| Stasi-Unterlagen-Behörde | |
 | |
| Archives overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | December 29, 1991 |
| Preceding Archives |
|
| Dissolved | June 17, 2021 |
| Type | Former Secret Police Archive |
| Status | Dissolved, now part of the German Federal Archives |
| Headquarters | Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 31/33 Berlin-Lichtenberg, Germany 52°31′32.74″N 13°24′48.78″E / 52.5257611°N 13.4135500°E |
| Employees | 1,313 (As of 31 December 2020[update])[1] |
| Archives executive |
|
| Website | www |
| Map | |
  Location on a map of Berlin. | |
The Stasi Records Agency (German: Stasi-Unterlagen-Behörde) was the organisation that administered the archives of Ministry of State Security (Stasi) of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany). It was a government agency of the Federal Republic of Germany. It was established when the Stasi Records Act came into force on 29 December 1991. Formally it was called the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic (German: Bundesbeauftragter für die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der ehemaligen Deutschen Demokratischen Republik); the official German abbreviation was BStU. On June 17, 2021, the BStU was absorbed into the German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv).
The Stasi was established on 8 February 1950.[2] It functioned as the GDR's secret police, intelligence agency and crime investigation service. It grew to have around 270,000 people working for it, including about 180,000 informers, or "unofficial collaborators".[3] It was renamed the "Office for National Security" (German: Amt für Nationale Sicherheit) on 17 November 1989.[4] It was dissolved on 13 January 1990.[5]
The Stasi spied on almost every aspect of East Germans' daily lives, and it carried out international espionage. It kept files on about 5.6 million people and amassed an enormous archive.[6][7] The archive holds 111 kilometres (69 mi) of files in total.[8] About half of the material is held in the Stasi Records Agency's headquarters in Berlin, and the rest is in its 12 regional offices. As well as written documentation, the archive has audio-visual material such as photos, slides, film, and sound recordings.[9] The Stasi also had an archive of sweat and body odour samples which its officers collected during interrogations.[10]
- ^ "Das Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv in Zahlen" [The Stasi documents archive in numbers]. BStU (in German). Retrieved 22 March 2021.
Beim BStU arbeiten 1.313 (Stand 1. Januar 2021) Beschäftige an 14 Standorten.
[Work at the BStU1,313 (as of January 1, 2021) employees at 14 locations .] - ^ "The Founding of the MfS". BStU.The Stasi. Archived from the original on 20 August 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
- ^ Voit, Jochen (2016). Gendenkstätte Andreasstraße: Haft, Diktatur und Revolution in Erfurt. Berlin: Christoph Links Verlag. ISBN 978-3-86153-885-1.
- ^ Maser, Peter; Veen, Hans-Joachim, eds. (2015). Haft, Diktatur, Revolution - Thüringen 1949-1989. Das Buch zur Gedenk- und Bildungsstätte Andreasstraße Erfurt. Weimar / Erfurt: Stiftung Ettersberg. ISBN 978-3-943098-13-6.
- ^ Vilasi, Antonella Colonna (2015). The History of the Stasi. Bloomington, Indiana: AuthorHouse. ISBN 9781504937054. Retrieved 1 August 2019.
- ^ Schaer, Cathrin (10 July 2009). "The World from Berlin Stasi Files Reveal East Germany's 'Dirty Reality'". Spiegel Online. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- ^ Huggler, Justin (9 January 2015). "East German Stasi files open to public online for first time". The Telegraph. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- ^ Pidd, Helen (28 December 2011). "Stasi files row as Britain refuses to return documents to Germany". Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- ^ "About the Archive". Stasi Records Agency. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
- ^ Hairsine, Kate (23 May 2007). "The Stasi Had a Giant Smell Register of Dissidents". DW.com. Retrieved 18 April 2019.