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Birthler grew up in East Germany and was active in child and youth work for the Church, first in her parish in Prenzlauer Berg, then as a youth advisor in the City of Berlin from 1987. In 1986 she co-founded a group called Church Solidarity (Solidarische Kirche), which campaigned for greater democracy in the church and in society.[3] In 1988 she joined the Initiative for Peace and Human Rights, which formed part of the resistance to the Soviet-imposed communist regime in the 1980s.[4]
Political career
Birthler was elected to the only democratically elected People's Chamber in the GDR in March 1990, where she served as spokeswoman of the Alliance 90. From German Reunification on 3 October 1990 until the elections of 2 December 1990, she was a member of the Bundestag, the Parliament of Germany. In October 1990, she became a member of the state parliament of Brandenburg, and in November, she was appointed as Minister for Education in the state government of Minister-President Manfred Stolpe. She resigned from the parliament in the summer of 1992 and, in protest over Stolpe's Stasi contacts, from the cabinet in October the same year.
From 1993 to 1994, Birthler was co-spokesperson (i.e., leader, with Ludger Volmer) of the Alliance '90/The Greens. She was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz in 1995.
In September 2000, Birthler was appointed by the Parliament of Germany as Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records, succeeding Joachim Gauck. She was appointed to a second term in January 2006. In February 2011 it was revealed 53 former Stasi agents were employed at the Stasi Records Agency under her leadership, creating a controversy as she prepared to leave the authority the following month.[5][6] As Federal Commissioner, she has notably been a strong critic of the left party Die Linke, the successor of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, and has on several occasions criticised the party of being extremist and nominating former Stasi employees as members of parliament. She has also criticised other parties for cooperating with the Die Linke party, warning that the party should not be given political influence.
Birthler was a member of the 2009 Federal Convention, serving as an elector of the President of Germany. Before the election, she strongly criticised the SPD candidate Gesine Schwan for claiming that the GDR was "not an unjust state".
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