GERMANY: East Germany's secret police, the Stasi, gathered over 7,000 pages of information about former chancellor Helmut Kohl. Exactly 1,071 pages finally saw the light of day yesterday, after a 15-year wait and a four-year legal battle. The verdict: quantity, not quality.
"The files are suitable for learning about the activities and methods of the [ Stasi]. Whoever wants to see the files in the hope of finding out something about the activities and methods of the former chancellor will be disappointed," said Marianne Birthler, head of the agency that manages the Stasi files.
"Significantly more material [ is] locked away than what is being released today."
The file, including over 600 pages of newspaper cuttings, was distributed to a small number of academics and journalists who applied to see the file years ago but whose applications were hindered by Dr Kohl's legal challenge.
His lawyers objected to the release of "spy-gathered documents . . . put together as a result of serious violations of human dignity through criminal activity".
Ms Birthler responded saying the Kohl file was important for historical research into the workings of the Stasi, the state security agency that had one secret informer for every 68 East German citizens.
"People of contemporary history are not entitled to as much protection as private citizens," she said at the time.
Dr Kohl already tried and failed as chancellor to hand over the Stasi files to the national archive, placing them under the 30-year rule.
Last year he lost the final round in court, forcing the file's release, but allowing him leeway in deciding what was to be made public.
As part of a compromise with Dr Kohl, the agency agreed to remove all tapped telephone transcripts and blacked out names of third parties.
That put paid to expectations of learning the names of Dr Kohl's mysterious party donors at the centre of the fundraising scandal that broke four years ago and cost Dr Kohl's successor his job as party leader.
Dr Kohl's office said yesterday: "It is still the case that all information relating to Helmut Kohl's privacy, or obtained through espionage remains confidential."
The Stasi files agency has dealt with five million enquiries in the past 15 years and around 1.9 million Germans have applied to see their files.
The interest remains high, with 10,000 file-viewing applications a month. The agency also employs a 15-person team working full-time to piece together half a million pages of shredded files, the contents of 250 sacks. Working at this rate, they will complete their task by the year 2405.