The Soviet Origins of East German Intelligence
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The Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961-1989 by Hans-Hermann Hertle/Maria Nooke August 2011
Special CWIHP Research Report The Victims at the Berlin Wall, 1961-1989 By Hans-Hermann Hertle/Maria Nooke August 2011 Forty-four years after the Berlin Wall was built and 15 years after the East German archives were opened, reliable data on the number of people killed at the Wall were still lacking. Depending on the sources, purpose, and date of the studies, the figures varied between 78 (Central Registry of State Judicial Administrations in Salzgitter), 86 (Berlin Public Prosecution Service), 92 (Berlin Police President), 122 (Central Investigation Office for Government and Unification Criminality), and more than 200 deaths (Working Group 13 August). The names of many of the victims, their biographies and the circumstances in which they died were widely unknown.1 This special CWIHP report summarizes the findings of a research project by the Center for Research on Contemporary History Potsdam and the Berlin Wall Memorial Site and Documentation Center which sought to establish the number and identities of the individuals who died at the Berlin Wall between 1961 and 1989 and to document their lives and deaths through historical and biographical research.2 Definition In order to provide reliable figures, the project had to begin by developing clear criteria and a definition of what individuals are to be considered victims at the Berlin Wall. We regard the “provable causal and spatial connection of a death with an attempted escape or a direct or indirect cause or lack of action by the ‘border organs’ in the border territory” as the critical factor. In simpler terms: the criteria are either an attempted escape or a temporal and spatial link between the death and the border regime. -
The GDR Opposition Archive
The GDR Opposition Archive in the Robert Havemann Society The GDR Opposition Archive in the Robert Havemann Society holds the largest accessible collection of testaments to the protest against the SED dictatorship. Some 750 linear metres of written material, 180,000 photos, 5,000 videos, 1,000 audio cassettes, original banners and objects from the years 1945 to 1990 all provide impressive evidence that there was always contradiction and resistance in East Germany. The collection forms a counterpoint and an important addition to the version of history presented by the former regime, particularly the Stasi files. Originally emerging from the GDR’s civil rights movement, the archive is now known beyond Germany itself. Enquiries come from all over Europe, the US, Canada, Australia and Korea. Hundreds of research papers, radio and TV programmes, films and exhibitions on the GDR have drawn on sources from the collection. Thus, the GDR Opposition Archive has made a key contribution to our understanding of the communist dictatorship. Testimonials on opposition and resistance against the communist dictatorship The GDR Opposition Archive is run by the Robert Havemann Society. It was founded 26 years ago, on 19 November 1990, by members and supporters of the New Forum group, including prominent GDR opposition figures such as Bärbel Bohley, Jens Reich, Sebastian Pflugbeil and Katja Havemann. To this day, the organisation aims to document the history of opposition and resistance in the GDR and to ensure it is not forgotten. The Robert Havemann Society has been funded entirely on a project basis since its foundation. Its most important funding institutions include the Berlin Commissioner for the Stasi Records and the Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. -
Joachim Gauck „Vor Der Einheit Kam Die Freiheit“
1 Joachim Gauck „Vor der Einheit kam die Freiheit“ Rede zur Demokratie beim Festakt „25 Jahre Friedliche Revolution“ am 9. Oktober 2014 in Leipzig Joachim Gauck „Vor der Einheit kam die Freiheit“ Rede zur Demokratie beim Festakt „25 Jahre Friedliche Revolution“ am 9. Oktober 2014 in Leipzig 2 3 Guten Morgen Leipzig! Ohne Euch, ohne Sie, ohne uns, wäre ich heute nicht hier und meine Gäste auch nicht. Das ist eigentlich der Inhalt dieser Feierstunde. Seien Sie alle herzlich willkommen hier in Leipzig, dieser Stadt, in der vor 25 Jahren – am 9. Oktober 1989 – die Weichen gestellt wurden für das Ende der SED-Diktatur. Zehntausende strömten damals zusammen nach dem Friedensgebet, um für Freiheit und Demokratie zu demonstrieren. Sie wussten zwar, dass die Staatsmacht die Proteste in den Tagen zuvor brutal niedergeschlagen hatte. Sie waren sich auch nicht ganz sicher, ob es eine gewaltsame, eine „chinesi- sche Lösung“ geben würde. Ja, sie waren vertraut mit der Arroganz der Macht, ein Schießbefehl wäre keineswegs unvorstellbar gewesen. Und sie sahen die gewaltige Drohkulisse, die das Regime auch an diesem Tag auffahren und auf- marschieren ließ. Aber sie kamen trotzdem: Zehntausende überwanden ihre Angst vor den Unterdrückern, weil ihre Sehnsucht nach Freiheit größer war als ihre Furcht. An diesem Montag wurde keiner mehr gedemütigt, keiner geprügelt und ver- haftet, wie es noch zwei Tage zuvor in Berlin der Fall gewesen war. Niemand stellte sich dem Aufstand der Bürger mehr in den Weg. Die überwältigten Unterdrücker streckten ihre Waffen vor den überwältigenden Massen. Und die Bilder vom friedlichen Zug über den Leipziger Innenstadtring, sie wurden zum Fanal, das jeden Tag mehr Menschen an immer mehr Orten in der DDR ermu- tigte, ihren Protest in die Öffentlichkeit zu tragen. -
