Card files, Source: BArch / Dresen
A total of 111 kilometres of records on archival shelves, around 41 million index cards, over 1.8 million photographs and about 30,000 film and audio documents make up the Stasi Records Archive today. The exhibition “Access to Secrecy” introduces the visitor to the type of information the East German secret police Stasi collected and how they stored it in these records and the purpose they serve today.
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The entrance area and the ground-floor rooms serve as the arrival, initial orientation and information area for visitors to the exhibition. Information and materials about the exhibition are available to visitors at the information desk.
An employee of the department XII working on the file circulator.
Source: BStU, MfS, Abt. XII, Fo, Nr. 92, Bild 2
Index Card F16 from Gilbert Radulovic
Source: BStU
The Stasi's filing system
Source: © Oana Popa
On the first floor the focus shifts to the extensive card index system the Stasi used as a centrepiece of information processing. With an original rotating index cabinet, historic photos and film clips the visitors will gain a sense of the offices the Stasi once worked in as well as present-day card index rooms and working areas of the Stasi Records Archive. Still today the 41 million index cards play a key role in the research of Stasi records.
The Collection of Stasi Files
Source: © Oana Popa
Stasi Audio Cassettes
Source: © Oana Popa
Nearly 16,000 audio recordings on cassettes, audio tapes, and records contain recordings of staff meetings, speeches by leading Stasi officials, trial recordings, interrogations, wiretap recordings, and training materials.
Source: BArch / Dresen
On the second floor the visitor enters a room that first simulates an original repository room of the archive. Stepping between the two large archival rows of shelf space in the centre of the room one finds oneself between past and present of document storage. The room further displays the variety of media on which the Stasi stored its information – written documents as well as photos and videos, cassette tapes or computer discs. Not only the origin and type of archival record is shown in multimedia displays but also how current archivists work with the Stasi records. This part of the exhibition also explains how records are made accessible and preserved for the future.
Nikolaus Becker and Gilbert Radulovic worked together to document the lives of some punks in the GDR. The GDR arrested both of them and confiscated the photos.
Source: BArch, MfS, AU, Nr. 1980/86, Bd. 10, Bl. 56, Bild 6
The searchable case file on Gilbert Radulovic
Source: © Oana Popa
Identification photos of Gilbert Radulovic – taken at the time of his arrest.
Source: BArch
On the third floor a case study literally lets the visitor walk into a record. It presents the work processes, surveillance methods and the Stasi’s mode of operation. Why was Gilbert Radulovic sentenced to more than two years in prison? The tour through oversized, walk-in files allows at first an encounter with the Stasi’s perspective on Radulovic’s life by studying the original files. It is contrasted by Gilbert Radulovic’s account of the events as he remembers them in video interviews and allows personal insights into his biography. He gives a vivid testimony to the consequences of a state surveillance system.
"Looking in a distorting mirror" - The case of Gilbert Radulovic in the Stasi records
PDF
download
(6 MB, Accessible file)
A Look at the Sample File Collection
Source: BArch / Mulders
Visitors read through the sample files to learn more about the Stasi's methods and the fates of individuals.
Source: BArch / Griebe
A view of an open volume from the collection of sample files in the exhibition “Access to secrecy”
Source: BArch / Mulders
The sample files collection, accessible to all visitors on the ground floor, is an integral part of the exhibition on the Stasi Records Archive. The collection consists of faithful reproductions of complete Stasi files. This project allows visitors to form their own impression of the Stasi Records Archive’s diverse holdings and the Ministry for State Security’s working methods.
The sample files collection is regularly expanded. Please contact us if you are interested in making your file available for this project in an unredacted form (with regard to your personal details).
Exhibition „Access to Secrecy“
Normannenstraße 21a "Haus 7" ground floor
10365 Berlin
The sample files team can be reached at:
Tel.: 030 18 665-6754
E-Mail: beispielakten.stasiunterlagenarchiv@bundesarchiv.de
"Looking in a distorting mirror" - The case of Gilbert Radulovic in the Stasi records
PDF
download
(6 MB, Accessible file)
The catalog is available on site and can be downloaded for free here.
