 Although the changes that heralded the end of the East German dictatorship were largely peaceful in nature, many of the carefully stored and indexed records kept in the regional Stasi offices were hastily gathered up and incinerated.In many cities, when they realised what was being done, indignant citizens broke in to the offices to try and ensure that as many as possible of the records might be retained, in order to be used evidence in the event of future prosecutions.What survived in respect of "IM Ritter" - Karl-Heinz Gerstner - was approximately 2,000 pages covering the years 1975 to 1985.