Bundesarchiv-Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv Suhl

The Stasi Records Archive (until June 17, 2021 the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic –GDR) is responsible for the preservation, management and accessibility of the records of the East German Ministry for State Security (1950 – 1989), its predecessor, the political police K5, and successor, the Office for National Security of the GDR. The Archive‘s holdings also include documents ceded to the Ministry for State Security, colloquially known as Stasi, by the line of activity K1 within the criminal police, as well as East German courts and prosecutors‘ offices. The Stasi Records Archive Suhl is responsible for the files of the Regional Unit for State Security (Bezirksverwaltung für Staatssicherheit) Suhl. 

The records of the Regional Unit (Bezirksverwaltung) Suhl including those of the district offices (Kreisdienststellen) Bad Salzungen, Hildburghausen, Ilmenau, Meiningen, Neuhaus, Schmalkalden, Sonneberg and Suhl consist of ca. 3,690 linear meters of paper files, about 54,150 photographs and 25 films. 

Access and usage of archival materials is regulated by the Stasi Records Act (Stasi-Unterlagen-Gesetz – StUG).