Canada As the Target of GDR Espionage Helmut Müller-Enbergs
Document généré le 2 oct. 2021 03:58 Journal of Conflict Studies Canada as the Target of GDR Espionage Helmut Müller-Enbergs Volume 29, spring 2009 Résumé de l'article German Democratic Republic (GDR) diplomatic missions included a legal URI : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/jcs29art04 residentur: an intelligence service base whose presence was more or less openly acknowledged. It was staffed by the Hauptverwaltung A (HVA - Main Directorate Aller au sommaire du numéro Foreign Intelligence), one of the principal divisions within the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (Ministry for State Security). The HVA’s main task was espionage. While most of the HVA files have been destroyed, the HVA had created Éditeur(s) a special database that holds all of the information it produced between 1969 and 1989. This database allows scholars to identify which source delivered what The University of New Brunswick information and when, who received the information, and what value each piece of information had. The GDR’s Canadian embassy did not open until 1987, and ISSN due to the short term of its existence, the HVA residentur in Canada could hardly have played a significant intelligence role. And we can be almost certain that it 1198-8614 (imprimé) did not build up and manage an unofficial spy network from Canada. In fact, the 1715-5673 (numérique) HVA appears to have acquired its knowledge about Canada primarily from other sources, mainly agents within the West German foreign ministry and from other Découvrir la revue partner intelligence agencies. The GDR undoubtedly had deep insights into the domestic and foreign affairs of Canada. -
Historie Jahrbuch 12.Indd
Tytus Das Fiasko eines JaskuÚowski1 (nie existierenden) Bruderbundes. Die Stasi und das Jahr 1989 in Polen 1 Der erste Teil des Titels des nachfolgenden Beitrages, der seine Formulierung den Erinnerungen des letzten DDR-Botschafters in Moskau vor der Wiedervereinigung zu verdanken hat2, spie- gelt im Wesentlichen die Enttäuschung einer ganzen Generation von Funktionären des Ministeriums für Staatssicherheit (MfS) hinsichtlich der geheimdienstlichen Beziehungen mit der Sow- jetunion wider. Sie fühlten sich 1989 vom Gründer des zweiten deutschen Staates verraten3 und zynisch ausgenutzt4. Jene Hal- tung, die verbunden war mit der ständig präsenten Hoffnung, die „alte“ Welt wiederherstellen zu können5, bezog sich auch auf die anderen osteuropäischen Länder, vor allem auf jene, welche die seit der Machtübernahme Gorbatschows im Jahr 1985 von ihm eingeleiteten Reformen begrüßten und somit eine gegensätzli- che6 Position zur dogmatischen DDR-Regierung bezogen. Den ersten Platz in dieser Gruppe von Staaten außerhalb der Sow- jetunion nahm die Volksrepublik Polen ein. Trotz der formellen Freundschaft zwischen der DDR und der Volksrepublik Polen war die gesamte Geschichte ihrer bilateralen Beziehungen von 1 Der Autor habilitiert an der Technischen Universität Chemnitz und arbeitet in der Gedenkstätte Lindenstraße in Potsdam. Er erklärt hiermit, allen rechtlichen Vorschriften nachzukommen, die den Umgang mit den Akten der ehemaligen Sicherheitsbehörden der DDR und der Volksrepublik Polen im Jahr 2019 regeln. 2 Gerd König, Fiasko eines Bruderbundes. Erinnerungen des letzten DDR-Botschafters in Moskau, Berlin 2012 (2011), S. 3. 3 Bernd Fischer, Der große Bruder. Wie die Geheimdienste der DDR und der UdSSR zusammenarbeiteten, Berlin 2012, S. 10. 4 Gabriele Gast, Kundschafterin des Friedens. 17 Jahre Topspionin der DDR beim BND, Berlin 2016, S. -
Schießbefehl and the Issues of Retroactivity Within the East German Border Guard Trials Keegan Mcmurry Western Oregon University, [email protected]
Western Oregon University Digital Commons@WOU Student Theses, Papers and Projects (History) Department of History 2018 Schießbefehl and the Issues of Retroactivity Within the East German Border Guard Trials Keegan McMurry Western Oregon University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/his Part of the Diplomatic History Commons, European History Commons, Legal Commons, and the Political History Commons Recommended Citation McMurry, Keegan, "Schießbefehl and the Issues of Retroactivity Within the East German Border Guard Trials" (2018). Student Theses, Papers and Projects (History). 264. https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/his/264 This Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of History at Digital Commons@WOU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Student Theses, Papers and Projects (History) by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@WOU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Schießbefehl1 and the Issues of Retroactivity Within the East German Border Guard Trials Keegan J. McMurry History 499: Senior Seminar June 5, 2018 1 On February 5th, 1989, 20-year old Chris Gueffroy and his companion, Christian Gaudin, were running for their lives. Tired of the poor conditions in the German Democratic Republic and hoping to find better in West Germany, they intended to climb the Berlin Wall that separated East and West Berlin using a ladder. A newspaper account states that despite both verbal warnings and warning shots, both young men continued to try and climb the wall until the border guards opened fire directly at them. Mr. Gaudin survived the experience after being shot, however, Mr. -
