Methodological note. This text is based on primary Bundestag documents (Drucksachen), the foundation register, the AAS website, and publicly available material on the founder’s Stasi-IM past. Where amounts are only secondary-sourced, this is marked. The foundation does work against right-wing extremism that addresses an unquestionable societal need. The point here is not to deny it its legitimacy — it is to show what the foundation systematically does not show when presenting itself as a “civil society” actor.
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.
