The former East German Ministry for State Security’s archives show the struggles for freedom leading to the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago and the life of East German citizens during the Communist regime, panelists said.

Two renowned dissidents in former East Germany, Wolf Biermann, a poet and songwriter, and Marianne Birthler, head of the state-funded institution that organizes the archives of the Stasi-the previous East German secret police-spoke in a panel discussion to about 80 attendees at the Photonics Center on Wednesday.

The panelists spoke in English and German with Jay Rosellini, a biographer of Biermann, translating.

There were massive demonstrations before the Berlin Wall fall, Birthler said.

‘Hundreds of nonviolent demonstrators were killed by the armed forces,’ she said. ‘People gathered in churches. Many of them were not Christian, but they were united by a kindred spirit.”

She remembered when the police retreated in the face of 8,000 protesters in Leipzig.

‘It was first time in my life that there was feeling of freedom,’ she said.’ ‘

Birthler said the Stasi archives were preserved after the fall of the Berlin Wall due to public pressure.’

‘It was the decision of the people,’ she said.’

She said West German politicians feared vengeful reactions among the East German community once people found out about betrayals that occurred during the communist regime.’

‘During the treaty of unification, it was the initiative of East Germany that files should be open,’ she said. ‘West German politicians feared about revenge.”

However, she said, East Germans handled it well. Many checked files about themselves compiled by the Stasi, but scientists and journalists also used them for research.’

‘People were very sober-minded,’ she said. ‘They could handle the truth better than politicians.”

The archive is strictly guarded and can be accessed only for special purposes, she said. They depict how the Stasi worked and the general life in East Germany.

‘ ‘It has two aspects, one is who did what to whom, while the other is cultural, how dictatorship worked,’ she said.

The surveillance conducted by Stasi was so pervasive that its files speak much about a nation’s life.’

Both panelists spoke about the courage of the East Germans living under the brutal regime revealed by the Stasi archives.’

‘I found in my files many about how good, how brave some people were, and not many about bad people,’ Birthler said.’ ‘

She said the economic gap between the two sides of Germany and the years living under oppression made adapting to freedom difficult.’

‘Two dictatorships reduced independence and self-responsibility from their political culture,’ she said.’

Biermann said East Germans were not thankful for West German economic help because it highlighted their lack of wealth and made them question West German intentions.’

The people in other parts of post-communist Eastern Europe were happier ‘because they did not have a rich brother,’ he said.’

Detlef Gericke-Schoenhagen, the director of the Boston Goethe-Institute, a German cultural center, said he was he was impressed by the Stasi archive information.’

‘It was new for me,’ he said. ‘Ninety-thousand Stasi employees, 190,000 informal agents were used to control 7 million people.’

Eleanor Rosellini, Jay Rosellini’s wife, said the archives gave her a picture of an entire culture.’

‘ ‘To me it is about the files,’ she said.’