Stasi files still cast shadow, 20 years after Berlin Wall fell

Source: Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) - For decades, Joachim Fritsch struggled to understand why he was being denied access to higher education and passed over for job promotions again and again.

Then he got hold of a 400-page file East Germany's dreaded secret police had compiled on him. The Stasi had arrested him back in the mid-1950s when he was just 17 years old and branded him a "provocateur" for failing to produce his identity card.

The arrest left an indelible mark on his record, leading the Stasi to watch him closely and thwart repeated attempts by Fritsch to get on with his life.

"I was absolutely overwhelmed when I read my files," the 73-year-old told Reuters, poring over copies of his personal file in his small flat on the 10th floor of an east Berlin high rise. "You enter your past hesitantly, step by step."

Fritsch is one of hundreds of thousands who have read their Stasi files. Two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the government agency set up to oversee them is still inundated with requests and has a two-year backlog.

Founded in 1950, the Stasi was one of the most repressive police organizations in the world. It infiltrated almost every aspect of life in East Germany, using torture, intimidation and a vast network of informants to crush dissent.

Millions of Germans worked for the Stasi and provided reports on friends, family, colleagues or lovers. The files, which would stretch for 112 km (70 miles) if laid out flat, were opened up to the public in 1992, exposing a web of betrayals.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE59S17520091029?sp=true

Unconscionable, what the Stasi did.

To the movie and the comment.

I would suggest it in original German with english subtitles

"fusion centers"

http://www.aclu.org/search/search_wrap.html?q=fusion&imageField.x=0&imageField.y=0&imageField=search


on edit knr