Magazine / History / Communist Secret Services / From the press | 05/02/2008

Clarification or Instrumentalisation?

Newspapers are discussing the right way of dealing with the files of former communist secret services, unmasking prominent informers and calling for political consequences.

euro|topics-Dossiers on the subject of former communist secret services

Main focus of Wednesday, 23. May 2007

Ryszard Kapuscinski's secret-service past

The attempts to confront the communist past in Poland have sparked a new scandal. A Polish weekly has revealed that the internationally renowned Polish reporter ... » more

Main focus of Tuesday, 15. May 2007

The lustration dispute in Poland

On Friday, 11 May 2007, the Polish constitutional court declared the controversial lustration law, under which large sections of Polish society would be forced to ... » more

Main focus of Thursday, 26. April 2007

Bronislaw Geremek defies the Polish government

The European Member of Parliament Bronislaw Geremek may have his European mandate taken away from him because he has refused to obey the 'lustration' law. ... » more

Main focus of Thursday, 15. March 2007

Examining Poland's past

Today, a new law requiring journalists, university lecturers, teachers, lawyers and politicians to reveal any past collaboration with communist era secret services enters force in ... » more

Main focus of Friday, 12. January 2007

Poland confronts its past

Up to now, Poland has confronted its communist past only hesitantly. But the withdrawal of Warsaw Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus from his post has fanned the ... » more

Main focus of Monday, 8. January 2007

The Church and the communist secret service

Poland is going through a dramatic crisis with its Catholic Church: Stanislaw Wielgus was supposed to have been inaugurated yesterday as the new Archbishop of ... » more

General

Dnevnik - Bulgaria | Friday, 1. June 2007

The renaissance of the KGB ideology

In Romania former members of the Securitate play an active role in everyday politics and in Bulgaria, former secret police members are running for election ... » more

The Irish Times - Ireland | Friday, 13. April 2007

Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman' s hidden stalinist past

"Last month, the biggest German daily, the 'Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung', published an article in which Bogdan Musial, a Polish historian, revealed renowned Polish-British sociologist Zygmunt ... » more

L'Hebdo - Switzerland | Thursday, 22. March 2007

Jacques Pilet on the polish lustration law

The Swiss columnist Jacques Pilet reviews the Polish law on lustration which came in to effect on the 15th March which will mean hundreds of ... » more

Romania Libera - Romania | Tuesday, 20. March 2007

Confronting the past in Eastern Europe

Political expert Cristian Pirvulescu comments on the "lustration law" - a Polish law that requires members of certain groups of the population to reveal former ... » more

Poland

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland | Tuesday, 12. June 2007

Walesa's Stasi files on the Internet

On Sunday the former Polish President and labour leader Lech Walesa published 500 pages of his secret service files on his homepage. For two years ... » more

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland | Saturday, 12. May 2007

Polish lustration law ruled unconstitutional

Last Friday Poland's constitutional court repealed most of what is known as the lustration law, which is aimed at uncovering cooperation with the former communist ... » more

Dziennik - Poland | Friday, 11. May 2007

Poland attacks the constitutional court

The dispute is escalating over Poland's lustration law, according to which 700,000 Poles have to turn in a declaration regarding their possible secret service work. ... » more

Le Monde - France | Friday, 27. April 2007

Geremek explains why he is refusing to respect the Polish lustration law

"On several occasions I have had to sign declarations stating that I never collaborated with the [communist] secret services", explains the Member of European Parliament ... » more

Rzeczpospolita - Poland | Wednesday, 21. March 2007

Poland defends itself against criticism of its lustration law from abroad

The newspaper cites the reaction of the European press to the 'lustration law', the new Polish law requiring certain sectors of the population to reveal ... » more

El Periódico de Catalunya - Spain | Friday, 16. March 2007

Should the EU treat Poland as it did Austria in 2000 ?

