Aufsatz(elektronisch)#466. November 2011
Vigilante justice in post-communist Europe
In: Communist and post-communist studies, Band 44, Heft 4, S. 319-327
ISSN: 0967-067X
Five cases in which the names of former secret informers who supplied information to the communist secret political police were unofficially disclosed are discussed in terms of the motivations of their authors, their timing relative to 1989 and their countries' lustration and file access legislation, and the information they make available to the general public. After contrasting them with civil society efforts to promote transitional justice and unofficial truth projects, it becomes evident that these unofficial disclosures were animated by revenge as much as the quest for unveiling the truth about communist repression.