Vera Lengsfeld was born in the DDR. After studying History and Philosophy, she worked at the Akademie der Wissenschaften in der DDR. At that time she was sued for deviationism for the first time. Since the 70ies, Vera Lengsfeld was an active member of the opposition against the SED-Regime.
In 1981, she co-founded the Pankower Friedenskreis, one of the first opposition circles in the DDR. Vera is involved in the organization of almost every important freedom and environment movement in the DDR ever since.
In 1983, she was again sued, this time for collaboration in a civil rights movement. Consequently, she was excluded from the SED and suffered occupational and travel bans.
In 1988, she wanted to participate in the Liebknecht-und Luxemburg protest but was arrested. After one month in jail, she was deported into the West. Vera went to England and studied Philosophy of Religion at St. John´s College Cambridge.
In the morning of November 9th, 1989 she returned to the DDR and witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall in the evening at Bornholmer Straße. After these events, she joined the Verfassungskommission des Runden Tisches and a year later, Vera was a member of the first freely elected Volkskammer in the DDR.
Vera was co-founder of associations and citizens’ centers to help victims of the DDR regime. From 1990 to 2005, Vera was a member of the German Bundestag and part of various committees. She is now an author at Achse des Guten, achgut.de, and writes a column for the PAZ.
Vera Langsfeld was awarded the Aachener Friedenspreis and the Bundesverdienstkreuz.