Walter Scheler (18 April 1923 – 19 August 2008) was, by the time he retired, an

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

clerical worker. He participated in the

Uprising of 1953 in East Germany The East German uprising of 1953 (german: Volksaufstand vom 17. Juni 1953 ) was an uprising that occurred in East Germany from 16 to 17 June 1953. It began with a strike action by construction workers in East Berlin on 16 June against w ...

as a spokesman for the Coal Workers of

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

. He was then arrested by Soviet occupation troops and sentenced a few days later to spend 25 years in a

Labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

. In the event he received an official pardon in 1961 and was subsequently released. More than three decades later, in 1993, he was formally rehabilitated when the

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Attorney general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

nullified the original court decision under which Scheler had been detained. After

reunification A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller polities, or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal governmen ...

in 1990, Scheler contributed significantly to the rediscovery by researchers of what had actually happened in East Germany back in June 1953, throwing light on events which at the time had not been extensively reported or discussed in public even within the

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

itself.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheler, Walter 1923 births 2008 deaths People from Sonneberg Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Allied occupation of Germany Victims of human rights abuses