Stasi Files Release

Period: 1991

Summary

After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the release of the Stasi files in 1991 allowed East German citizens to access records of the extensive surveillance conducted by the secret police. These files revealed the pervasive nature of state control and the personal betrayals enabled by the system. The event marked a pivotal moment in reckoning with authoritarianism, providing lessons on transparency, accountability, and the enduring scars of institutionalized surveillance.