Katarina Witt on Thin Ice

For more than a year, East German figure skater Katarina Witt tried to block the release of parts of her Stasi secret police file. This week, she gave up her resistance.

Witt announced on Wednesday she would not block the release of files compiled by the Stasi, East Germany's infamous secret police. By withdrawing her complaint, Witt essentially waived her right to victim protection. Her lawyer said she would allow the release of the files because their continued closure only fueled people's fantasies.

About 181 pages of Witt's Stasi files will be released soon. They will shed light on just how much Witt was involved with East Germany's communist regime. Excerpts of the files which have already been published suggest that Witt was one of the regime's most willing accomplices.

East German super star

Witt (photo) gained international fame in the 1980s as the East German ice queen. She was one of the most successful female figure skaters of the decade. Witt won gold medals for East Germany in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics along with four world titles.

As a result, the then-teenager was one of East Germany's most prominent athletes. And the communist leaders in East Berlin hoped that some of her sparkle would shine back on them.

Every move the star athlete made was closely monitored by the Stasi, East Germany's secret police. The Stasi kept a meticulous file on Witt – noting where she'd been, whom she'd met and what she'd said. The files also included details of her private life.

"Katarina Witt was observed and snooped on for years by the Stasi," confirmed Marianne Birthler, who oversees the archive of Stasi files today.

Was Witt a privileged partner of the regime?

As one of the country's top athletes, Witt enjoyed extra privileges, including freedom to travel. The Stasi allegedly even provided Witt with cars and furnished an apartment for her.

But Witt insists she never worked for the Stasi.

Still, Witt was considered loyal to the East German state - and was heavily criticized for her loyalty after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The figure skater moved to the United States, where she quickly embraced the capitalist system: She successfully toured with her own show, made movies and posed nude for Playboy magazine.

Since then, she's often been back to Germany for press conferences, book publishings and TV shows. But she apparently doesn't want her East German past to be discussed in public.

Stasi files contain clues for journalists and historians

Over the years, the Stasi tracked some 2.4 million people out of a population of 17 million. 91,000 people worked for the Stasi full time. The East German regime spent some € 1.75 billion ($ 1.6 billion) a year securing its stranglehold on the people.

When the communist regime in East Berlin collapsed in 1989, the Stasi hastily destroyed many of its records. But Witt's file was one that escaped the purging.

Today, her Stasi file is stored at the Stasi archives in Berlin (photo) – along with millions of other records.

Journalists and historians have been accessing these archives for research purposes. And the meticulous note-taking of the Stasi has provided them with an invaluable insight into the workings of a communist dictatorship.

Witt Stopped Journalist's Inquiry

When a journalist applied to the Stasi archives last year to see Witt's old secret police files last year, the sports star was quick to react: Witt sued to prevent the release of more than 1,300 pages from her Stasi file. The figure skater said she did not want private details which were part of the files made public. And she argued she was covered by protection afforded to the victims of the spy agency.

In February of this year, a Berlin court granted a temporary injunction preventing the release of the documents.

Witt was the second prominent German to fight the release of Stasi files. The first was another high-profile victim of Stasi spying - former Chancellor Helmut Kohl (photo).

In March, a federal court ruled in Kohl's favor, arguing that the protection for victims of the Stasi outweighed the value of releasing the spy records to journalists and historians. Consequently, the release of Kohl's Stasi file was blocked.