Holm Singer

Holm Singer (born 1961) is a former East German Stasi informant who betrayed local church officials. He worked from 1980 till 1989 for the East German secret police under the pseudonym IM “Schubert”. (IM stands for “inoffizieller Mitarbeiter”, civilian informant.)

In March 2008 Singer has won an interim injunction to prevent an exhibition in Reichenbach from including his name and clandestine activities. On April, 22 he “lost a legal bid to keep his identity from being made public” and the injunction was cancelled. The judicial process nevertheless continued and Singer′s case was widely discussed in German media.

In March 2010 the court finally decided that the exhibition maker can make the real name of “IM Schubert” public. “The activity of the IM, who had repeatedly admitted his past deeds”, said the acting judge, was “of historical interest”.^[1]

Further reading

• Berhard Honnigfort: “Damals Spitzel, heute Opfer?”, Frankfurter Rundschau, March 26, 2008. (German)
• Reiner Burger: “Nichts als die Wahrheit”, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 5, 2008. (German)

External links

• Chris Humbs, Peter Grimm: “Geschützte Stasi-Spitzel – Enttarnung verboten” (ARD-Kontraste, March 20, 2008) (German)
• “E.German Stasi informant wins battle to conceal past” (Reuters, March 25, 2008) (English)
• “Fear of the Stasi Lives On in Eastern Germany” (Spiegel online, April 7, 2008) (English)
• “Anwalt des früheren ‘IM Schubert’ kündigt Klage an” (Tagesspiegel, April 9, 2008) (German)
• “Stasi-spion: toch geen recht op privacy” (Algemeen Dagblad, April 22, 2008) (Dutch)
• “Stasi informant loses court privacy battle” (The Local, April 22, 2008)
• “Weiter Debatte um Namensnennung von Stasi-IM” (MDR television, September 6, 2008) (German)
• Reiner Burger: “Vorbei, vergangen, vergessen?” (faz.net, December 21, 2008) (German)
• Thomas Voigt: “Stachel des Unrechts sitzt noch tief. Reichenbacher Opfer des ehemaligen DDR-Ministeriums für Staatssicherheit stellen sich Podiumsdiskussion” (Freie Presse, May 21, 2009) (German)

References

1. ^ Tino Moritz: “Ex-Pfarrer darf Klarnamen von Stasi-IM nennen” (Leipziger Volkszeitung onliney, 24. März 2010)