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Introduction the Stasi and the Hv A Stasi and East Stasi and Hauptverwaltung A: Hauptverwaltung A Contexts German Society SED State Insights and KGB INTRODUCTION 1 “EU’s Barroso Warns THE STASI AND THE HV A: CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH Spying Can Lead to AND CONTEMPORARY RESONANCE ‘Totalitarianism,’” http:// voiceofrussia.com/ news/2013_10_24/. Uwe Spiekermann [10/24/2013]. 2 See “DNI Clapper Declas- The Stasi as Both a Point of Reference and Differentiation: sifi es Intelligence Commu- nity Documents Regarding Current U.S. Intelligence Activities around the World Collection Under Section 501 of the Foreign Sur- At the beginning of the 2013 European Summit, Europe- veillance Act (FISA), Sep- an Commission president José Manuel Barroso proclaimed tember 10, 2013,” http:// icontherecord.tmblr.com/ privacy a fundamental right in Europe. In his sharp repudi- post/60867560465/. ation of U.S. espionage against European citizens and their [09/11/2013]; Ellen Na- kashima, Julie Tate, and political representatives, namely, German chancellor An- Carol Leonnig, “Declas- sifi ed Court Documents gela Merkel, Barroso added that mere decades ago “there Highlight NSA Violations was a part of Germany where political police were spying on in Data Collection for Sur- veillance,” Washington people’s lives daily. We know very recently [sic] what totali- Post, Sept. 10, 2013; tarianism means . We know what happens when a state uses Barton Gellman, “NSA Broke Privacy Rules Thou- 1 powers that intrude on people’s lives.” With this, Barroso was sands of Times per Year, referring to an intense discussion in Europe on U.S. surveillance Audit Finds,” Washington Post, Aug. 15, 2013. practices in the summer of 2013, when whistle-blower Edward Snowden informed civil society of NSA spying activities via the 3 Jakob Augstein, “US- Abhörskandal: Deutsch- Washington Post and the Guardian. land, Verbündeter 3. Klasse,” Spiegel Online, July 1, 2013: “Als es die While much of the American public has seemed not really con- Stasi noch gab, haben ihre 2 cerned about the wide range of unconstitutional NSA activities, Agenten Geruchs- proben von ihren Gegnern and American offi cials denied any bad intentions, the public gesammelt. Das haben discourse about this in Germany has oft en used terms and argu- die Amerikaner nicht nötig. Sie müssen nicht ments formerly only applied to communist and authoritarian unter unseren Achseln states: “When the Stasi still existed, its agents gathered odor schnüff eln. Ihre Algorith- men erlauben ihnen, in samples of its opponents. This isn’t necessary for the Americans. unseren Kopf zu kriechen. They don’t need to sniff under our armpits. Their algorithms al- Sie kennen unsere Vergan- genheit, und sie wollen low them to crawl into our heads. They know our past, and they unsere Zukunft ausrech- nen. Sie streben die totale want to calculate our future. They aspire to total control — over Kontrolle an – über jeden every single one of us. This ambition makes the very country that einzelnen von uns. Dieses Bestreben macht ausge- stood like no other in the world for the freedom of the individual a rechnet das Land, das wie totalitarian state.”3 The light artist Oliver Bienkowski projected the kein anderes auf der Welt für die Freiheit des term “United Stasi of America” on the façade of the U.S. embassy Einzelnen stand, zu einem in Berlin, and the director of the Stasi memorial site and former totalitären Staat.” prison Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, Hubertus Knabe, pressed 4 “Stasi-Experte Knabe charges against the NSA activities in court.4 The key term, how- zeigt die USA wegen NSA-Skandal an,” Berliner ever, was introduced by an American expert. According to David Morgenpost, July 8, 2013. GHI BULLETIN SUPPLEMENT 9 (2014) 11 Ellsberg, a former whistle-blower who copied and distributed the Pentagon Papers, the “NSA, FBI, and CIA have, with the new digital technology, surveillance powers over our citizens that the Stasi . could scarcely have dreamed of.”5 As a patriot, Ellsberg supported his argument with the U.S. Constitution, namely, the Fourth and Fift h Amendments, and advocated the restoration of the protections of the Bill of Rights. The vast majority of people in Germany rejected the U.S. surveil- lance practices — the symbiotic cooperation of German intel- ligence agencies and the similar practices of French and British 5 Daniel Ellsberg, “Edward intelligence services came up but never entered the core of public Snowden: Saving Us from discussion. The Stasi legacy narrative was stronger: Former Stasi the United Stasi of America,” Guardian, June 10, 2013. lieutenant colonel Wolfgang Schmidt, once head of Department 6 Quoted in “Former East Ger- XX of the Ministry of State Security and a central figure of GDR man Stasi Offi cer Expresses historical revisionism, seemed to welcome the news: “You know, Admiration for, Dismay at US 6 Government’s Surveillance for us, this would have been a dream come true.” He argued that