The theologian and East German civil rights activist Friedrich Schorlemmer has died at the age of 80.

Schorlemmer died in a Berlin nursing home after a long illness.

"With Friedrich Schorlemmer, the Central German Church has lost one of its great one of its great spirits, who has been an important voice throughout Germany," the regional bishop of the Protestant Church in Central Germany, Friedrich Kramer, said on Tuesday.

Born on May 16, 1944, in Wittenberg, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, Schorlemmer was one of the most important protagonists of the peaceful revolution in the former East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR).

Global prominence

The theologian and rights activist gained international recognition in 1983. At a regional church conference, Schorlemmer had a sword melted down in the courtyard of Martin Luther's house in Wittenberg in the presence of public television cameras as well as many onlookers in an seen as a show of peace.

Schorlemmer was also one of the speakers at the large anti-government demonstration in East Berlin's Alexanderplatz on November 4, 1989.

He went on to be the co-founder of the Democratic Awakening (DA) party but switched to the Social Democratic Party (SPD) in 1990.

"But for me, November 4 remains a more important date than the opening of the wall on November 9," theologian Friedrich Schorlemmer once told German newspaper Tagesspiegel. "Because at Alexanderplatz, 'D' stood first and foremost for 'democracy,' not for 'Deutschland.'"

jsi/sms (epd, dpa, KNA)