Daniela Münkel (ed.) STATE SECURITY A READER ON THE GDR SECRET POLICE Daniela Münkel (ed.) STATE SECURITY A READER ON THE GDR SECRET POLICE Imprint Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic Department of Education and Research 10106 Berlin [email protected] Photo editing: Heike Brusendorf, Roger Engelmann, Bernd Florath, Daniela Münkel, Christin Schwarz Layout: Pralle Sonne Originally published under title: Daniela Münkel (Hg.): Staatssicherheit. Ein Lesebuch zur DDR-Geheimpolizei. Berlin 2015 Translation: Miriamne Fields, Berlin A READER The opinions expressed in this publication reflect solely the views of the authors. Print and media use are permitted ON THE GDR SECRET POLICE only when the author and source are named and copyright law is respected. token fee: 5 euro 2nd edition, Berlin 2018 ISBN 978-3-946572-43-5 6 STATE SECURITY. A READER ON THE GDR SECRET POLICE CONTENTS 7 Contents 8 Roland Jahn 104 Arno Polzin Preface Postal Inspection, Telephone Surveillance and Signal Intelligence 10 Helge Heidemeyer The Ministry for State Security and its Relationship 113 Roger Engelmann to the SED The State Security and Criminal Justice 20 Daniela Münkel 122 Tobias Wunschik The Ministers for State Security Prisons in the GDR 29 Jens Gieseke 130 Daniela Münkel What did it Mean to be a Chekist? The State Security and the Border 40 Bernd Florath 139 Georg Herbstritt, Elke Stadelmann-Wenz The Unofficial Collaborators Work in the West 52 Christian Halbrock 152 Roger Engelmann The GDR State Security Compound in Berlin-Lichtenberg The “Commercial Coordination” Division 61 Roger Engelmann, Georg Herbstritt, Walter Süß 160 Jan Philipp Wölbern The MfS and its Socialist “Brother Organisations” Paying for the Release of Prisoners from the GDR 69 Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk 167 Walter Süß Everyday Life in the GDR and the MfS The Final Phase of the MfS 77 Christian Halbrock 176 Roger Engelmann Non-conformity, Rejection, Protest, Resistance and Safeguarding the Stasi Files and Making Them Publicly Opposition Accessible 86 Jutta Braun 183 Günter Bormann “Informal Teammate” – Mielke and Sport Using Stasi Files for Criminal Prosecution 94 Daniela Münkel 193 Appendix The State Security’s Reporting System, 1953 to 1989 8 STATE SECURITY. A READER ON THE GDR SECRET POLICE PREFACE 9 way up to its ministers, and elucidates the impact of its army of informers, referred to by the Stasi as “unofficial collaborators” (IM). It visits the sites where the secret police operated, from the Stasi headquarters in Berlin to its prison facilities. It also explores opposition and resistance, the end of the State Security as a consequence of the Peaceful Revolution of 1989, and the successful efforts to safeguard the Stasi files and make them publicly accessible. This reader on the State Security contains concise information that makes it easy to understand the ruling mechanisms in the GDR State Security. It provides an opportunity for us to raise awareness: By addressing human rights violations in the GDR, we help society recognize the importance of PREFACE these rights today. Roland Jahn The better we understand dictatorship, the better we can shape democ- racy. Berlin, September 2015 A reader on the State Security – can there be such a thing? The format Roland Jahn and subject matter seem ill-suited. After all, we are not interested in tell- ing stories about the secret police in the GDR. So what is the purpose of “light reading material” on a heavy subject? In short: we are interested in encouraging the public to read about this chapter of German history. For this reason, the texts have been kept short and, although they are based on scholarly research, they are easy to read. Our authors have been con- ducting research on the State Security in the SED dictatorship for decades and our aim is to convey their findings to a broader audience. Their essays address central aspects of the history of the Ministry for State Security (MfS) and its influence on the GDR between 1950 and 1989. They take readers on a journey into the abyss of a surveillance state, a dictatorship that spied intensely on its own population and persecuted dissidents for forty years. So how, exactly, did the Stasi function? This essay collection describes the work of the official employees of the Stasi, from the simple workers all the 10 STATE SECURITY. A READER ON THE GDR SECRET POLICE THE MINISTRY FOR STATE SECURITY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE SED 11 The State Security’s subordination to the highest Party council was clearly established by the statute of 6 October 1953, which stated that “the basis for the work of the State Secretariat for State Security is dictated THE MINISTRY FOR by the resolutions and directives of the ZK and Politburo”.2 This provision reinforced the newly revised statute of 1969.3 Given