Last year, a total of 28,571 requests from citizens were submitted to the Federal Archive for Stasi file access. This is a slight decline compared to the 30,696 requests in 2023 and 29,064 in 2022, as reported by “Bild” (Wednesday edition).
“The insight into Stasi records is a success story for the entire society” said Federal Archive President Michael Hollmann to the newspaper. Since the end of 1990, more than 7.5 million requests for Stasi records have been submitted, with over 3.4 million of those being citizen requests. “We must always remind ourselves of the wrongdoings committed by the SED regime and the East German secret police, especially in this phase of growing glorification of the GDR” Hollmann said.