Fishing scandal

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Staatsschutzfiche about the writer Max Frisch (PDF, 13 pages).
Back of the State Security File of National Councilor Menga Danuser . Photograph of the original in the Swiss Federal Archives

The so-called secret files scandal (also Fichenaffäre ) is a scandal of recent Swiss history in the final stages of the Cold War . Derived from this, the word “Fichenstaat” was formed in Switzerland as a paraphrase for a “sniffing state”. Around 900,000 state security files were created between 1900 and 1990 and are now in the Federal Archives .

procedure

To investigate the so-called “ Kopp case ”, the federal parliament decided on January 31, 1989 to set up a parliamentary commission of inquiry (PUK) chaired by the then National Council and later Federal Councilor Moritz Leuenberger . The order also included a detailed investigation of the data collection activities carried out by the Federal Prosecutor's Office for the purpose of state security by means of so-called "fiches" (tabs), for which the regular Audit Commission (GPK) did not have sufficient powers, although it had the existence and number of these since May 1988 Fichen was informed.

Back of an index card of a fied citizen due to a visit to Eastern bloc countries . A photocopy of the back of the fiche, as it was sent shortly after the scandal after requests for information.

In the late 1980s it gradually came to light that the federal authorities and also the cantonal police authorities had set up around 900,000 files since 1900. According to the official archives, more than 700,000 people and organizations were recorded. The observation activities first caught foreign anarchists , Swiss socialists and trade unionists, unwelcome political refugees and expelled foreigners. Some dossiers from the 1930s and 1940s deal with National Socialists and fascist movements. With the rise of anti-communism , left-wing politicians and members of trade unions in particular were monitored. The official aim of the fiche was to protect the country from foreign controlled subversive activities to destabilize the system and the subsequent establishment of a totalitarian ( communist ) dictatorship .

As the predecessor of this state surveillance activity, the Zurich FDP politician Ernst Cincera had created his own card index, which could be consulted by private parties, for example in connection with job applications.

Report of the Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (PUK) dated November 22, 1989 incidents in the FDJP , as well as supplementary report dated May 29, 1990

The exposure of the fishing scandal with the report in November 1989 moved the Swiss public strongly. Many citizens' confidence in the state was shaken. Numerous citizens submitted requests to have their personal files released. They finally received copies of their files on which the names of third parties were covered in order to keep the identity of the informants secret. On March 3, 1990, 30,000 people demonstrated in Bern.

Combating subversion was a popular catchphrase during the Cold War . The PUK revealed how broadly this vague term was understood. As emerged from the documents of the Intelligence Service and Defense Subgroup (UNA), zealous state protectors perceived the “left”, “alternative”, “greens”, peace movements, third world activists, women's movements, foreign workers, anti-nuclear movements and religious groups as potentially dangerous because they could be infiltrated, enemy-controlled or manipulated. Above all, the entries in the fiche turned out to be “partly extremely unsystematic and random” (PUK) because the officers lacked a uniform threat image and there were no specific instructions about the fulfillment of this delicate preventive state protection mandate.

In connection with the research into the Kopp and Fichen affair, indications of other abnormalities were found. A report was drawn up about the secret organizations P-26 and P-27, the content of which has been withheld from the public until today. There are still uncertainties regarding the registration of " gypsies ". The fact that a corresponding archive was created is no longer denied today. However, since all research by historians (e.g. within the framework of the so-called Bergier Commission , the independent commission of experts that processed the history of Switzerland during the Second World War ) has only been able to uncover individual documents in scattered archives and the authorities have come to this If you do not mention the topic, it remains unclear whether this registry has been destroyed or is still in use.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Staatsschutz Bundesarchiv: Access to archives@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.bar.admin.ch
  2. ↑ "They brought our activities closer to the Stasi" , Tagesanzeiger, November 17, 2014.
  3. ↑ Martin Matter: P-26 - The secret army that wasn't. How politics and the media scandalized the preparation of the resistance. hier + now, Verlag für Kultur und Geschichte, Baden 2012, ISBN 978-3-03919-247-2 , p. 263 f.
  4. ↑ Table of Contents