Jason Johnson on States of Division: Border and Boundary
Sagi Schaefer. States of Division: Border and Boundary Formation in Cold War Rural Germany. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. 288 pp. $99.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-19-967238-7. Reviewed by Jason Johnson Published on H-German (December, 2016) Commissioned by Jeremy DeWaal Sagi Schaefer’s book centers on the Cold War the creation of the Iron Curtain. Schaefer now inner-German border through the Eichsfeld re‐ brings a focus on the rural. gion, a rural Catholic enclave in central Germany. Schaefer’s fve chapters thus “foreground the His work continues the important historiographi‐ rural character of the borderlands …. roughly re‐ cal thread of moving beyond Berlin to investigate flecting the experience of farmers” (p. 11). The events and processes of German division that first chapter focuses on the early years of division have been, as Schaefer has written elsewhere, —1945-52—as occupation zonal frontiers crystal‐ “hidden behind the Wall.”[1] Scholarly analysis of lized into the 1949 border between the Federal Re‐ the rural border dividing Germany, stretching public and the German Democratic Republic more than eight hundred miles, has until recent (GDR). Schaefer persuasively illustrates that in the years been largely overshadowed by the division Eichsfeld, “Western economic reconstruction was of Berlin. the most powerful motor of division in those Anthropologist Daphne Berdahl’s pioneering years” (pp. 15-16). Chapter 2 then turns to the wa‐ work Where the World Ended (1999) on the thou‐ tershed year 1952 when the GDR removed thou‐ sand-person East German border community Kel‐ sands from its borderland and began to seal its la helped spark more scholarly interest in the frontier. -
On the Origin and Composition of the German East-West Population Gap
DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES IZA DP No. 12031 On the Origin and Composition of the German East-West Population Gap Christoph Eder Martin Halla DECEMBER 2018 DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES IZA DP No. 12031 On the Origin and Composition of the German East-West Population Gap Christoph Eder Johannes Kepler University Linz Martin Halla Johannes Kepler University Linz, CD-Lab Aging, Health, and the Labor Market, IZA and Austrian Public Health Institute DECEMBER 2018 Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world’s largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. IZA – Institute of Labor Economics Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 5–9 Phone: +49-228-3894-0 53113 Bonn, Germany Email: [email protected] www.iza.org IZA DP No. 12031 DECEMBER 2018 ABSTRACT On the Origin and Composition of the German East-West Population Gap* The East-West gap in the German population is believed to originate from migrants escaping the socialist regime in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). -
Grubbing out the Führerbunker: Ruination, Demolition and Berlin's Difficult Subterranean Heritage
Grubbing out the Führerbunker: Ruination, demolition and Berlin’s difficult subterranean heritage BENNETT, Luke <http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6416-3755> Available from Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA) at: http://shura.shu.ac.uk/24085/ This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it. Published version BENNETT, Luke (2019). Grubbing out the Führerbunker: Ruination, demolition and Berlin’s difficult subterranean heritage. Geographia Polonica, 92 (1). Copyright and re-use policy See http://shura.shu.ac.uk/information.html Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive http://shura.shu.ac.uk Grubbing out the Führerbunker: Ruination, demolition and Berlin’s difficult subterranean heritage Luke Bennett Reader in Space, Place & Law, Department of the Natural & Built Environment, Sheffield Hallam University, Norfolk 306, Howard St, Sheffield, S1 1WB, United Kingdom. [email protected] Abstract This article presents a case study examining the slow-death of the Berlin Führerbunker since 1945. Its seventy year longitudinal perspective shows how processes of ruination, demolition and urban renewal in central Berlin have been affected by materially and politically awkward relict Nazi subterranean structures. Despite now being a buried pile of rubble, the Führerbunker’s continued resonance is shown to be the product of a heterogeneous range of influences, spanning wartime concrete bunkers’ formidable material resistance, their affective affordances and evolving cultural attitudes towards ruins, demolition, memory, memorialisation, tourism and real estate in the German capital. Keywords Ruin – Demolition – Bunkers – Subterranean – Berlin – Nazism – Heritage – Materiality 1 On 30th April 1945 Adolf Hitler committed suicide in the Führerbunker, a reinforced concrete structure buried 8.5 metres beneath the ministerial gardens flanking the Reich Chancellery in central Berlin. -
