Targeting citizens – The history and aftermath of the Secret Service of East Ger

Presentation and discussion; Tuesday, September 23rd 2014, 7 pm; Goethe Institute Seoul; Free admission; German with Korean translation

Founded in 1950, the Ministry for State Security was the domestic and foreign secret service of East Germany. Known under the abbreviation “Stasi”, it developed into an instrument of surveillance and suppression of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). Even 25 years after its disbandment, the Stasi serves as a nightmarish example of bureaucratic and inhumane meticulousness. 

Which motives led to its creation? Which role did it play in the power politics in East Germany? How did Germany deal with the Stasi’s legacy, its file archives, former members of staff and informers after the fall of the wall and reunification? Lutz Rathenow, born in 1952 in Jena, will investigate these issues in his presentation. The author and journalist was a dissident in East Germany before the wall came down, and in 2011 became State Commissioner for the file archives of the State Security in Saxony. 

Afterwards, Yoo Jay-Kun Ph.D. will moderate a discussion. Mr. Yoo is a lawyer, who was Member of the National Assembly until 2008 and Chairman of the Special Committee on Foreign Relations and Cooperation of the URI Party.