Blind Faith

Salomea's Story: "Blind Faith" Born in 1932 as the child of Polish-Russian Jews in the Jewish Hospital in Berlin-Wedding, Salomea Genin fled with her family from the Nazis to Australia in May 1939. At the age of 12, she became a member of the 'Eureka Youth League' (Communist Youth Organisation in Australia). She joined the Communist Party of Australia at the age of 17, just as it was about to be banned. In 1951, she came to East Berlin as a member of the Australian delegation to the '3rd World Festival of Youth and Students' and was enthusiastic about the GDR. She left Australia to help build a better, anti-fascist Germany, but was not granted a residence permit. So Salomea Genin initially stayed in West Berlin and temporarily in England before she was officially allowed to move to East Berlin in 1963. In West Berlin, she had begun working as an informant for the GDR Ministry for State Security. She then continued this work in the GDR. In 1982 she realised: Instead of helping to make the world a better place, she had helped to create a police state. She broke with the Stasi and wanted to take her own life. In 1985, she began to talk about this with those affected. It was not until May 1989 that she found the strength to resign from the SED. Her resignation was printed in West German newspapers, including the Frankfurter Rundschau. …….. 1932 als Kind polnisch-russischer Juden im Jüdischen Krankenhaus, Berlin-Wedding geboren, floh Salomea Genin im Mai 1939 mit ihrer Familie vor den Nationalsozialisten nach Australien. Im Alter von 12 Jahren wurde sie Mitglied der "Eureka Youth League" (Kommunistischer Jugendverband in Australien). Mit 17 Jahren trat sie der Kommunistischen Partei Australiens bei, als diese gerade verboten werden sollte. 1951 kam sie als Mitglied der australischen Delegation zu den "3. Weltfestspielen der Jugend und Studenten" nach Ost-Berlin und war von der DDR begeistert.