Iron Curtain Sites

The East German secret police, the Staatssicherheitsdienst (Ministry for State Security) or Stasi kept a tight watch on the people of the GDR. Files were kept on millions of innocent citizens and operations were launched frequently against dissidents, whether real or imagined. In 1989 groups of civil rights demonstrators began to occupy Stasi offices in various districts of East Germany, forming Citizen’s Committees. 

In January 1990, representatives from these Committees took over the Stasi Headquarters, on Normannenstrasse in Berlin. The newly elected government of the GDR passed a resolution to form a research and memorial facility at the main headquarters building. This was never put into practice because former ministers would have been given the responsibility of sorting through their own documents before handing them over. 

The Research Centre and Memorial Site was opened in January 1990 by the Association Anti-Stalinist Action Normannenstrasse (ASTAK), which was formed by the Citizens’ Committee and civil rights activists.