Rosenholz files

The Rosenholz files are a collection of 381 CD-ROMs containing 280,000 files with information on persons who were sources and targets or employees and helpers in the focus of the Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung (HVA, “Main Directorate for Reconnaissance”), the primary foreign intelligence agency of the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany).[1][2][3] At the beginning it was thought that the files mostly contain the real names of agents who worked for the HVA in the former West Germany,[4][2] but later it became clear that at least 90% of the persons never worked for or with the HVA.[5][6]

The Rosenholz files ended up in the hands of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the German reunification under unclear circumstances; they were initially analysed by the United States only, but finally returned to Germany in 2003 after long negotiations.[7] The exact reason for the duration of the negotiations is still debated among scholars.[2]

According to the annals of the former Moscow CIA station chief Milton Bearden, the Rosenholz files were not seized on January 15, 1990, when demonstrators stormed the Ministry of State Security in East Berlin, but instead only when President George H. W. Bush personally contacted the chief of the Berlin CIA station.[5] Bearden later lobbied for the return of the Rosenholz files to the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records (German: Der Bundesbeauftragte für die Stasi-Unterlagen, BStU) while CIA station chief in Bonn,[7] and received the German government's Bundesverdienstkreuz (Federal Cross of Merit).[2]

After being returned, the files were checked for mistranslation and other errors by the Stasi Records Agency; since June 2003, the files have in theory been open to the general public and can be viewed following an appropriate request (Antrag auf persönliche Akteneinsicht).[8] However, because of the unclear compilation of the files, many requests were turned down.[2][7]

References
  1. Schäfer, Bernd (1 February 2002). "The Foreign Intelligence Files" (PDF). Stasi Files and GDR Espionage Against the West (PDF) (Report). Oslo, Norway: Institutt for Forsvarsstudier (Norwegian Institute for Defence Studies). p. 7. ISSN 0803-1061. IFS Info 2/2002.
  2. Livingston, Robert Gerald (2010) [2009]. "5. Rosenholz: Mischa's files, CIA's booty". In Macrakis, Kristie; Friis, Thomas Wegener; Müller-Enbergs, Helmut (eds.). East German Foreign Intelligence: Myth, Reality and Controversy (3rd ed.). Abingdon, United Kingdom: Routledge. pp. 70–88. doi:10.4324/9780203873021. ISBN 978-1-135-21450-0 – via Google Books.
  3. Friis, Thomas Wegener; Müller-Enbergs, Helmut (1 March 2012). Björnsson, Anders; Mörner, Ninna; Köll, Anu Mai (eds.). "The "Rosenholz-Archives": Myth and Reality". Baltic Worlds. Huddinge, Sweden: Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES)/Södertörn University. 4 (1): 25–30. ISSN 2000-2955.
  4. Jedlitschka, Karsten (21 March 2012). Hunter, Gregory S. (ed.). "The Lives of Others: East German State Security Service's Archival Legacy" (PDF). The American Archivist. Chicago, Illinois, United States: Society of American Archivists. 75 (1): 81–108. doi:10.17723/aarc.75.1.c6555155715775nq. ISSN 0360-9081. JSTOR 03609081. LCCN 40008025. OCLC 1479314.
  5. Livingston, Robert Gerald (1 March 2006). "Operasi yang Disebut 'Rosenholz' – Bagaimana CIA membeli fail Stasi dengan harga $ 75,000" [An Operation Called 'Rosenholz' – How the CIA bought the Stasi files for $75,000]. The Atlantic Times (in German). Archived from the original on 21 January 2012.
  6. Macrakis, Kristie (1 September 2018). Maret, Susan (ed.). "Writing About Espionage Secrets" (PDF). Secrecy and Society. San Jose, California, United States: San José State University. 2 (1). doi:10.31979/2377-6188.2018.020107. ISSN 2377-6188. S2CID 240184987 – via School of Information at SJSU ScholarWorks.
  7. Pidd, Helen (28 December 2011). Written at Berlin, Germany. Rusbridger, Alan (ed.). "Stasi files row as Britain refuses to return documents to Germany". The Guardian. London, United Kingdom. ISSN 1756-3224. OCLC 60623878.
  8. Cox, Douglas (2 January 2012). "Debate Over Return of Stasi "Rosenholz" Files in Britain". Document Exploitation. Archived from the original on 21 February 2012.
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