Representatives of the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes at the inauguration of Roland Jahn
Prague, 16 March 2011 – On 15 March 2011, Roland Jahn (57), a respected journalist and human rights activist in the former East Germany, became the new man in charge of the Office of the Federal Commissioner (BStU) for documenting the activity of the East German secret service or “Stasi” as it is commonly known. Representatives of the Czech Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes (ÚSTR) who attended his formal inauguration last night comprised the Institute’s director Daniel Herman and two members of his Advisory Board – former Euro MP Milan Horáček and the chairman of the Advisory Board Miroslav Lehký.
Succeeding Joachim Gauck and Marianne Birthler, Roland Jahn is the third commissioner to take charge of the Office, which has been in existence since 1990. Roland Jahn is an advocate of the open and painstaking examination of Stasi activities, which he sees as part of the “hygiene” of a democratic society. There has been considerable interest among German citizens in accessing the files of the Stasi. Nearly 90,000 people visited the archive in 2010 alone.