The daily considers that the lustration process launched in Poland on March 15th is a "witch hunt" with authorities asking hundreds of thousands of Poles ... » more

Polityka Online - Poland | Wednesday, 28. February 2007

A book on the Polish Church's involvement with the secret services

Poland has been eagerly awaiting the publication of Father Tadeusz Isakowicz-Zaleski's 600-page book "The Priests in the Face of the Secret Service". Yesterday the book ... » more

Dziennik - Poland | Friday, 19. January 2007

Polish writers caught up in the secret service

Poland is currently absorbed in debate about the spying activities of the former communist secret service, SB. In her 2005 book "Oblawa" (the hunt), author ... » more

Dziennik - Poland | Friday, 5. January 2007

Spying charges against the new Archbishop of Warsaw

On Sunday, Stanislaw Wielgus is to take over the position of Archbishop of Warsaw from Józef Cardinal Glemp. This week, numerous media outlets have published ... » more

Rzeczpospolita - Poland | Friday, 30. June 2006

The handling of Stasi files in Poland

A week ago the non-party Polish Finance Minister Zyta Gilowska resigned. She had been accused of having worked for the communist secret police, an accusation ... » more

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland | Tuesday, 27. June 2006

The investigation of journalists

The right-wing nationalist Polish government plans to introduce a law under which journalists are to be subjected to investigations aimed at establishing whether they had ... » more

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland | Saturday, 25. February 2006

Confronting the Stasi past

The former activities of Catholic priests as spies have become the focal point of Poland's confrontation with its Stasi past. In an interview led by ... » more

Heti Válasz - Hungary | Thursday, 12. January 2006

Confronting the Stasi Past

Poland will perhaps become the first country in Eastern Europe in which the change in system is resolutely carried through to its final consequences," columnist ... » more

Tribune de Genève - Switzerland | Tuesday, 9. January 2007

Georges Mink on the 'decommunisation' of Poland

George Mink, a professor at the Polish branch of the College of Europe (Natolin), explains in an interview conducted by Jean-François Verdonnet how Poland ... » more

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland | Monday, 24. July 2006

The new 'Lustration Law' in Poland

In future many more people in Poland will have to prove that they did not collaborate with the secret services under communist rule. The Polish ... » more

Rzeczpospolita - Poland | Friday, 20. October 2006

Jan Zaryn on the Polish Church's confrontation with the past

The issue of how the Catholic Church should deal with its past during the communist era and the spying activities of some of its priests ... » more

Rzeczpospolita - Poland | Friday, 30. December 2005

Reorientation at the Institute of National Remembrance

Acoording to Andrzej Kaczynski, the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) will propbably set itself new goals now that Janusz Kurtyka has taken over as ... » more

Germany

Die Zeit - Germany | Thursday, 8. November 2007

Brigitte Fehrle on remembering Germany's unification

Eighteen years after the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, the German Bundestag is to vote on the construction of a monument ... » more

Die Presse - Austria | Friday, 15. December 2006

Stasi spies working for the Stasi revision authority

"The very authority that has been given the task of shedding light on the past of the GDR's secret service is riddled with former Stasi ... » more

Süddeutsche Zeitung - Germany | Thursday, 3. August 2006

No new revelations in the "Rosenholz" files

The "Rosenholz files," compiled by the Stasi, were brought to the US after the Wall came down in 1989 and were handed over to the ... » more

Frankfurter Rundschau - Germany | Thursday, 20. July 2006

Berlin's DDR-Alltagskultur museum

In Berlin, the privately-financed Museum zur DDR-Alltagskultur, a museum about every day life in the former GDR, has opened. Harry Nutt reviews the museum in ... » more

Süddeutsche Zeitung - Germany | Monday, 6. February 2006

The Stasi and doping in sport

Thomas Kistner examines why German sport is repeatedly caught up in doping scandals and Stasi file affairs. "The history of the German Democratic Republic has ... » more

Hungary

Élet és Irodalom - Hungary | Friday, 27. April 2007

Secret police scandal involving conservative politician János Martonyi

Hungary has a new secret police scandal. Last Friday journalist Péter Kende revealed in a weekly newspaper that former Hungarian Foreign Minister János Martonyi delivered ... » more

Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Switzerland | Tuesday, 20. February 2007

Disappearing secret service files in Hungary

In Hungary only the secret service itself is allowed access to the secret files which originated during communist times. Ulrich Schmidt describes this as a ... » more

Magyar Hírlap - Hungary | Tuesday, 30. January 2007

Hungary plans to give public full access to Stasi files

Political parties in Hungary yesterday began talks about a new law which would guarantee the public unrestricted access to Stasi files, while at the same ... » more

Magyar Hírlap - Hungary | Tuesday, 22. August 2006

Former secret service functionaries in public office

György Petö, mayor of Budapest's Obuda district, has made a public statement that he worked for the former Hungarian Ministry of State Security's counterintelligence department ... » more

Magyar Hírlap - Hungary | Thursday, 17. August 2006

Europe discusses Grass's admission

Julianna R. Szekely draws parallels between the debate about Günter Grass and the scandal when Istvan Szabo's past as a Stasi informant was revealed, and ... » more

Élet és Irodalom - Hungary | Friday, 26. May 2006

Laszlo Verga on Hungary's Stasi past

Hungarian historian Laszlo Varga calls for the Hungarian government to follow Germany's example and give the public access to Hungary's Stasi files: "Joachim Gauck (the ... » more

Élet és Irodalom - Hungary | Friday, 19. May 2006

The Stasi past of scientists and scholars

People who have been exposed as former Stasi spies usually justify their actions by claiming they were forced to collaborate. Holding up renowned scientists and ... » more

Élet és Irodalom - Hungary | Friday, 3. March 2006

The Catholic Church and the past of its members

A few weeks ago historian Krisztian Ungvary exposed Bishop Laszlo Paskai as a former informer for the political police and triggered a violent debate. He ... » more

Neue Zürcher Zeitung - Switzerland | Friday, 10. February 2006

Confronting the Stasi past

The spying activities of well-know public figures are coming to light almost on a daily basis in Hungary, writes Susi Koltai. Those implicated include Cardinal ... » more

Népszabadság - Hungary | Saturday, 4. February 2006

Szabo's new film

The young writer Eszter Babarczy went to see Istvan Szabo's new film "Rokonok" ("Relations"). It was the opening film at the Hungarian Film Week in ... » more

Heti Válasz - Hungary | Friday, 3. February 2006

Filmmaker Peter Rudolf on confronting the Communist Past

Following the revelations about Istvan Szabo's Stasi past, the Es Magazin has now exposed two further prominent public figures as former Stasi informants: Cardinal Laszlo ... » more

Népszabadság - Hungary | Thursday, 2. February 2006

Confronting the Past

Hungary seems to have difficulties confronting its past, notes historian Róbert Braun. He goes on to draw certain parallels between how the István Szabó case ... » more

Népszabadság - Hungary | Tuesday, 31. January 2006

Istvan Szabo's Stasi Past

On Sunday, Hungarian film director Istvan Szabo revised his explanation for his activity as an informer. He said he allowed himself to be recruited by ... » more

Népszabadság - Hungary | Monday, 30. January 2006

Szabó's Stasi Past

"It would be better if we never found out who the spies were. But even the doctor can't conceal the diagnosis, no matter how painful, ... » more

Népszabadság - Hungary | Friday, 27. January 2006

Istvan Szabo on Stasi Accusations

Film director István Szabó ("Mephisto") worked in an unofficial capacity for the Hungarian State Security Service from 1957 to 1963. As a student at the ... » more

Der Standard - Austria | Monday, 23. January 2006

Coming to Terms with the Stasi Past

András Heltai-Hopp, now deputy chief editor of "Pester Llloyd" and one of several former Hungarian foreign correspondents accused by journalist Paul Lendvai of having spied ... » more

