However, due to her increased political activity – among other things she had distributed pamphlets for a demonstration in January 1989 - the GDR government pressured the church to force her to leave the university, which she ultimately did.
Referring to Vaclav Havel she called for the 'bond-slaves' in a system of paternalism' to 'renounce resignation in the society': 'We pray for wisdom and courage, so that what is limited to narrowness and prison for so many may become our home country again'.
Western TV teams, which had been allowed into Leipzig to cover the fair, had secretly been informed that something would be happening in front of the church.
[9] On the following Monday, 11 September, Katrin Hattenhauer was targeted demonstrating on Nikolaisquare and arrested together with other protesters and put in the Stasi-prison at Leipzig Beethoven Strasse, where she was imprisoned until 13.10.1089.
Katrin Hattenhauer was well known in opposition-circles and church-groups in the GDR, she had participated in the Oecomenical Convention and taken part in trans-regional ecological seminars.
On 8 October 2000 she and Jochen Läßig, another dissident, opened the "Lichtfest" (Festival of Light) in Leipzig, speaking in front of 200.000 people to remember the crucial turning point in 1989.
On 7 November 2014 Katrin Hattenhauer spoke at Germany's ceremonial act, celebrating the 25 year anniversary of the fall of the wall and German reunification at the Brandenburg Gate.
The late Freya von Moltke wrote about her: In the time before and around 1989, Katrin Hattenhauer has dared to demand freedom and has experienced what that can mean for the personal future.
Katrin Hattenhauer, continually works with young people, using her art to approach questions of personal freedom and civil courage.
"Lichtgestalten" about role models, Mannheim 2012, "Müllwiese" (Rubbish Meadow) Hamburg[20] shed and artistic light on the pollution of the oceans through plastic waste, while 'Über das Verschwinden (On Disappearing),[21] London and Leipzig, raised awareness of the murder of political dissidents.
[22] Excerpt: "The Rebels - Regime Change in East Germany", a film by M. Martin and B. Claudy, Deutsche Welle broadcast in English, Arabian, Spanish, German on 17 October 2014