Privacy rights and the rights of political victims: Implications of the German experience

American Archivist

Volumn 67, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 176-193

  Danielson, Elena S ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 78649833124     PISSN: 03609081     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.17723/aarc.67.2.1w06730777226771     Document Type: Article

References (16)

1. Joachim Gauck, Die Stasi-Akten: Das unheimliche Erbe der DDR (Hamburg: Rowohlt, May 1991).
2. Written during the controversy over the opening of the files, Gauck's firsthand account includes an impassioned plea for the rights of citizens to see their own files. At the end is a draft Stasi archives law formulated in February 1991 that eventually formed the basis of legislation passed in December 1991. Fundamental information about the structure of the Stasi and its files was promptly published by David Gill and Ulrich Schröter, Das Ministerium für Staatssicherheit: Anatomie des Mielke-Imperium (Berlin: Rowohlt, 1991).
3. Later, the personnel structure was analyzed by Jens Gieseke, Die hauptamtlichen Mitarbeiter der Staatssicherheit (Berlin: Links, 2000).
4. A two-part compendium of the work of the unofficial informants was edited by Helmut Müller-Enbergs, Inoffizielle Mitarbeiter des Ministeriums für Staatsicherheit (Berlin: Links, 1996-1998).
5. William G. Rosenberg, "Politics in the (Russian) Archives: The 'Objectivity Question,' Trust, and the Limitations of Law," American Archivist 64 (Spring/Summer 2001), 78-95.
6. Wolfram Kempe, "Das vorletzte Gefecht: Besetzung und Hungerstreik in der Stasizentral im September 1990," Horch und Guck, Historisch- literarische Zeitschrift des Bürgerkomitees 15. Januar 9 (2000), 4.
7. The complete text of the law is available in pamphlet form from the Gauck Authority and on the Web in both German and English: http://www.bstu.de/home. htm.
8. see Dagmar Unverhau, ed., Das Stasi-Unterlagen-Gesetz im Lichte von Datenschutz und Archivgesetzgebung. Referate der Tagung des BstU vom 26.-28. 11 1997 (Münster: LIT Verlag, 1998).
9. The Gauck-Birthler Authority Web site maintains current information on disputes over the use of the files. The effort by former chancellor Helmut Kohl to prevent the release of information about his activities acquired through Stasi surveillance has been particularly revealing. The use of the intelligence gathered on West Germans and Americans is extremely sensitive. See Web site for details: http://www.bstu.de.
10. Timothy Garton Ash, The File: A Personal History (New York: Random House, 1997).
11. Dagmar Unverhau, ed., Lustration, Aktenöffnung, demokratischer Umbruch in Polen, Tschechien, der Slowakei und Ungarn (Münster: Lit, 1999).
12. Carlo Ginzburg, Il formaggio e I vermin: Il cosmos di un mugnaio del '500 (Torino: Einaudi, 1976).
13. Giesieke, Die hauptamtlichen Mitarbeiter, 538.
14. Jens Gieseke, Die DDR-Staatssicherheit; Schild und Schwert der Partei (Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 2000).
15. Antonio Gonzales Quintana, et al., Archives of the Security Services of Former Repressive Regimes: Report Prepared for UNESCO on Behalf of the International Council of Archives (Paris: UNESCO, 1997).
16. Jens Gieseke, with Doris Hubert, The GDR State Security: Shield and Sword of the Party, trans. Mary Carlene Forszt. (Berlin: Die Bundesbeauftragte für die Stasi-Unterlagen, 2002). Single copies in English are available free of charge from www.bstu.de.