Stasi shredding machine

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A computer program that is supposed to enable the virtual reconstruction of torn Stasi documents is colloquially referred to as a Stasi snipping machine . The software is being developed by the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology (Fraunhofer IPK) in Berlin on behalf of the Stasi Records Authority . The official name of the software is ePuzzler .

The term "Stasi-Schnipselmaschine" coined the CDU Bundestag member Beatrix Philipp , who, together with other public figures, campaigns for the financing of the software for the virtual reconstruction of the Stasi documents.

Creation of the torn Stasi documents

At the end of 1989, numerous documents were secretly disposed of by the GDR State Security . Due to the precipitous events, the capacity of the existing wet shredders, the so-called “celler systems”, was insufficient to remove the bulk of the files. The Stasi employees therefore began to tear up large numbers of documents by hand in order to then pour water over the snippets in garages and courtyards and crush them into a pulp or leave them in paper mills. In addition, files were shredded in conventional shredders or burned in heating ovens or on garbage dumps. From the order of the Stasi at the end of 1989, it emerged that files should primarily be destroyed which prove internal repression, show cooperation with the SED or could expose informants of the Stasi. The Stasi officers Wolfgang Reuter and Günther Lohr also ordered the destruction of the files on operational identity checks against Gregor Gysi , which they later regretted, as the files today allegedly refute the allegations that Gysi was an " unofficial employee " (IM) of the Stasi has been.

The secret destruction of files was the reason why citizens throughout the GDR stormed and occupied Stasi offices, first on December 4, 1989 in Erfurt, Rostock and Leipzig, and most recently on January 15, 1990 in Berlin. The angry citizens stopped the extermination work, so that thousands of bags with previously destroyed , i.e. torn, but not yet finally disposed of materials were saved. As a legacy of the Peaceful Revolution, over 15,000 sacks of torn materials remained in the care of the Stasi records authority.

Manual reconstruction of torn Stasi documents

In 1995, the manual reconstruction began on behalf of the Stasi records authority. From 1995 to 2015, the work was mainly carried out by members of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) in Zirndorf near Nuremberg. Since the BAMF needed the staff more urgently due to the influx of refugees, the Stasi records authority ended its work in Zirndorf at the end of 2015. The manual reconstruction of torn Stasi records project group will, however, be continued in Berlin and some branch offices of the BStU. So far, almost 1.5 million sheets have been reconstructed from around 500 bags. The focus of the reconstruction was on the one hand documents from the Stasi main department XX, which, with its broad responsibility for the state apparatus, church, culture, education, "political underground" (= GDR opposition) and sport, was the control center for internal surveillance and repression in the GDR. The materials recovered from Department XX include, for example, the Stefan Heyms victim files (OV "Diversant") and parts of Jürgen Fuchs' victim files (ZOV "Opponent"), but also the IM files of the former Thuringian regional bishop Ingo Braecklein ( IM “Ingo”), the writer Sascha Anderson (IM “David Mentzer”, IM “Fritz Müller”), the theology professor and later rector of the Humboldt University Heinrich Fink (IM “Heiner”) and many other officials in the GDR. In addition, based on reconstructed documents, the state compulsory doping of minors in the GDR competitive sport by undercover "officers in special use" (OibE) of the Stasi could be proven. The two sheets, which document that GDR dissident Thomas Klingenstein was taken along in the IM “Notary” vehicle in 1979 and which led to renewed allegations against Gregor Gysi, also come from the manual reconstruction.

On the other hand, up to now primarily documents from GDR foreign espionage have been put together. The reconstruction of these documents is considered to be particularly important, as the Stasi foreign espionage (“ Headquarters Enlightenment ” - HV A) succeeded in destroying their files almost completely in early 1990. The torn documents therefore represent an almost singular tradition and give hope for at least a narrow source base on the organization and functioning of the GDR foreign espionage. The previously reconstructed documents prove, for example, the control of the Ralf Forster group , a military cover organization of the DKP , by the Stasi, the hiding of the RAF terrorist Silke Maier-Witt in the GDR or the activities of agents of the HV A in the old Federal Republic such as IM "Wagner".

Virtual reconstruction of torn Stasi documents

In view of the results so far, in 2000 a large majority of members of the Bundestag called for the reconstruction to be accelerated by using suitable IT processes. In 2003 the Stasi records authority was able to tender a feasibility study for the project across Europe. A consortium led by Fraunhofer IPK was awarded the contract. In 2004 he succeeded in proving the feasibility of the virtual reconstruction. As a result, numerous members of the Bundestag demanded that the virtual reconstruction be tested in real life in a pilot process. After lengthy negotiations, the Fraunhofer IPK was awarded a research contract in spring 2007.

