Suchergebnisse

The central office of the East Berlin State Security Service (Stasi) was occupied for the second time in 1990 in protest against the administration's apparent plans to relocate the Stasi files to the federal archives. As a result, a clause was added to the reunification treaty generating a legal authority for administration of the Stasi files. While the Stasi Document Authorities (BStU) generated plans to centralize regional archives in 2004, it was announced that the Stasi files should be transferred to the federal and provincial archives, generating a wave of protests based not only on the utilization rights for the files and regional interests, but also due to the symbolic nature of the BStU institution. Despite the difficulties in transferring the files and the restructuring that would be required, there is no real justification for maintaining a separate authority for the Stasi files alone. The original reasons for the establishment of the authority no longer apply, context may be lost through continued singular focus on Stasi and Stasi files, and processing of the files is better served by the separation of archive administration and archive use than by the separation of Stasi and other GDR institutions.

Rita Sélitrenny/Thilo Weichert: Das unheimliche Erbe. Die Spionageabteilung der Stasi. Forum Verlag, Leipzig 1991. 269 Seiten, 19,80 DM