E. Germans to Abolish Secret Police : Hated ‘Stasi’ Dismantled in Concession to Reformers

Reform activists scored another victory for democracy today by pressuring the government into abolishing the hated secret police agency that tried to suppress their peaceful revolt.

The decision to shut down the Office for National Security came out of negotiations between Communist leaders and opposition groups, and amid increasing threats against secret police officials by citizens angry about previous excesses.

The Interior Ministry said threats and attacks against secret police have increased at an “alarming rate,” and warned East Germans against trying to take the law into their own hands.

Also today, West German Economics Minister Helmut Haussmann met with Communist Premier Hans Modrow and the two agreed to set up a joint economic commission and broaden cooperation.

Haussmann said more than 40% of West Germany’s booming industries have expressed interest in expanding their businesses into a reformed East German economy.

The Interior Ministry said posters have appeared on factory walls calling Communist Party and secret police officials “traitors who deserve the death penalty.”

In Dresden, about 50 people dragged one man out of his car and tied a towing cable around his neck, shouting: “Communist swine, we’ll hang you!” the ministry reported in a statement carried by the official ADN news agency.

A lynching was prevented by a man who managed to bring the crowd under control, the report said.

Elke Guenther of New Forum, the largest of East Germany’s pro-democracy groups, praised the dissolution of the hated “Stasi” secret police as a concession that may ease some of the mounting tension.

“This is not just an advance for the opposition, but for all of society,” she said.

Guenther said the secret police had harassed leaders of the reform movement until several weeks ago, when the swelling force for democratic change managed to force the ouster of Erich Honecker’s 18-year, hard-line leadership and burst open the door to the West.

The State Security Ministry that ran the hated secret police already had been downgraded to the National Security Agency and about 10,000 agents had been sent to work in industry.

Dozens of soldiers stood guard around the massive gray concrete secret police headquarters in East Berlin, searching the bags and boxes of those entering and leaving the building after the decision to shut down the service was disclosed.

A spokesman in the press office of the security agency said the government would divide the agency’s responsibilities among other ministries.

“This decision is another consequence of the round-table talks,” government spokesman Wolfgang Meyer said at a news conference.