Published in: Helsingin Sanomat, 13th of July, 2004

- BERLIN IS SELLING THE FORMER STASI HEADQUARTERS FOR ONE EURO

- The city of Berlin, has announced that it's willing to sell the former headquarters of Stasi (Staatssicherheit), which was the infamous secret police in DDR, to the German government. The price would be one euro. Berlin is hoping, that the government would turn the building into a museum, that would commemorate all the victims, that have suffered from communism. During the time when Erich Mielke was leading the Stasi headquarters, there were some 20 000 officials working in the building. Stasi, like the rest of the DDR, met it's end in 1990. This building is important to the whole Germany, not just for Berlin. It's purpose is to be a warning sign to the future generations, says the mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, when asked about the low selling price. At the moment, there's a anti-Stalinistic society working in the building, which is funded by the city of Berlin. The weak economical situation, that Berlin is now facing, has lead the city officials to hope, that the government would buy the building and the exhibitions that are there and so would take care of the costs that maintaining these creates.