Stasi-Unterlagen-Gesetzt (StUG) — Bewährung oder Mißachtung der informationellen Selbstbestimmung

Access to Secret Police Files, Justice, and Vetting in East Germany since 1989

“…The West German privacy law calls for the destruction of such material, not its preservation for future generations. 31 The fact that the general public is permitted to know the names of those who cooperated (officially or unofficially) with the Stasi also has been the subject of much controversy since it suggests that in agreeing to work for the Stasi, that individual somehow forewent his right to privacy. 32 Hansjürgen Garstka, Berlin's Data Protection Commissioner, has defended this course of action: "We recognized that right of access to personal files was a categorical right for the victim, for the one affected by the Stasi, in order to come to an understanding, to a catharsis, but that in order to do so there would be groups of individuals who would have to have their rights reduced."…”