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Marianne Birthler on The Lives of Others

Marianne Birthler on The Lives of Others


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The Academy Award®-winning The Lives of Others offered a vivid glimpse of East Germany's surveillance, intimidation and persecution of its own citizens at the hands of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi).

screening times

    • Monday November 15
    • 07:00 PM

official description

The Academy Award®-winning The Lives of Others offered a vivid glimpse of East Germany’s surveillance, intimidation and persecution of its own citizens at the hands of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi). We are honoured to welcome Marianne Birthler, Federal Commissioner for the Stasi archives since 2000, as she takes us inside the workings of the most feared of all Communist security services.

Presented by TIFF in co-operation with the Goethe-Institut Toronto.


Marianne Birthler was born in Berlin in 1948. She started her career in foreign trade in the GDR and completed an Open University course in Foreign Trade Economics in the 60s. From 1986 onwards, Marianne Birthler became actively involved in various opposition groups, such as the "Arbeitskreis Solidarische Kirche" ("Solidarity Church Workshop") and the "Initiative Frieden und Menschenrechte" ("Initiative for Peace and Human Rights").

After taking part in the “Round Table,” Marianne Birthler became a member of the People’s Chamber (Volkskammer) in March 1990, and was a spokesperson for the Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen parliamentary group until the dissolution of the parliament. From October 1990, Marianne Birthler was a member of the Federal Parliament (Bundestag).

At the same time, Marianne Birthler stood for the Brandenburg Federal State Parliament and became Minister of Education, Youth and Sport. She resigned from the Ministry in 1992 in reaction to the Prime Minister's Stasi contacts.

After the union of Bündnis 90 with the Green Party in 1993, she headed the new party as General Spokesperson of the Board until 1994. After the relocation of Parliament and Government to Berlin in 1999, she worked as an advisor for Personnel Development and Further Education in the Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen parliamentary group.

In 2000, Marianne Birthler was elected by the German Bundestag to be the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former GDR .

Marianne Birthler has held several honorary offices and functions: she is a member of the German Unicef Committee and belongs to the Advisory Board of Transparency International in Germany, the foundation board of the Stiftung Mitarbeit (Cooperation Foundation), the Grüne Akademie der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (Green Academy of the Heinrich Böll Foundation), the foundation board of the "Stiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur" (Government-funded organisation devoted to the examination and reappraisal of the Communist dictatorship in East Germany), and the advisory board of the Gedenkstätte Berlin-Hohenschönhausen (Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial).
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