German minister denies protecting Kohl

Kohl has taken legal action over files

BERLIN, Germany -- A row is raging in Germany involving former Chancellor Helmut Kohl and the release of wiretap records made by the East German Stasi security service.

German Interior Minister Otto Schily has been locked in a war of words with the new head of the Stasi archive, Marianne Birthler, over the release of the records.

Birthler has temporarily dropped a threat to publish the Kohl file after the former chancellor resorted to legal action.

Schily has rejected accusations he was protecting Kohl by opposing the release of the wiretap records.

Kohl is suspected by many Germans of wanting to prevent the release of any information which might further embarrass him.

But Schily argued that he was only seeking to protect the right of Germans to privacy by barring the publication of information gathered by illegal means, and to stop the release of state secrets which might be damaging to the nation.

At issue is a legal clause under which public figures have been unable in the past to block the release of their own files compiled by the former communist East German state -- as long as any personally sensitive material has been removed.

Schily said in a news magazine interview, however, that past interpretations of the legislation had not been correct.

"The law states, albeit in a rather convoluted way, that if people in public life were victims of the Stasi, their files can only be published with their permission," Schily told Spiegel in the interview released ahead of publication on Monday.

Schily has been accused of double standards in the treatment of former West Germans, widely seen as the victors of unification in 1990, and many prominent easterners, who bore the brunt of state surveillance and whose Stasi files have already been published.

Thousands of ordinary east Germans lost their jobs after they were unmasked as collaborators with the hated Ministry of State Security (Stasi).

One prominent politician revealed by Stasi is parliament speaker Wolfgang Thierse, an east Berliner who like Schily is a Social Democrat, has said that if politicians can block the release of their files the Stasi archive might as well be shut down.

Asked by Spiegel whether he was giving Kohl privileged treatment, Schily said: "No, I am only trying to reach an agreement with the archive authority in a matter of dispute.

"If Kohl is privileged at the moment, it is because he has taken legal action and the court has asked Frau Birthler not to release any documents until it makes a ruling."

Birthler agreed this week not to publish the Kohl wiretap records until a Berlin court rules on the case. A decision is expected in June.

Kohl's reputation is already in tatters after he refused to name key campaign donors during his 16-year term of office.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Villain or Victim?
December 6, 2000
CDU ordered to pay new fine
December 1, 2000
Kohl faces second investigation
November 27, 2000
Kohl memoirs hit out at successors
November 19, 2000
Kohl to publish scandal years diary
November 3, 2000
Spy papers at center of Kohl scandal divide Germans
April 8, 2000

German Government
Stasi

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.