Second Stasi order to fire on people fleeing East Germany found in archives

A second written order by East Germany’s Stasi to shoot people fleeing the GDR has emerged from the secret police’s archives, The Associated Press reports today, refering to the German government agency that keeps the
The find at a branch of the archive in the eastern city of Chemnitz came after an identically worded order was published over the weekend.
The second copy of the order, unlike the first one, was signed by a company commander, the Stasi archives agency said in a statement. It did not identify the commander or give the date of the order — but the signature might make it easier to open legal proceedings. The unusually explicit order initially was greeted as a new find last weekend, but it then emerged that copies surfaced a decade or more ago without attracting widespread attention. Left-wing daily Berliner Zeitung writes that it is doubtful whether this document will have legal consequences for ex-Stasi officials. Courts were probably aware of its existence during the trials of border guards and Stasi officers, itsays. The newspaper notes that the Birthler Authority, which manages the files kept by the Stasi secret service, published an identical order 10 years ago. “It’s a major lapse that Marianne Birthler knew nothing about this and made extensive public statements about a supposed new discovery. If the head of the main authority in charge of dealing with this history can’t give reliable information, who can?”