Oskar Lafontaine and Wolf Biermann outside the former Stasi Headquarters (September 1990)

To protest a passage in the Unification Treaty that stipulated the passing of a new law on the storage, use, and safeguarding of Stasi documents after reunification, East German civil rights activists occupied the former Stasi headquarters in East Berlin on September 4, 1990. They demanded that the “Law on the Handling of Stasi Records,” which had been passed by the East German Volkskammer on August 24, 1990, be included in the Unification Treaty. The protest campaign ended on September 28, after the pastor and civil rights activist Joachim Gauck had been named “Special Representative for the Documents of the State Security Service” by the East German Volkskammer (his position was also guaranteed in the period after the reunification). This photo shows then SPD-politician and chancellor candidate Oskar Lafontaine (right) and singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann (who had been expatriated by the German Democratic Republic in 1976) at a meeting with protesters who had occupied the Stasi headquarters in Berlin’s Normannenstrasse. Photo: Peer Grimm.

print version     return to image list

previous image      next image

picture-alliance/ZB
(c) dpa-Report