In 2003 her appointment as State Commissioner for Stasi records in Thuringia marked something of a new beginning. Ehrhart Neubert was by now 63 and nearing retirement, but Hildigund was still only 43, and keen to take on a new public role when Thuringia's new Minister-president, Dieter Althaus, proposed her for the Erfurt-based job in succession to Jürgen Haschke. The appointment was confirmed by a vote in the state parliament ("Landtag") on 23 October 2003. The term of her appointment was initially of five years, but in 2008 she was re-elected for a second five year term, thereby staying in the post for ten years, just as her predecessor had done.
