Stasi

On March 13, 2026, the First Chamber of the Berlin Administrative Court delivered a ruling that barely made headlines. Presiding Judge Jens Tegtmeier stated clearly: Marcel Luthe, former FDP member of parliament and plaintiff, had “no legal claim to the release” of possible Stasi files on Angela Merkel under the Stasi Records Act.

The Stasi, the Ministry for State Security of the GDR, was a symbol of total surveillance and oppression. With a vast network of official and unofficial collaborators, it infiltrated the most intimate areas of citizens’ lives. But what was once considered the epitome of a surveillance state now seems almost primitive compared to what Big Tech and artificial intelligence (AI) have made possible.