Finland's debate about Stasi files

In Sweden and Finland, secret service files and lists of names have triggered a debate about Swedish and Finnish citizens who worked as informants for the GDR's notorious state security service. Björn Sundell calls for the list of Finnish informants to be made public. "In this particular aspect it's like a dictatorship here in Finland. Researchers have virtually no access to the archives, and with each year that passes fewer applicants receive permission to search the files. We citizens aren't even being given the chance to find out what is written about us in the secret files. In Finland, the individual is denied the right to inspect his personal data. In this area it seems the security of the state or the manic efforts of the secret services to protect their own position take priority over all other ideals, even as far as historical material from the times of the Cold War is concerned."

» full article (external link, Swedish)
More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » History, » Germany, » Finland
All available articles from » Björn Sundell

» To the complete press review of Tuesday, August 14, 2007