REMEMBRANCE IN TIME - Index of

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2. The Stasi Records Act
Remembrance in Time
The Law for the Records of the State Security Service of the former German
Democratic Republic (Gesetzüber die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der
ehemaligen Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, in short Stasi Records Act
(Stasiunterlagengesetz - StUG)) was passed on 14 th November 1991 (and entered into
force on 29th December 1991). It includes, among other things, regulations on the use of
the files of the MinistryforState Security (Ministerium für Staatssicherheit - Stasi) and
forms the basis for the archiving of the files, their management and the access to the
information therein. Originally the Federal Archives Act (Bundesarchivgesetz) (Act on the
Preservation and Use of ederal archive (Gesetzüber die Sicherung und Nutzung von
Archivgut des Bundes)) –dated 6 th January 1988) 5 was applicable on the existing
documents of the Stasi. The problem with this regulation was that the Stasi records
contain numerous personal information. According to the Federal Archives Act an access
to the information in those files would not have been permissible or only permissible after
at thirty-year period. For this reason the Stasi Records Ac was created. It includes in
particular rules on access to the files by persons concerned and is thus a “special law”
(Spezial gesetz) created for the access to those files.
According to § 3 section 1 sentence 1 StUG anyone has the right to know of the
Federal Commissioner, whether the Stasi files contain information about themselves:
"....The right to request that the Federal Commissioner reports
whether there is information on his person in the already exploited
documents...."
“…. Das Recht, vom Bundesbeauftragten Auskunft darüber zu
verlangen, ob in den erschlossenen Unterlagen Informationen zu
seiner Person enthalten sind…..”
If such information about an individual is available, there is the right to report, access to
the documents and the return of documents to the person concerned
(§ 3 section 1 sentence 2 StUG). There is also the possibility of using this information
and documents (§ 3 section 2 StUG). Concrete rules can be found in §§ 12 ff StUG for
the procedures to implement the rights of the persons concerned. In contrast
§ 13 section 4 StUG contains the requirement that personal information about other
concerned persons or third parties exofficio has to be made an ominous before issuing
duplicates. 6
However, the law makes a difference between certain types of documents depending on
the question whether they are without personal information, contain anonymous personal
information or contain personal information on specific groups of persons, and other
personal information (see for example: § 12 section 4, § 13 section 4 and
§ 32 section 1 StUG). Depending on the type of documents, various rights are given.
Essential for the implementation of the right of access and/or publication of information
5 BGBl. I p. 62.
6 For further information Stoltenberg/Bossack, Stasi-Unterlagen-Gesetz, § 13.