ABSTRACT
Scientific atheism emerged in the Soviet Union as part of an antireligious campaign in 1958–1964. In the German Democratic Republic (GDR), it met with a very different political and religious context. Church membership had been around 94% in 1945; the ruling party had to cope with the Protestant and Catholic Churches and with an allied Christian party. The origins of scientific atheism in this country can be traced back to the personal initiatives of the future “Chief atheist of the GDR”, Olof Klohr (expression from M. Ploenus). From the second half of the 1950s, at the universities of Halle and Rostock, he promoted research in the field of religious studies and atheism. The discipline was officially established in 1963 with a Chair of Scientific Atheism at the University of Jena, headed by Olof Klohr. It underwent a rich development until it disappeared again as part of a university reform in 1968.
