Copyright "Die Hoffotografen"
The Stasi and its Aftermath- Event with Marianne Birthler
Over 30 guests attended the theme night “The Stasi And Its Aftermath - Reflections On The Legacy Of The East German Secret Police, STASI” on Tuesday 9 February 2010 at the Franco-German Cultural Center in Ramallah.
The event was jointly organized by Heinrich Boell Foundation Arab Middle East Office and Franco-German Cultural Center Ramallah and provided the perfect opportunity to help promote a better understanding of a society that was ruled by its state police.
Marianne Birthler, Federal Commissioner for the Records of the former East German State Security opened the evening with a short self-introduction and gave a brief description on the screened film “The Life of Others”. The film involves the monitoring of the cultural scene of East Berlin by the STASI, the GDR’s former state police and shows its work, associated mechanisms and its devastating effect on ordinary citizens very clearly.
After the screening, Marianne Birthler was available for a discussion presented by Dr. Mudar Kassis from the university Birzeit. In order to facilitate the debate on the issue, Marianne Birthler gave a presentation on her work and also on her personal experiences in the former GDR. She reported precisely how the former state security infiltrated almost every aspect of people’s private life. Though the film presented the effects of secret police of a dictatorship, the discussion nevertheless continued to dismantle the dangers of secret services in other state formats and the danger for democracy when secret services become too independent. Marianne Bithler pointed out that in general there is a need for democratic control of secret services in states per se, as it is implemented in Germany nowadays but not always guaranteed all over the world.
We would like to thank Marianne Birthler and Dr. Mudar Kassis for their coming.
Please see also the flyer of the event.