Hans-Jochen Scheidler

Hans-Jochen Scheidler was born in 1943 in Wollhaus in what is now Poland. After studying physics at the Humboldt University in Berlin, he intended to take up post-graduate studies at the Academy of Sciences in Prague in September 1968. In August 1968, he and four friends distributed 800 leaflets to protest against the suppression of the Prague Spring by Warsaw Pact troops. The leaflets were produced using letter stamps and contained the slogans: "Citizens – Comrades! Foreign tanks in the ČSSR serve only the class enemy! Think of the reputation of socialism in the world! Demand truth at last. Nobody is too stupid to think for themselves!"

On 23 August 1968, the Stasi arrested Hans-Jochen Scheidler, who was detained at Hohenschönhausen. The City Court of Greater Berlin sentenced him to two years and six months in prison for "anti-state agitation", which he served in prison labour camp X at Berlin-Hohenschönhausen. He was released to the GDR early in December 1969.

He then had to work outside his profession as a technician at VEB Messelektronik Berlin. It was not until January 1979 that he got a job at Berlin-Friedrichshain Hospital. Despite several attempts, he was denied a scientific career as a physicist.

Since 2009, Hans-Jochen Scheidler has been guiding groups of visitors through the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial; since 2011, he has been working as a contemporary witness at schools and educational institutions for the Coordinating Office of Contemporary Witnesses.