With the Protestant prison pastoral care in the SBZ and the early GDR, the present study opens up a hitherto unexplored field at the intersection of church and general history. It provides new insights into both the state-church relationship and the development of the relationship between the EKD and the East German state churches. Through the reconstruction of prison pastoral care since 1945, the work also sheds light on the church policy of the Soviet occupying powers in the SBZ, which has so far been little researched. It is proven that the practice of prison pastoral care established under the Soviets formed the basis for its handling in the GDR. The investigation clarifies the state's dilemma: How was the unpopular service of the Protestant church in prison brought to a standstill without the fundamental and human right of religious freedom propagated to the outside world, an indispensable cornerstone of the democratic state - because this is how one saw oneself - , to damage?
