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Namely, Lutz Heilmann, a member of the German parliament, Bundestag, since 2005. Through a legal measure put forward by Heilmann against Wikipedia e.V., the German part of the non-profit organisation running the Wikipedia website, the German-language version is unavailable right now. But since it’s the internet, this is not enough to silence unwanted information.

The legal measure only temporarily outlaws the automated link from wikipedia.de to the de.wikipedia.org site, which is operated through the US mother company. By directly writing in that link, one still reaches the German wikipedia site, including the entry from which this story has taken its start: the one about Lutz Heilmann himself. Therefore, internet superbrain Heilmann has caused more trouble for himself than anyone else.

The Unfitting Past

The spark of controversy partly derives from the past of Heilmann, who was born in eastern Germany in 1966, when it was still the German Democratic Republic (GDR). A member of left-wing Die Linke, reports surfaced shortly after his election to the Bundestag in 2005 that he had been a member of the Ministry of State Security until its collapse after the German reunification in 1990. Encompassing qualities of a domestic intelligence service and a specialized police force, the Stasi was one of the elements used to surpress the eastern German population.

Officially Stated

Heilmann himself mentions a prolonged military service with the Ministry’s department for personal protection in his official biography. German magazine Spiegel reported on this matter back in 2005 and attributes to this deparment the “highly professional and armed protection” of the political elite of the GDR. The information about his work for the Stasi had made its way onto the German wikipedia site about Heilmann. By party regulations, he should’ve told his fellow party members about his past (the failure to do so he regretted yet kept his elected post).

Stasi Past and Short Message Present

Yet plain domestic trouble in sync with defamation seems to play the larger part in this. It was reported in the media this year that Heilmann had sent his former boyfriend threatening text messages after their separation – information that possibly surfaced during internal struggles of his home state’s party and which he maintains is incorrect. A court has already issued a cease-and-desist statement regarding these rumors, which were reportedly included in a former version of the wikipedia entry. The one online at this point does not refer to any short message situation and neither adresses other rumors.

Technically, this should mean that we might be able to reach the German site directly again soon, as Heilmann told Focus magazine that he “does not intend to infringe the right to free speech” and will retract the ban as soon as the passages in question are deleted.

Laugh Or Cry?

As a reader-blogger at Die Zeit puts it, one doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this incredible action. Before starting to feel sorry for Heilmann as the victim of the spreading of false information it must not be forgotten that if the Stasi existed today it would have a feast spying out information about its own citizens. It is ironic that someone who worked at such an institution now turns to the legal system to help him clear his own reputation of defamation.

Which leads to the laughing part: By the legal ban on the wikipedia link, anyone who tried to use the site today has read about Heilmann’s measure. Add the mainstream media reporting, and you have a much bigger damage to his public image than the information provided at the wikipedia site before. So now at least we have a good bit of Schadenfreude to go with our anger.

By Jessica Binsch