Former East German activist nominated to manage Stasi archives

Nov 30, 2010, 15:40 GMT

Berlin - The German government nominated a former East German civil rights activist, journalist Roland Jahn, to manage the archives of the defunct East German Stasi, or secret police.

If approved by parliament, Jahn, will replace the current head of the Stasi archives, Marianne Birthler, who must step down after holding the post for 10 years.

The archives contain more than 100 kilometres worth of spy records compiled by the Stasi's 91,000 staff and 189,000 citizens, who informed on friends, colleagues and family members to the communist East German regime.

Alongside the systematic surveillance of their own citizens the East German authorities also kept track of politicians, journalists and high-profile figures in West Germany and beyond.

Nowadays, individuals can view their Stasi record.

Jahn, 57, was active in opposition groups in East Germany.

He was expelled from university for taking part in political protests and eventually deported to West Germany in 1983.

From there he continued to support dissidents.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Jahn became a political journalist.

He is currently the deputy editor of Berlin's RBB television network.

The long-term future of the Stasi archives is uncertain. Birthler has proposed that the German state should continue to oversee the documentation until 2019 at the earliest.

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