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- politische Haft
- Flucht/Fluchthilfe
- Freikauf
Sprache
- Englisch
Biographical information
1964 Born in Potsdam-Babelsberg
1980 Attained secondary school leaving certificate at the "Otto Nagel" Polytechnic Secondary School (POS) in Bergholz-Rehbrücke
1980–1982 Completed an apprenticeship as a facility technician at the Potsdam brewery
April 1983 Attempted to escape via the CSR, sentenced to 16 months in prison on charges of "attempted escape from the republic"
1983–1984 Imprisoned in Leipzig-Markkleeberg
April 1984 Release purchased by the West German government
1985–1986 Trained as a certified shorthand office clerk at the Rackow School in West Berlin
1989–1990 Trained as a certified secretary at the Rackow School in West Berlin
1986–2000 Worked as an executive assistant in West Berlin and Nuremberg
2000–2021 Worked as a project, process, quality and transition manager at different market research companies both inside Germany and abroad (including in India)
Since 2019 Member of the Green Party (Bündnis 90/DIE GRÜNEN) in Nuremberg
2021–2022 Completed advanced training as a DEKRA-certified corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability manager at WBS Training, Nuremberg
Profile
Even before turning 20, Kerstin Meisner decided to leave the GDR because she could no longer bear the contradictions between the state propaganda and everyday reality and longed for civil liberties. Together with her fiancé and another friend, she contemplated various ways to escape. The three eventually decided to take a train that was going to Bratislava in Czechoslovakia and somehow make it into Austria, and from there across the German border into Bavaria. Kerstin Meisner, who had no valid identification documents on her, hid underneath a seat in the train compartment. While her fellow travellers were arrested before they had even reached the Czechoslovakian border, she was not discovered until Bratislava.
She spent two weeks in solitary confinement in Czechoslovakia before being transferred to the Stasi prison in Potsdam. A court in Potsdam then sentenced her, in accordance with Section 213 of the GDR’s penal code, to one year and four months in prison, most of which she served in Markkleeberg Prison in Leipzig.
While in prison, Kerstin Meisner applied for a permit to leave the country twice. In the spring of 1984, she was able to leave for West Germany together with her fiancé in the context of a Häftlingsfreikauf (prisoners’ ransom).
During the years before and after the Fall of the Wall and German reunification, Kerstin Meisner was based in West Berlin. She also lived and worked in Bangalore, India, for several years and today lives in Nuremberg.