Capabilities,” https://www. intelligence services as such have a basic interest in collecting and techdirt.com/articles/ 20130627/15455123642/ using information on all citizens and that there was no structural former-east-german-stasi- difference between the Stasi and Western services. However, oth- offi cer-expresses-admiration- dismay-us-governments- ers saw this claim of equality as a kind of relativism that failed surveillance-capabilities. to reflect on the differences between the Stasi and its Western shtml [06/13/2013/]. counterparts. Roland Jahn, head of the Stasi files agency, the 7 “Die Stasi war eine Geheim- polizei mit dem Ziel, die Macht Bundesbeauftragte für die Stasi Unterlagen (BStU, or the Federal einer Partei zu sichern. Die Commissioner for the Stasi Records), for example, emphasized westlichen Geheimdienste hingegen haben den these differences: “The Stasi was a secret police service with the Anspruch oder geben ihn aim of securing the power of one party . The Western secret zumindest vor, ihre Bürger vor Einschränkungen der Freiheit, services, by contrast, have the task, or at least act as though they etwa durch Terrorismus, have the task, of protecting their citizens from restrictions on zu schützen.” “‘Nicht 7 akzeptabel.’ Der Hüter der their freedom, such as through terrorism.” Journalists, for their Stasi-Akten Roland Jahn ver- part, highlighted typical characteristics of the Stasi including its urteilt die Schnüff eleien der westlichen Geheimdienste, monopoly on and secrecy of information, its suspension of human warnt aber auch davor, NSA, FBI und CIA mit der Stasi rights, and lack of oversight by courts and parliament. Informa- gleichzusetzen,” Cicero, no. 8 tion was not deleted, there were no barriers to accessing private (2013): 68-69, here 69. data, and it could be used for any purpose.8 The Stasi had carte 8 Christian Booß, “War die Stasi blanche as long as its members acted on behalf of the Socialist im Vergleich zur NSA nur ein 9 Papiertiger?” Der Tagesspiegel, Unity Party. July 21, 2013. This debate about NSA surveillance practices and their simi- 9 Manuel Bewarder, Martin Lutz, and Uwe Müller, “Die larities and differences to those of the Stasi is ongoing and NSA wird als neue Stasi ties in to many other debates between the Atlantic partners. verunglimpft ,” Die Welt, Aug. 3, 2013. Although the U.S. government has not changed its surveillance 12 GHI BULLETIN SUPPLEMENT 9 (2014) Stasi and East Stasi and Hauptverwaltung A: Hauptverwaltung A Contexts German Society SED State Insights and KGB practices in principle, and it rejected a no-spying agreement with Germany and is unwilling to conclude one with other Eu- ropean nations, most governments have de facto accepted these practices because they believe they benefit from the results. The damage to transatlantic relations, however, is immense and feeds anti-American sentiment in Europe, in general, and in Germany, in particular.10 The perception of the NSA as a technologically superior version of the Stasi is historically inac- curate but a powerful narrative for the public. Above all, it is supported by the idea that the “War on Terror” has reactivated the paradigm of Cold War confrontation in a broken way: both in the Cold War and now, very general ideas and terms — most prominently, national security — were and have been used to defi ne and describe an enemy not present for the vast majority of the population. The terror attacks of 9/11/2001 provided new justifi cation for the global military and surveillance presence of the U.S. — and prompted the expansion of an intelligence system unparalleled in history. The “imperial presidency” of the U.S. now 11 10 Richard Hüttel, “Indus- risks undermining traditional constitutional checks and balances. triespionage und vieles Fighting “terrorism,” a term without any limits or clear-cut defi ni- mehr,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, June 6, 2013. tion, allows the U.S. administration to infringe upon civil liberties 12 as traditionally understood. 11 See Bernd Greiner, 9/11. Der Tag, die Angst, die The current debate on U.S. global mass surveillance and its as- Folgen (Munich, 2011). The concept of the “impe- sociation with Stasi activities in East Germany and many Western rial presidency” was intro- states presents an important challenge to historians. It is no longer duced by historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. in 1973. It only dictatorships that breach the privacy of citizens, whether in characterizes a political their own territory or abroad. Rather, it now opens up compara- system based on excessive secrecy and disregard for tive perspectives and forces historians to focus on the entangle- the rule of law. Schlesinger ment of intelligence services during the Cold War and thereaft er. criticized mainly Nixon and George W. Bush for The present book, resulting from a conference organized by the transforming the tradi- tional political system of German Historical Institute and the Woodrow Wilson Center’s the U.S.
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