1977–1979 Professional training, certified as communications engineer
1982–1986 Youth work, peace activism; assigned to communities in Rostock’s inner-city districts of St. Marien, St. Nikolai, St. Jakobi
1983–1986 Full-time staff member of the St. Petri/Nikolai Church congregation in Rostock
1984–1986 Study of theology in the form of correspondence courses at the Evangelical Theological Seminary Burckhardthaus Berlin/Potsdam
1986 Exit from GDR to Bremen
1988–1992 Validation process and certification as community educator of the North Elbian Evangelical-Lutheran Church
2000–2006 Extra-occupational study course at the University of Economics and Political Science in Hamburg and Hamburg University
2007 Graduation from Hamburg University with a degree in cultural and educational management
Since 1990 Active in various areas of the North Elbian Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Today Regional director of the Kirchlicher Dienst in der Arbeitswelt in Lübeck on behalf of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Northern Germany

Profile

Martina and Rüdiger Schmidt both grew up in Rostock. In the 1980s, they were active in the Evangelical Church of Mecklenburg, first as volunteers and later full-time in the church’s youth work. They stood in close contact with the city’s youth pastor at the time, Joachim Gauck. Their active peace work, their critical attitude towards the GDR’s deeply ideological school system and Rüdiger Schmidt’s conscientious objection to military service and refusal to perform ‘construction soldier’ service earned them the attention of the Ministry of State Security. In 1982, the Stasi launched an investigation, or ‘operational procedure’ on the Schmidts, titled ‘Polyp’. Both witnessed people’s everyday adjustments to arbitrariness and coercion on the part of the GDR regime, and searched for ways of leading a self-determined life – albeit unsuccessfully. They were allowed to leave the GDR and travel to West Germany in 1986. Today, the couple lives near Lübeck. In 2012, their book, Mauerbruch – eine Heimatgeschichte, was published. It is a book against forgetting, a book which seeks to keep alive the memory of life in Germany’s two different social systems. The authors tell a story of adjustment and re-orientation and what it actually meant to resettle in the West from the East.

Berichte

"Weggefährten des Bundespräsidenten" - Martina und Rüdiger Schmidt engagierten sich in den achtziger Jahren in der Landeskirche Mecklenburg, Lübecker Nachrichten 15./16.7.2012.