<p>The article examines the memory regime of the German Democratic Republic as an example of authoritarian memory politics. Using the case of the GDR, the article analyses the role of law in extreme memory regimes and the juridification of authoritarian interpretations of the common past. The article’s empirical material consists of court records related to a trial in the state of Thuringia in the early 1960s. The documents show how the GDR introduced a moral hierarchy into historical time, used this narrative to label the enemies of the state as immoral agents, and then judicialised the moral lines of division by claiming that the artificial moral categories attached to the collective past, present, and future were what the people wanted and perceived as true. The article analyses authoritarian memory politics as a flexible and comprehensive tool for use by political elites. It argues that the purpose of authoritarian memory politics — like that of the GDR — is not only to punish individual citizens, but also to cultivate social norms that promote self-censorship and awareness of the power of the ruling elite.</p>