Magyar Hírlap - Hungary | Tuesday, 17. January 2006

Secret Police Scandal

TV journalist and Eastern Europe expert Paul Lendvai, who has lived in Vienna since 1957, has publicly accused several former Vienna correspondents for Hungarian newspapers ... » more

Czech Republic

Respekt - Czech Republic | Tuesday, 15. January 2008

Czechs agonize over probing the history of totalitarianism

57 Social Democratic and Communist members of parliament have submitted a constitutional challenge to the creation of an authority for research into the totalitarian regime. ... » more

Lidové noviny - Czech Republic | Wednesday, 30. May 2007

The Stasi past of two ex-ministers

Two ministers who held office during Czechoslovakia's post-communist period, former Minister of the Interior Richard Sacher and former Defence Minister Miroslav Vacek, have been exposed ... » more

Pražský deník - Czech Republic | Monday, 26. February 2007

Problems confronting the past in the Czech Republic

Recent revelations about the secret service past of former Prime Minister Josef Tosovsky and popular singer Jaroslav Nohavica have revived the subject of collaboration with ... » more

Respekt - Czech Republic | Wednesday, 7. February 2007

The Czech clergy's former ties with the communist secret service

The Archbishop of Prague Cardinal Miloslav Vlk wants an investigation into whether Czech members of the clergy collaborated with the communist secret police the StB. ... » more

Talaljuk ki Közep-Europat? - Hungary | Sunday, 13. August 2006

The flaws of the Czech 'lustration law'

Judit Hamberger of the Laszlo Teleki Institute in Hungary points to how Czech Social Democrats and communists try to get round the so-called Lustration Law, ... » more

Mladá fronta DNES - Czech Republic | Wednesday, 21. December 2005

Secret Service Missions in Poland

In 1981, several hundred agents of the former Czech secret police, the StB, volunteered to go to Poland on a secret mission to counteract the ... » more

Slovakia

Pravda - Slovakia | Thursday, 15. February 2007

The Slovakian Catholic Church's involvement with the Stasi

In Slovakia new files have come to light according to which Jan Sokol, Archbishop of Trnava and Bratislava, maintained close ties with the former communist ... » more

Hospodářské noviny - Czech Republic | Thursday, 22. June 2006

Dealing with the past in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Like several of its neighbouring countries, the Czech Republic now plans to set up a special public authority to deal with the crimes of communism. ... » more

Romania

Romania Libera - Romania | Monday, 4. February 2008

How to shed light on the Securitate

On Sunday, several hundred people protested in Bucharest against the decision of the constitutional court declaring the existing rules for dealing with the Securitate files ... » more

Evenimentul Zilei - Romania | Friday, 1. February 2008

And end to Romania's confrontation with secret service crimes?

Romania's National Council for the Study of the Securitate Archives (CNSAS) is on its deathbed. The constitutional court decided yesterday that the law that has ... » more

Evenimentul Zilei - Romania | Thursday, 3. January 2008

Limit the confrontation with Romania's past secret service?

Romania's oppositional Social Democrats (PSD) want to greatly limit the independence of the authority that is examining the files of Romania's former secret service Securitate ... » more

Cotidianul - Romania | Friday, 25. May 2007

A lustration law for Romania?

The Romanian head of state, Traian Basescu, plans to propose the introduction of a lustration law at a meeting with the parliamentary parties next Monday. ... » more

Finland

Hufvudstadsbladet - Finland | Tuesday, 14. August 2007

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 ... » more

Sweden

Svenska Dagbladet - Sweden | Tuesday, 14. August 2007

The list of names of Swedish Stasi informants

The Swedish secret police Säpo has confirmed the existence of files on around 50 Swedish Stasi informants. However, the names of the informants are not ... » more

Spain

Rzeczpospolita - Poland | Saturday, 24. March 2007

The dispute over Polish fighters in the Spanish Civil War

Tensions have arisen between Poland and Spain after the Spanish Senate called on the Spanish government to lobby for the two dozen or so Poles ... » more

Further articles on the subject » Domestic Policy, » History, » Eastern Europe
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » History, » Eastern Europe