Rolf Henrich

Rolf Henrich
Born	24 February 1944 (1944-02-24) (age 73) Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
Occupation	Writer lawyer politician
Political party	SED (1964) NF (1989) SPD (1990)
Spouse(s)	Heidelore
Children	Falk

Rolf Henrich (born Magdeburg 24 February 1944) is a writer and lawyer. In September 1989 he became a co-founder and leading member of the New Forum movement.

His book "The Custodial State. On the Failure of Real-life Socialism" ("Der vormundschaftliche Staat. Vom Versagen des real existierenden Sozialismus") had appeared in April 1989 and was a powerful stimulus along the route to the that within a couple of years had led to the end of the German Democratic Republic as a standalone state.

Henrich was born in Magdeburg, roughly equidistant between Hanover and Berlin, and on the eastern side of the border that divided East Germany from West Germany. After successfully completing his school career he went on to study Law at the Humboldt University in Berlin. At the age of 20 he joined the country's ruling SED (party) and three years later he became an Informal collaborator (IM / Informeller Mitarbeiter) for the Ministry for State Security (Stasi). Between 1964 and 1969 he is listed as an IM in the Stasi files under the code name "IM Streit".

Twenty years later he would describe himself at age 20 as having joined the SED "out of conviction": "Back then", he later recalled, he was "even a bit fanatical" A powerful adumbration of future disenchantment with the East German regime nevertheless came in 1968, in the context of student discussions of the Prague Spring when he was officially reprimanded for "revisionism" and "psychologizing the law", and suffered the withdrawal of a previously agreed research scholarship. He was also required to change the subject of his dissertation, now addressing the subject "The next tasks of Soviet power" ("Die nächsten Aufgaben der Sowjetmacht"): he nevertheless accomplished his own task, receiving his degree-diploma with a top grade.

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