Record / 14 February 1989
Stasi identification procedures
The Stasi’s identification procedures during an arrest combined police and intelligence methods that went far beyond normal legal boundaries.…
Originals and context
Documents
The surviving files reveal the bureaucratic side of surveillance. I publish selected originals and explain their language and significance.
Record / 15 February 1989
Top secret: my case in the Stasi daily report
Just one day after my arrest, my planned journey to freedom was recorded centrally in a top secret Stasi daily report.…
Record / 21 February 1989
Stasi surveillance of gay people
“Obst is homosexual.” This note represents the East German Stasi’s treatment of homosexual people.…
Record / 21 February 1989
No secret — yet still on file
I came out to my school class at 14. Years later, the state apparatus recorded my homosexuality in a single sentence: “Obst is homosexual.”…
Record / 20 April 1989
The East German state: my case
The Stasi, East Germany’s secret police, played a central role in the surveillance and conviction of citizens.…
Record / 5 June 1989
Reviewing grounds for refusing emigration
In June 1989, the East German state apparatus examined whether there were objections to releasing me from prison and allowing me to emigrate permanently to the West.…
Record / 15 October 1989
How the Stasi managed its information
This document dates from autumn 1989, the final phase of the GDR.…
Record / 20 October 1989
Until 20 October 1989
While I sat in isolation in Karl-Marx-Stadt, my release directly to West Germany had long been prepared on paper. On 20 October, I learnt of it — without explanation and under guard.…
Record / 21 April 1993
My rehabilitation
On 21 April 1993, Erfurt District Court overturned the 1989 judgment against me. Five documents show the process leading to my rehabilitation.…