Agreement Signed with Germany's BStU
PRAGUE, September 8, 2009 – Representatives of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes, Security Services Archive and the Office of the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former GDR (BStU) signed a cooperation agreement between their institutions on Monday, September 7, 2009.
His Excellence Johannes Haindl, the newly-named Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Prague, also attended the agreement signing. In his introductory speech, he emphasized the significance of Prague for citizens of the then NDR on their way to the longed-for west. “It was precisely Prague which almost exactly twenty years ago to the day became a sanctuary for thousands of East German citizens who found refuge at our Embassy, then from Prague traveled to West Germany. I’m glad that all three institutions are confirming their already ongoing cooperation with their signatures today, and I look forward to interesting results,“ stated Ambassador Haindl.
“I’m very pleased that I could come to Prague to sign this agreement. I believe that although the Czech Institute and Archive belong among the youngest of their kind in Europe, in over one year of operation they have already earned their place in the European family of institutes of national memory, thanks to their well organized conferences and above all their international activities within the scope of the Czech presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2009,“ said BStU director Hans Altendorf in his introductory remarks at the signing.
Director of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes Pavel Žáček emphasized that the first international trip after the establishment of the Institute and Archive in February 2008 led precisely to Germany and to the BStU. “We’ve prepared a small surprise for today, and have scanned the cooperation agreements between ministries of the ČSSR and the NDR as well as between the StB and the Stasi, documents which are now at the disposal of anyone interested in looking at them. Of interest is the fact that the greatest number of agreements concerned social affairs – on the exchange of servicemen going to the sea in the NDR or enjoying a rest on Czechoslovak territory,” added Žáček.