Approach/Avoidance: Communists and Women in East Germany, 1945-9 Author(S): Donna Harsch Source: Social History, Vol
Approach/Avoidance: Communists and Women in East Germany, 1945-9 Author(s): Donna Harsch Source: Social History, Vol. 25, No. 2 (May, 2000), pp. 156-182 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4286643 Accessed: 24-04-2018 15:00 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms Taylor & Francis, Ltd. is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Social History This content downloaded from 35.176.47.6 on Tue, 24 Apr 2018 15:00:46 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Social History Vol. 25 No. 2 May 2000 0* Donna Harsch Approach/avoidance: Communists and women in East Germany, 1945-9 In July 1945, a German Communist scolded fellow members of the KPD for how they talked to women in the Soviet zone of occupation. According to Irene Girtner (aka Elli Schmidt), her comrades opened lectures to female audiences with the question: 'Is it not a fact that Hitler came to power only because a high proportion of women succumbed to the poison of Nazi propaganda?'l A year later, Schmidt rued, Communists continued to make the 'error' of expounding on the guilt women bore for the fascist seizure of power.2 As late as May 1947, another woman in the party felt the need to point out that, infact, women had voted at a lower rate for Hitler in I928, only catching up to the male vote in I93I-2.3 For her part, Elli Schmidt did not question the accuracy of the charge but its political acumen. -
Interesting Facts About Berlin
Interesting facts about Berlin Whether sightseeing or the alternative scene, galleries or gourmet restaurants, music or fashion – the German capital is never short of new experiences. The legendary nightlife, the attractive and unusual shopping opportunities but also its unique history attract more and more visitors from inside Germany and further afield. Last year almost 11 million people visited Berlin. But what actually makes Berlin so attractive? Its diversity, opposites and the infinite opportunities that thrill visitors from all over the world. Did you know that... ... with an area of 892 square kilometres, Berlin is nine times bigger than Paris? ... Berlin’s city limit is approximately 234 kilometres long? The length from East-West is 45 kilometres (as the crow flies) and from North-South 38 kilometres (as the crow flies). ... Berlin has the same geographic East-West width as London and the same geographic North-South length as Naples? ... the total length of the bus lines in the German capital is over 1,675 kilometres? The tram network covers more than 295 kilometres: add to this the S-Bahn network at 330 kilometres in length and the U-Bahn network at approximately 145 kilometres. ... with the new Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Central Station), the city has become a proper central rail hub for the first time in its history - and the largest in Europe? ... the first set of traffic lights in Europe was put into service in Potsdamer Platz in 1924? A replica of the lights can still be admired there today. ... to date six US presidents have made historic speeches here since the war? Who can forget John F. -
The Rennaissance of Jewish Life in Berlin After the Fall of the Wall. Page 8
The Rennaissance of Jewish life in Berlin after the fall of the Wall. Page 8 A global local newspaper 2014 Happy BirtHday, Photographer Paul Glaser recalls the moment he took this picture on November 12, 1989 at Leipziger Strasse close to Potsdamer Platz: ”It was nothing short of a festival atmosphere! People from East and West turned the horrible Wall into a stage for their happiness. And the GDR police had to allow people to Freedom! approach the wall unhindered.“ Let’s drink a toast, let’s have a party, let’s light 25 torches of freedom! 25 years ago on November 9, the Wall that imprisoned Berlin died, and freedom was reborn. This is a birthday party in print. You’re invited! aif l Z/ s chmecken/ s egina egina r laser; small picture: laser; g eter p / PA Berlin bliss on November 10, 1989: A young girl cradles a white dove of peace in front of Brandenburg Gate. large picture: D 2 2014 Welcome to The Berlin Times ver 32 pages, we reminisce How much Stasi ideology still remains about the glorious night of in Berlin? Have we really done enough the fall of the Wall. We take to clear up and process the sinister legacy a look back and also shine a of their activities? And what lessons can Olight on nowadays Berlin. a functioning democracy learn from life tHe nigHt Firstly, we immerse ourselves once again under a dictatorship? Germany’s Fed- in that jubilant night and recall: How a eral Commissioner for the Stasi Records, badly prepared media conference made Roland Jahn, himself a prisoner of the history; how the most important players Stasi, speaks about GDR nostalgia, old in East and West experienced events that boy networks, yes-men and why the Stasi night; what was happening at the Central shouldn’t be compared with the NSA.