Anetta Kahane

Anetta Kahane (born 1954) is a German journalist, former Stasi agent, activist and the founder of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation.

Early life
Kahane was born in East Berlin in 1954 to Max Kahane and Doris Kahane. Her father, Max Kahane, was a member of the Young Communist League and, later, the Communist party of Germany. Because her parents were Jewish and active in communism they had to flee the Nazi regime to Spain and later France. She is the sister of the film director Peter Kahane.

Kahane studied for a bachelor's degree in Latin American studies and worked as a translator.

Working with East Germany's state security service (Stasi)
Between 1974 and 1982 Kahane served as an unofficial employee of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) in East Germany under the code name "Victoria". Stasi files connected to her work include more than 800 pages of reports. Among others, Kahane surveilled artists, students from West Berlin universities and West German television reporters.

Activism
Since 1998, Anetta Kahane served as the president and the founder of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation. Her organisation works against xenophobia, antisemitism and right-wing extremism. In 2012 she was awarded the Moses Mendelssohn prize (de) donated by the Senate of Berlin.

In 2015, the Amadeu Antonio Foundation followed the German Ministry of Justice's invitation to take part in a task force against hate speech on social media.

Journalism
Kahane is a regular columnist for Berliner Zeitung and Frankfurter Rundschau.

Books

 * I was allowed, the other had to ... In: Vincent of Wroblewsky (ed.): Between Torah and Trabant. Jews in the GDR.  Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin, 1993, ISBN 3-7466-7011-X, pp 124–144
 * I spy with my little eye. My German stories.  Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin, 2004, ISBN 978-3-87134-470-1

Awards

 * 1991: Theodor Heuss Medal
 * 2002: Moses Mendelssohn Prize of Berlin