Holm Singer (born 23 July 1961 in
Reichenbach,
East Germany
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
) is a former East German
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...
informant who betrayed local church officials. He worked from 1980 till 1989 for the
East German
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...
secret police under the pseudonym IM "Schubert". (IM stands for "inoffizieller Mitarbeiter", civilian informant.)
In March 2008, Singer has won an interim
injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...
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".
[Tino Moritz]
“Ex-Pfarrer darf Klarnamen von Stasi-IM nennen”
(''Leipziger Volkszeitung online'', 24. März 2010)
References
Further reading
* Berhard Honnigfort: "Damals Spitzel, heute Opfer?", ''Frankfurter Rundschau'', March 26, 2008.
* Reiner Burger: "Nichts als die Wahrheit", ''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung'', July 5, 2008.
External links
“E.German Stasi informant wins battle to conceal past”(''Reuters'', March 25, 2008)
(''Spiegel online'', April 7, 2008)
“Anwalt des früheren ‘IM Schubert’ kündigt Klage an”(''Tagesspiegel'', April 9, 2008)
“Stasi-spion: toch geen recht op privacy”(''Algemeen Dagblad'', April 22, 2008)
“Stasi informant loses court privacy battle”(''The Local'', April 22, 2008)
* Reiner Burger
(''faz.net'', December 21, 2008)
* Hans-Jürgen Grasemann
(BWV-Bayern)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Singer, Holm
1961 births
Living people
People from Reichenbach im Vogtland
People from Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt
Stasi informants