New Stasi Files Cast Shadow on Former West German Politicians

The remaining documents from the "Rosenholz files" on former West German parliamentarians between 1969 and 1972, kept by former East Germany's secret police, are to be released at the end of September, wrote Marianne Birthler in a guest article Wednesday in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily. Birthler is head of the government office responsible for researching the history of the GDR's secret police, commonly known as the "Stasi."

In early August, files on 11 former parliamentarians were made available to researchers and the media. The new information could affect as many as 40 former delegates, Birthler wrote.

Spy status still unclear

The indication "unofficial employee" appears in many of the previously released files as well as those awaiting release. It is now known that the marking is ambiguous and could mean that the individual willingly spied for the GDR, was unknowingly siphoned for information by the Stasi, or that the Stasi simply kept information on them.

Birthler emphasized in her article that there is no proof in the new material that any of the parliamentarians mentioned there were active as spies for the former East German regime.

"Those who are hoping to find proof in the new documents to convict a few previously unknown Stasi informers aren't going to get their money's worth," wrote Birthler, who also stressed the academic value of the files in learning more about the relationship between the two German governments.

More to GDR cooperation than spying for Stasi

But not everything in the files is flattering.

"The friendly, even affectionate tone in letters to 'dear Erich'" Honecker, the former chief of the communist East German state, may be cause for embarrassment, Birthler wrote.

People often jump directly to assumptions of spying for the Stasi when collaboration with the communist regime is brought up, said Birthler, who pointed out that other aspects of the GDR are also worth taking into account.

"It's time, also in the eastern part of our country, to consider more seriously the policies of the SED, the parties of the Eastern bloc and of the mass organizations, in addition to the secret service," she said.

The Rosenholz documents cannot be released immediately, due to a privacy law initiated by former Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Living parliamentarians implicated in the files have the right to raise objections to their release until next week.