the opening state- ments here about the SED’s position and self-perception, it may no longer STATE SECURITY AND come as a surprise to find a state agency subordinate to a party institution. The general political principles of the MfS were indeed decided by the Party. In the early years, however, the strong presence of Soviet instructors ITS RELATIONSHIP interfered with this relationship. The Soviet occupying power modelled the structure, ideology and practical orientation of the newly established secret police after its own secret police. It also influenced the political-operational TO THE SED work through a large number of instructors, both in the Berlin headquar- ters and in the German states. The Soviets exerted the greatest pressure Helge Heidemeyer on personnel decisions and cadre policies. They also initiated many of the activities carried out by the secret police apparatus. As a result of this in- fluence, the Stasi’s own leadership structure remained underdeveloped in the early years. Despite this situation, the German leadership of the MfS The Ministry for State Security saw itself as the “sword and shield of the was held primarily responsible for having not adequately foreseen and hin- Party”. Its slogan is significant, as it refers only to the Party and makes dered the uprising on 17 June 1953. This event would permanently haunt no mention of the people, the state or the constitution. Here the “Party” the GDR leadership and lead to a personnel and structural reorganisation refers to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), the ruling state party, of the secret police. Once again, the State Security’s new orientation was whose hegemony was additionally established in the GDR constitutional dictated by the Soviets, who decided that there should be a stronger focus referendum in 1968. Through its work, the State Security strove to secure on the work in the West. They designated their candidate of choice, Ernst the SED’s power and stabilize the ruling system – whereby the end largely Wollweber, Minister for the State Security, and maintained a strong pres- justified the means. ence in the apparatus by appointing their own advisors to all its units. The How can the relationship between the SED and the State Security be political leadership of the GDR, however, knew how to exploit this situation described in concrete terms? Did the Party function as the employer of to its own advantage: It had the Politburo, headed by Walter Ulbricht, for- the secret police or did the MfS operate largely unchecked, working on its mally secure direct control of the secret police. Its “big brother” continued own initiative and according to its own priorities? Was the Stasi a “state to exert a decisive influence on the secret police until 1957, when Ulbricht within a state, which exerted control over members of the Party as well,” succeeded in replacing Wollweber with his deputy, Erich Mielke. In 1958 the as Egon Krenz, the last party head of the SED, described it at the Round Soviet Union withdrew a large number of its advisors from the GDR. Table in 1990?1 2 Roger Engelmann; Frank Joestel (editing assist.), Grundsatzdokumente des MfS (MfS-Hand- 1 See Uwe Thaysen (ed.), Der Zentrale Runde Tisch. Wortprotokolle und Dokumente, Vol. 2 buch) (Berlin, 2004), Doc.11, pp. 61–63. (Wiesbaden, 2002), pp. 502 f. 3 See ibid., Doc. 29, pp. 183–188. 12 STATE SECURITY. A READER ON THE GDR SECRET POLICE THE MINISTRY FOR STATE SECURITY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE SED 13 These two events – the uprising on 17 June 1953 and the replacement of Wollweber with Mielke as head of the Ministry – marked two breaks in the development of relations between the State Security and the SED. Dur- ing the first years until 1953, Wilhelm Zaisser, the first Minister for State Security, united in office both Party and leadership tasks. The Ministry was subordinate to the highest Party councils. But Zaisser was also a member of the Politburo of the SED in charge of state security, which, in turn, was Ministry for State Security responsible for the State Security. This construction was thus a manifes- emblem tation of the self-monitoring exercised by the State Security. Zaisser knew BStU how to exploit the situation to ensure that the Party gained little insight into the operational work of the MfS. After the uprising on 17 June 1953, the Party expressed its strong displeasure with this structural arrangement and with Zaisser. The min- ister was removed from office four weeks after the uprising and barred from the Party six months later. The Ministry for State Security was down- graded to a state secretariat and incorporated into the Ministry of Interior for two years. Its new head, State Secretary Wollweber, was not a member continued even after Erich Mielke, who the Party leader saw as “a congen- of the Politburo.