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International Initiatives

Historical reappraisal on the international stage

Although the Stasi Records Archive statutory mandate does not specifically call for the archive’s support of historical reappraisal in other countries, the work of th Stasi Records Archive has sparked strong international interest. Efforts to address past injustice by making secret police files that document human rights violations publicly accessible has become an established instrument of "transitional justice." Germany’s Stasi Records Agency was the first institution to do this and it has been pleased to share its experiences with guests from all over the world.

Th Stasi Records Archive follows the activities of other countries in this field through these direct exchanges and by participating in international conferences. Making the archives of secret police institutions, other security service agencies and witness documentation accessible, allows past injustices to be identified and helps new societies find ways to address them. Here is a partial list of institutions, with whom the Stasi Records Archive has or had contact:

International Network on Human Rights Archives (INHRA)

Since 2019 the Stasi Records Archive is part of a pool of International Network on Human Rights Archives. This effort, funded by the German Robert Bosch Foundation with a secretariat at Swiss Peace, brings together different actors working at the nexus of archives, human rights and dealing with the past in different contexts across the globe. It fosters peer to peer exchange and support among different actors by strengthening their capacities and their expertise, and thus contributing to the professionalization of the field.

Visit the provisional website of the network:

One of the first efforts in knowledge exchange is an expert workshop on access to national security / intelligence documentation held online on July 15, 2020.