Peter Oehme

His memoires recall that his parents were enthusiastic supporters of the new political structure in East Germany, although Oehme himself displayed outbursts of low-level rebelliousness, notably in the aftermath of the Hungarian uprising, when he was one of a group of medical student representatives demanding the abolition of compulsory lessons in the Russian language and Marxist-Leninist basic studies.

[3] It was as a result of a conversation with Friedrich Jung that he toned down his expressions of political dissent, concentrating instead on his studies and research work.

He switched, in 1967 to the Charité (university hospital), receiving his habilitation (higher academic qualification) for a piece of work on Neuropharmacology.

Impressed by the democratic stirrings in Czechoslovakia, on returning home he registered as a candidate for membership of East Germany's ruling Socialist Unity Party ("Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands" / SED).

[1] He was deeply disappointed when Soviet tanks rolled into Prague in August of the same year, and by the ensuing "normalisation" process, but he nevertheless avoided any significant falling out with the authorities at home.