Wolfgang Schnur was a lawyer who had defended East German dissidents. In 1990 he led the new party Demokratischer Aufbruch, Democratic Awakening. Helmut Kohl campaigned with him and saw him as a possible East German prime minister. On 5 March 1990, reports came out that Schnur had worked for the Stasi as an informant. He said the files could not refer to him, and on 8 March he rejected the accusations again. Then a former Stasi officer said that Schnur had been a top informant under the cover name Dr. Schirmer. Schnur resigned in mid-March, days before the Volkskammer election of March 1990. In 1993 he lost his license to practice law. In 1996 a Berlin court convicted him.