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The fathers of Democracy stand proudly today as members of the Der Zwölfte Deutsche Bundestag, the Twelfth German Federal Parliament, introduced a multi-partisan bill bringing justice to the Stasi, the secret police of the German Democratic Republic who have committed horrific acts against the German people.
As records of the Stasi’s crimes against humanity were found and collected by the Federal German government, the Der Zwölfte Deutsche Bundestag was tasked with looking for a way to fulfill “the need for justice from Communist suppression but also stability for the new Germany, but maintain the security of German citizens.” said Jan Wagner of the Christian Democratic Union. Hence, this bill was established.
Originally, this bill was split into four different propositions within three different parties: the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), and Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Following the proposal of each individual bill, each member of the parties realized that they had a proposition that can work when merged.
“The merging process literally took five minutes,” said Bridgette Ziegler. “It was really cool to see the merging process take place so quickly despite our ideological differences”
This bill, named restorative justice, accomplishes this through two main processes.
The first clause not only firmly denounces the Stasi as an “illegal and inhuman enterprise,” but also established Truth Committees in each of the Eastern Lander. The Truth Committees will investigate and obtain Stasi documents, investigate Stasi links, and remover Stasi elements from all elements of government positions.
The second clause deals with anyone found to be guilty of being involved with Stasi elements. They will be classified into lower-level officials to higher-level officials and prosecuted depending on their classification.
The bill passed 24 votes in affirmation, four against, and one abstention.
This multi-partisan bill proved to be a success as just a few hours later six individual serving within the Der Zwölfte Deutsche Bundestag were found guilty of participating in past Stasi activity. The following former members of the parliament will face trial tomorrow: Annika Kaufman, Bridgette Ziegler (who was a signatory of the bill), Michael Neumann, Benedict Druber, Kurt Stirum, and Otto Schumacher.