Left Wing Official with Secret Stasi Past Resigns

BERLIN (AP) — A lawmaker in Berlin’s new state government has resigned his position over his past with communist East Germany’s Stasi secret police, saying he no longer had the support of the left-wing governing coalition.

Andrej Holm, an independent, said on his website Monday he would step down as deputy construction minister because “in recent days, the Social Democrats and Greens have made clear they do not support me politically.” The two parties make up the new government with the Left Party, which has its roots in the former East German communist party and runs the construction ministry.

Holm said years ago he trained with the Stasi in 1989 and 1990. It emerged recently, however, he wrongly stated to an employer in 2005 that he had never been a full-time Stasi employee.