German court lifts block on Kohl Stasi files

A German court haslifted a general ban on publishing East German secret policefiles on former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, but actual…

A German court haslifted a general ban on publishing East German secret policefiles on former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, but actual release ofthe documents was set to be delayed by an appeal.

The authority responsible for maintaining the archives saidit would not release any documents pending an appeal by Kohl,one of the main architects of German unification in 1990.

"As long as there is no binding decision, nothing will begiven out," Hans Altendorf, director of the authority, said.

The government passed a law last year opening the archivesof the secret police or Stasi to historians and journalistsafter Kohl won an earlier court ruling to prevent the agencythat oversees the documents from releasing his files.

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The law allows selected documents relating to office holdersor prominent individuals to be examined, where the agency rulesthat public interest outweighs an individual right to privacy.

The head of the Stasi Memorial in Berlin, Hubertus Knabe,welcomed the ruling but was concerned an appeal could reversethe decision, closing off important material for historians.

"My big worry is that the constitutional judges, who willeventually deal with this, won't have sufficient understandingof what is involved in historical work. Judges aren'thistorians," he told German television.

Kohl says that opening the 6,000-page dossier the Stasicompiled on him, in part by tapping his telephone, would violatehis right to privacy and contends that the new law isunconstitutional.

However, the administrative court in Berlin said the law,which allows individuals to appeal against the release of theirdossiers, offered sufficient privacy guarantees and did notviolate the constitution.

"Working through the history of the Stasi is a legitimategoal," it said.

The agency said it had collected two document boxes ofmaterial from Kohl's files which it believed were appropriatematerials for study and educational purposes.

It said the selection contained no material obtained fromwire taps or spying operations but was made up of Stasi analysesof press reports on Kohl or on public speeches made by him.