DATE=11/8/1999
TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT
TITLE=BERLIN WALL ANNIVERSARY-STASI INFORMERS
NUMBER=5-44721
BYLINE=GIL BUTLER
DATELINE=BERLIN
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: In November 1989 (11/09/89), the foremost
symbol of Communism, the Berlin Wall, came down. It
marked the end of the Cold War and the unification of
Germany. Ten years later, VOA's Gil Butler returned
to Berlin to see what changes have occurred since the
joyful celebration that marked the occasion a decade
ago. (In the fifth of a series of reports,) he focuses
on the old Communist Secret Police and the East
Germans who collaborated.
/// OPT. CHORAL ODE TO JOY UP AND OUT ///
TEXT: Over the forty year history of the German
Democratic Republic, the Stasi-- the state security
police - terrorized and dominated two entire
generations. But not without help. There were 90-
thousand Stasi policemen and --- according to students
of the era --a half million civilian collaborators.
The old Stasi headquarters in East Berlin is a complex
of prisons, barracks, and offices. Since the fall of
the Berlin wall and the demise of the German
Democratic Republic, this outwardly innocent looking
compound has been a museum devoted to publicizing the
crimes of a police state.
The Stasi kept files on six million East Germans. In
the past ten years, many have examined their own
personal files and have found the names of those who
were spying on them.
Jorg Driesselmann is the director of the Stasi museum.
He talks about forgiveness for those who worked for
the repressive state.
/// ACT. DRIESSELMANN (GERMAN/TRANSLATION) ///
There were thousands of the people who served it
and worked for it, especially the Stasi. And
some of them might actually say: OK, I admit
that was my fault. Next question, is we say, if
you can recognize your guilt, we recognize you
did it. We accept your statement, and we move
on to the next thing. On the other hand, we in
Germany are a long way from admitting that first
Part . that this was a socialist dictatorship.
Just look at what happened on Sunday.
/// END ACT ///
He referred to a recent local election in which 40 per
cent of East Berliners voted for the former
Communists.
The Stasi's reach extended far beyond Berlin. The
University of Leipzig, about 150 kilometers south of
Berlin is where the pro-democracy meetings and
demonstrations began. Stasi informers were reporting
on the activities of professors at the school of
theology.
Christoph Kahler is rector of the school. He says it
is hard to blame informers directly for sending people
to jail.
/// ACT. KAHLER (GERMAN/TRANSLATION) ///
Ninety-five per cent of the cases weren't that
clear. We had to learn to read the documents
between the lines to find out what really
happened, because as in so many state
enterprises, the Stasi exaggerated. They did
130 per cent of what they were asked to do and
fulfilled the plan 130 per cent. You don't
really know what happened.
/// END ACT ///
Back in Berlin, another theologian, Berndt Albany,
talked about how the Stasi responded to pro-democracy
demonstrators in Berlin. As the end came, there were
real concerns that Erich Honecker and the Communist
government would crack down hard.
/// ACT. FATHER ALBANY (GERMAN/TRANSLATION)///
We were simply scared, worried that the
authorities might adopt what they called the
"Tiananmen" solution. Chinese suppression of
democracy demonstrators in June of 1989 was
fresh in everyone's mind.
/// END ACT ///
As it turned out, they were right to worry. Stasi
files show a plan to send more than 100 thousand
people considered politically unreliable to internment
camps.
Jorg Driesselmann thinks it is extremely important for
Germans to remember the repression of the 40 year-long
German Democratic Republic. And the Stasi museum is
an important educational tool.
/// Act. Driesselmann (German/translation) ///
You often hear people say there is no interest
now and it's all in the past and nobody cares
anymore. In fact, that's not true. The
interest in our exhibition has been growing.
/// END ACT ///
Every year about 75-thousand Germans from both the
western and eastern part, come to this museum to see
the evidence of what the Stasi did in the former East
Germany. The museum director hopes this educational
process will end the support that former totalitarian
parties have enjoyed in recent elections. (Signed)
/// OPT. MUSIC UP AND OUT ///
NEB/MGB/SP/KL
08-Nov-1999 16:45 PM EDT (08-Nov-1999 2145 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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