|
|
Navigationspfad
Reconstruction of shredded records
The "Reconstruction of Records" project team, which began its work on 2/24/1995, took on the task, unique in the archive area of the Federal Republic of Germany, as well as internationally, of reconstructing the shredded records of the formidable repression apparatus and intelligence service of the State Security Service of the vanished GDR, of processing these in accordance with archival principles and then presenting them for inspection primarily to the persons concerned. The reconstruction of the archival sources would also support historic and journalistic research.
This manual reconstruction work is by its nature uncommonly time-consuming and would take centuries until all of the bags with shredded materials available at the BStU would be processed. To be able to solve the dilemma of balancing involving individual usage opportunities with historic research, a feasibility study is currently being undertaken to determine whether computer-supported virtual reconstruction of these records and of the subsequent printout of the pages would facilitate contemporary reconstruction with subsequent organization and itemization. It is thought that virtual reconstruction of all records would take up to five years.
In the course of prior reconstruction work, the content of almost 290 bags from the central office and the Gera, Leipzig, Magdeburg and Rostock outposts have been joined together.
In the meantime, more than 320 bags have been processed overall by the employees of the project team.
Legacy of the Ministry for State Security (MfS)
Civil rights activists found over 17,000 bags alone – crammed mostly with shredded paper and index cards, with balls of unwound audio tapes and films, with miniaturized photos and negatives - at the takeover of the Stasi headquarters in the Normannenstraße in Berlin in January, 1990. The situation was the same in the 15 district administrations (BV) of the MfS (including the "capital city of the GDR", Berlin), as well as in the 227 district service units (KD). The total inventory was secured at first, since it was assumed that these "pre-destroyed" materials possibly involved explosive procedures, especially from the last years and months of the GDR. Completely demolished records were destroyed, intact material and material that was only slightly damaged within a significant scope was sorted out. Around 6,500 bags with reconstructed material remained in the archive of the central office in Berlin after this initial review. Altogether approx. 16,000 bags with shredded material were delivered to the archives of the BStU that were intended for destruction in the months from October of 1989 to January of 1990.
Beginning of the "Reconstruction of pre-destroyed records" project team
On February 24, 1995 in Zirndorf at Nürnberg an internationally unique pilot project was started: 24 employees of the Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign Refugees (BAFl), under the direction and supervision of experienced archivists of the Federal Commissioner, began to review, to sort and to put together the first part of the approximately 1100 bags with shredded records passed down from the Central Department XX of the MfS (responsible for the areas of state apparatus, church, art, culture and opposition). In the meantime, the reconstruction of records from other partial inventories was begun. There are presently up to ten employees of the BAFl employed in the project team.
Patience, meticulousness, a sense of context, a sharp eye and a deft hand are required when it involves piecing together DIN-A-4 pages from ten thousand snippets in a bag. The activity is like piecing together a giant puzzle. (as of August 2006)
|
|
|
|
|
to the top