Germany lifts ban on Stasi files

There are thousands of files collected by the former Stasi police

BERLIN, Germany -- Public access has been granted for the first time to sensitive top-secret files on prominent public figures held by the Stasi, the former Communist East German police service.

Parliament gave final approval on Friday to a new law that grants researchers and journalists access to the files.

The Stasi snooped on dissidents and ordinary East German citizens for more than 40 years, compiling a huge catalogue of notes ranging from the banal to the fictitious.

Ordinary Germans' records have always been open, except those regarding their private lives. But the files of prominent public figures, like former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, had been protected.

Earlier this year a federal court ruled that a public figure's files could be released only with the person's consent.

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The ruling was made after Kohl's lawyers applied to have his files remain secret in case his dignity was damaged.

But Friday's move overrules that. Now a decision on whether the files will be released rests with the federal agency set up in 1991 to oversee the archive. The subject must be told of any interest in their files and must be given the right to lodge a protest.

In addition, files that are determined to have been obtained through measures that violate human rights laws, like eavesdropping and intercepting letters, will not be released.

Journalists and historians had asked to see Kohl's 2,500-page Stasi file, which Kohl has viewed, prompting speculation that they could shed light on a party financing scandal that disgraced the former chancellor and tainted his conservative party.

Former Chancellor Kohl had tried to have the contents of his file protected

Kohl says wiretaps were obtained illegally and he deserved protection from damage to his "human dignity," adding any Stasi notes on him were bound to be full of false information.

In March, figure skater Katarina Witt won a temporary court order sealing her Stasi file while her objections were reviewed.

Witt, an Olympic gold medalist for East Germany in 1984 and 1988, sued to prevent the release of more than 1,300 pages from her file to a journalist.

Like Kohl, she says she was a victim of the Stasi.