In the pilot process, snippets from 400 bags with an estimated 16 million snippets are to be digitized using high-performance scanners. The scan images are put together virtually in a computer network according to external characteristics (crack edges), according to their color and internal characteristics (writing). At least 80 percent of the snippet sequences should be put together virtually in automated operation. Originally, the virtually reconstructed pages were to be handed over to the Stasi records authority from 2009 onwards, so that they could be indexed in the local archive and finally made accessible. On April 29, 2009, however, the Stasi records authority announced that the delivery of the virtually reconstructed pages would be delayed. At the end of 2013, the Fraunhofer IPK proved that the software basically works. However, since the scanner turned out to be unsuitable for digitizing large quantities of snippets, the process was stopped in the course of 2014. The snippets from 23 bags that have been scanned in up to this point are virtually reconstructed. In December 2014, the Bundestag approved an additional two million euros for the project. “With these funds, a scanning technology is to be set up that is able to digitize snippets faster and more precisely than before. The algorithm of the ePuzzler is also to be further developed ”, writes the Stasi records authority about the use of this money.

The use of the reconstructed documents is subject to the same conditions that apply to handling Stasi files under the Stasi Records Act (StUG). The project group “Virtual reconstruction of torn Stasi documents” was set up at the Stasi records authority to accompany and control the research assignment.

At the beginning of 2018 it was announced that the project will be stopped for the time being because no suitable scanners are available.

Criticism from the Federal Audit Office

In 2016 there was criticism of incalculable costs in the reconstruction of torn Stasi files with the Stasi snipping machine by the Federal Audit Office . With the Stasi shredding machine, only snippets from 23 sacks could be digitized and the contents of 11 sacks reconstructed in eight years. This work had cost around 14 million euros in eight years. Around 15,000 bags of scraps are stored in the authority. As the Court of Auditors found, "... there is no reliable prospect of using the existing technology to restore the entire inventory of the torn documents in the foreseeable future and at manageable costs".

literature

  • Johannes Weberling, Giselher Spitzer (Hrsg.): Virtual reconstruction of "previously destroyed" Stasi documents. (PDF; 7.0 MB) Technological Feasibility and Financial Feasibility - Consequences for Science, Forensic Science and Journalism, 2nd edition, Berlin 2007 In: Series of publications by the Berlin State Commissioner for the Documents of the State Security Service of the former GDR ; Volume 21.
  • Jens Schöne: Erosion of Power. The dissolution of the Ministry for State Security in Berlin (PDF; 248 kB) In: Series of publications by the Berlin State Commissioner for the Documents of the State Security Service of the former GDR ; Volume 19, Berlin 2004.
  • Tobias Hollitzer: “We live from Monday to Monday at any rate”. To dissolve the State Security in Leipzig. First findings and conclusions , 2nd edition In: The disempowerment of state security in the regions; Vol. 6 = BStU Analyzes and Reports , Berlin 2000, Series B; H. 99.1.
  • Roger Engelmann: On the value of the MfS files . In: Materials of the Enquete Commission “Overcoming the Consequences of the SED Dictatorship in Germany” (12th electoral term of the German Bundestag), Vol. VIII, Baden-Baden 1995, pp. 243–296
  • The German machine . In: Der Spiegel . No. 32 , 2008, p. 44 ( online ).
  • Susanne Donner: Zerreißprobe , in: Der Tagesspiegel , July 25, 2015, p. 27

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Automated virtual reconstruction of the torn Stasi files  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Website of Fraunhofer IPK, accessed on September 1, 2015@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.ipk.fraunhofer.de  
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Hübner: "Gregor" and "Notar" lived from numerous sources . In: Neues Deutschland , 27./28. June 1998, p. 3
  3. ↑ Snippets of the Stasi files migrate to the east. Retrieved June 8, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Olaf Olpitz: Torn fates . In: Focus , No. 40/1996
  5. ↑ Sascha Anderson - More than a thousand Stasi pages surfaced In: Der Spiegel - Kulturspiegel , October 3, 1999
  6. ↑ Renate Oschlies: The informer . In: Berliner Zeitung , June 16, 2005
  7. ↑ Franziska Augstein , Heribert Prantl : We report what the files say . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , June 26, 2008
  8. ↑ Bundestag Dr. 14/4885 (PDF; 47 kB)
  9. ↑ Bundestag Dr. 15/3718 (PDF; 178 kB)
  10. ^ BStU - Reconstruction of documents. In: www.bstu.bund.de. Retrieved November 22, 2016 .
  11. ^ BStU - Reconstruction of documents. In: www.bstu.bund.de. Retrieved November 22, 2016 .
  12. ↑ Virtual reconstruction of Stasi documents still being tested , Heise.de , January 2, 2015
  13. ^ BStU - Reconstruction of documents. In: www.bstu.bund.de. Retrieved November 22, 2016 .
  14. ↑ Only a small part of the torn Stasi files can be read again , Heise online, January 2, 2018
  15. ↑ Stasi documents: Waste? Der Spiegel from January 30, 2016, accessed on July 28, 2017