Secret police archives

The Agency of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records (BStU) stores the records of the former East German secret police, the Stasi. It grants private citizens, public institutions, journalists and researchers access to these files. On the occasion of the agency's 20th anniversary, Commissioner Roland Jahn said the BStU has made the Stasi's operations transparent while at the same time protecting the data the secret police gathered on individuals in East Germany.

Mario Dobovisek: Actually, the Stasi Records Act was passed twice: in 1990 by East Germany's last parliament, the Volkskammer, and then much later by the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, on December 29, 1991. Why did that take so long?

Roland Jahn: During German unification, authorities struggled with the Stasi records, that's why it was a long, drawn-out process; but in the end, the result was much better and that's what counts.

Back then, Lothar de Maiziere, the last East German leader, feared "bloody murder" should the Stasi archives be opened. Why do you believe the Stasi's victims did not, in fact, resort to acts of revenge?

Because we managed to develop a method allowing people access to the files, and we gave it a legal basis. On the one hand, we managed to make the Stasi's actions transparent; on the other hand, we managed to protect the data the secret police gathered, in violation of human rights, on East Germans - that is crucial.

You, for instance, found out the names of the people who spied on you. How do you feel about them?

That's very personal, and it has changed, too. The first time I had access to my files was on January 2, 1992, almost 20 years ago, and that was a shock. Reading what friends had spied on me really got under my skin. Of course, you're excited at that point. But over the years, you adopt a more relaxed attitude about how to approach the problem and especially concerning what you've learned about how the system worked. What made an individual become a spy? How did it work? That's what it really boils down to: we want to understand how it worked.

Twenty-one years after reunification, this relaxed attitude threatens to spread a nostalgic fog over parts of the East German past, along the lines of: it wasn't all bad. Would you agree?

I don't think so. I believe that the 20 years of the Stasi Records Act have contributed to creating transparency about how a dictatorship functions. It's crucial that society here can openly deal with it, come to terms with it and enable what Culture Minister Bernd Neumann has always urged: that people make their peace with it, with possible reconciliation as the final goal.

Sedition for East German crimes does not exist as a statutory offense. How do you deal with falsified history?

I believe that the past 20 years of using the Stasi Records Act have shown that East German history has been dealt with in a very careful manner; people didn't necessarily need to resort to threatening those who had a different view of history with the law. Instead, there's been an open debate and the Stasi files helped show how things worked back then. The records are documents that are constantly in demand, especially by the media and researchers.

At first, there was a great run on the agency. On the very first day the records were made public, the 20.000 application forms available were gone within hours. How much interest is there today in gaining access to the old files?

The interest is just as high today. Many people are surprised that there are still so many applications to access the files. In 2010, we had 87.000 applications by people who wanted to access their files, there were almost as many this year, and I believe that it will be a few years before the figures drop.

Let's turn to the amendment to the Stasi Records Act that goes into effect on January 1, 2012. Among other things, it is about the disciplinary relocation of some the agency's former Stasi employees. The agency's very first head, Joachim Gauck, criticized you personally. He said: "I think the debate about employing people who used to get their pay check from the Stasi is exaggerated. I wouldn't have chosen this approach. First of all, I'd like to make it clear that most of these people never persecuted the population but worked as body and security guards. And I only employed those that were fully trusted by members of the democracy movement that had already supported us."

Why do you think the step is appropriate all the same?

First of all, I think Joachim Gauck is saying, this is an old discussion, more than 20 years old. I've always been critical of the position Joachim Gauck is defending here, we just didn't see eye-to-eye. But of course one has to admit that during his years as Federal Commissioner, Joachim Gauck did a fabulous job und for that reason, I believe it is important that we resolve these different positions. One thing is clear to me: the problem arose by employing these Stasi people - they were, by the way, full-time Stasi officers, not just somebody - at the very agency that is supposed to process the Stasi past. The problem still exists. Before I took on this job, I spoke to the victims' associations.

Was it a mistake when Joachim Gauck employed these people?

I believe it was clearly a mistake to employ these people. But now we have to deal with it and so the amendment to the Stasi Records Act is a good precondition to ensure that former Stasi employees who currently work at the BStU can be relocated to other federal institutions. And that gives us the chance to solve the conflict that victims aren't faced with former Stasi officers when they come to the agency to review their files.

But do you really think disciplinary relocation is the right way to deal with employees, some of whom were outstanding?

It will be a regular relocation, just like in other public services. It is about…...

You don't need a law for that.

You don't need a law for that, but the German Bundestag wanted to send a political signal, especially to the victims, so the law isn't divisive. It's crucial that we find a solution and that over the next few weeks, the federal public administration allocate jobs for these employees in other federal agencies.

Interview: Mario Dobovisek / db
Editor: Nicole Goebel