Margot Honecker gives first interview in Chile

This evening German television did an hour-long interview with Margot Honecker. Frau Honecker was the wife of Erich Honecker. She was also a minister in the GDR government.

Fascinating television and fascinating information on people who are in positions of power.

This woman was ultimately responsible for the death of people on the inner German border.

She points out that the people who looked for 'justice' were the same people who lived in her neighbourhood as the GDR elite.

Helmut Schmidt in the programme describes Honecker as a man not terribly intelligent, but who was tactical and did what was expected of him.

But in his favour it must be recalled he opposed the Nazis, spent some time in prison.

Margot described him as a very 'closed' man.

Erich Honecker was interior minister when the Wall was built.

Margot comments that Gregor Gysi might well call her husband the top man in a dictatorship but adds that Gysi lived well in that so-called dictatorship.

Frau Honecker argues that the people lived good lives, had good schooling, good health, good job prospects.

When asked about people attempting to escape she argued that there was simply no need for them to leave the GDR. She referred to people who were imprisoned for political reasons as criminal bandits.

Helmut Schmidt said that it would be difficult to have sympathy for the demise of Erich Honecker.

Margot believes that the modern German state is totally controlled by the banks.

She says capitalism and socialism cannot complement one another. For her they are like fire and water.

Under the leadership of Margot Honecker children of political dissidents were forcefully adopted.

This woman is responsible for unmentionable cruelty.

What at all is truth?

The couple's last weeks together in Germany were in hiding, living in the house of a Protestant pastor, Uwe Holmer in Lobetal. The irony of that. To think they spent their entire political lives denouincing religion.

Just a word: is all authority a game played out by powerful people and the ordinary people stooges? Is it any different in the church?