E. German Leaders Reassured by Police Dossiers

East German leaders tried to defuse a political crisis Friday by inspecting dossiers that the secret police kept on them, and the official news service ADN said they were cleared of links to the notorious Stasi.

On Thursday, nationwide demonstrations were held demanding an investigation of allegations that some winners in East Germany’s first free elections were informants for the despised security apparatus of the former Stalinist regime.

ADN said that officials overseeing the disbanding of the secret police let the nation’s most influential politicians, or their representatives, study the confidential files Friday. It said the leaders of the three major political factions were given access to the files.

The politicians were accompanied by citizens’ representatives and officials overseeing dismantling of the secret police, the agency reported.

It said that Manfred Stolpe, senior administrator of East Berlin’s Lutheran Church, looked at the files of Christian Democratic leader Lothar de Maiziere and found no evidence connecting him with the secret police.

ADN said that De Maiziere asked Stolpe and Communist Party chief Gregor Gysi to look at the files for him.

The agency said Stolpe also found no evidence that Gysi, head of the new, reform-oriented Communist Party, had secret police ties. ADN said that Gysi looked at his files with Stolpe.

Social Democratic Chairman Ibrahim Boehme looked at his records himself and told reporters he also was cleared.

De Maiziere’s conservative political alliance finished with the most votes in March 18 elections, the Social Democrats finished a distant second and the Communists third.

Boehme said last week he was temporarily stepping down as party chairman amid allegations he was a secret police informant. On Friday, he said he was resuming his duties because inspection of the files proved his innocence.

The allegations of secret police involvement have clouded talks on forming East Germany’s freely elected government.

De Maiziere has been trying to forge a coalition with the left-leaning Social Democrats to ensure a majority in the new Parliament so that it can adopt a plan for swift unification with West Germany.