Stötzer was a figure of the underground scene in Erfurt. After the songwriter Wolf Biermann was stripped of his citizenship in 1976 she was held on remand and imprisoned in the women's jail at Hoheneck. A year inside did not silence her: once out, she ran an underground gallery and founded the Künstlerinnengruppe Erfurt, a group of women artists. On 4 December 1989 she took part in the occupation of the Stasi building.