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)
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Source: Voice of America
.