PRESS INFORMATION FOREWORD WELCOME TO THE GERMAN SPY MUSEUM Dear members of the Press, Thank you very much for your interest in our museum. Please take advantage of this presentation with its information about our permanent exhibition focussing on the secret world of espionage from ancient times to the present. We have only been able to provide you with an overview of our activities; should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to address them to us. Thank you very much for your visit, CONTACT www.deutsches-spionagemuseum.de/presse [email protected] Tel: +49 30 39 82 00 45-0 Robert Rückel, Director CONTENTS HISTORY 4 THE EXHIBITION 6 OUR COLLECTION 8 EYE-WITTNESSES 9 OUR EXPERTS 10 EVENTS 1 1 FACTS 12 3 HISTORY 2005 2014 The birth of an idea: the TV producer and journa- Building work starts on the Leipziger Platz 9, a loca- list Franz-M. Günther comes up with the idea for an tion of historical significance, where the Berlin Wall espionage museum in the Capital City of Spies. once stood. 2008 – 2014 19 SEPTEMBER 2015 A collection of espionage-related exhibits is as- The Spy Museum Berlin opens its permanent exhibition. sembled. Consultation with experts. 15 JULY 2016 ► THE STARITZ COLLECTION The Spy Museum Berlin is taken over by a new opera- First and Second World War (cryptology / Morse code, ting company; Robert Rückel is appointed as director. a film archive, Nazi documents, a comprehensive library, an original Enigma machine) 29 JULY 2016 Re-opened as the German Spy Museum. ► THE WÖLLNER COLLECTION Cold War (the only collection of original Stasi Mikrat and miniature cameras of its kind in the world) ► THE BAUM COLLECTION Cold War (original Stasi collection) ► THE DISTIN COLLECTION – ON LOAN Original props from the James Bond films. Authentic artefacts are complemented by interactive installations 4 HISTORY THE HISTORY OF ESPIONAGE Human agents became ever-less important, to be The role of the spy is as old as civilization itself. replaced by machines. The intelligence organizations Knowledge has always been power – right back to of World War Two played a decisive role in influencing the earliest settlements and the need of every ruler the military course of the war – The British code bre- to find out what his enemies are doing, thinking and akers of Bletchley Park were able to read Axis signal planning. The development of bureaucracies to admi- traffic with near impunity and provide information nister and rule the ancient empires meant a wealth of vital to the prosecution of the war. The Cold War collated information for spies to make off with. The (1947-1989) was conducted to a greater extent than Ancient Egyptians, the Persians, Greeks and Romans ever before as a war of espionage; the intelligence all deployed spies at home and abroad. services were used both to gauge the strength of enemy forces and shore up various political systems. The occupation underwent a wave of professionaliz- ation during the 15th century: the counsellors of the The collapse of the Warsaw Pact in the 1990s he- English Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603) established the ralded a further paradigm change for the world’s first dedicated intelligence network, whilst in France, intelligence agencies, which are now forced to deal Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642) used his “Cabinet Noir” with industrial espionage and since 2001, the threat to monitor the correspondence of foreign diplomats posed by international terrorism. Many governments and those suspected of treason. have moved towards the mass surveillance of Big Data, which they justify with the terrorist threat. Given the The advent of new communication technologies such sheer scale of the internet and the vast volume of as the telegraph, telephone and photography in the its data traffic, this poses a considerable challenge 19th century changed the face of espionage. to the activities of today’s spies. The history of espio- nage technology from Enigma to Facebook 5 THE EXHIBITION The only museum in Germany dedicated to the topic Our exhibition takes visitors on a journey into the of international espionage, the German Spy Museum past, enabling them to trace this history of espionage covers the whole range of issues connected to spies from its roots in ancient times through the turmoil and spying: the history of intelligence agencies, of World War Two and up to the Cold War heyday of political history, the technology involved, the social the international spy. Located in Berlin, the “Capital context and military history. An important addition City of Spies”, our museum is ideally placed to re- to Berlin’s museum scene, it closes an important trace the ideological battle of this period, a story conceptual gap. brought alive with a range of original artefacts and references to local events of historical significance. Situated on Leipziger Platz in the heart of Berlin, We introduce visitors to a range of questions of con- the museum is located on the site of the former temporary relevance, focussing on data security, Big Berlin Wall and thus the fault line of what was once Data, individual rights in the surveillance society and the Capital City of Spies. It thus represents the ideal issues surrounding Social Media. Over three hundred location of an exhibition focusing on all aspects of rare exhibits and a wide range of exclusive interviews international espionage. Addressing an international conducted with former spies, leading experts, histori- public, the museum represents the culmination of ans, politicians, hackers and journalists all enable the many years of intensive academic groundwork and visitor to breathe the air of history. The exhibition deals with secret operations, mysterious espionage also has a number of props and other material from affairs and the legendary spies from ancient times the legendary James Bond films. to the present day. State-of-the-art exhibition technology 6 THE EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS ►THE PASSWORD CRACKER ► The Enigma cipher machine Internet espionage and data security are highly topi- ► Agent gadgets such as hidden cameras, shoe bugs, cal issues. Visitors can enter a password and find out lipstick pistols, the killer umbrella, CIA key-fob how long it takes for the average hacker to crack. cameras and much more. ► Original props from the James Bond films ►BERLIN SPY MAP ► More than 200 HD monitors, touchscreens and Where did intelligence agencies carry out assassina- projections tions, exchange agents or perform other operations? ► Interviews with top agents and espionage experts Where were the Stasi safe houses? INTERACTIVE MULTI-MEDIA ►HACKING INTO A WEBSITE INSTALLATIONS (A SELECTION) Approaching the matter in a hands-on fashion, the visitor can use this installation to learn of the pow- ►LASER-BEAM OBSTACLE COURSE er of a new generation of agents - the hacker. The The ultimate secret agent training course: The visitor pictures and words on a website can be changed must negotiate the laser beams without breaking and replaced at will. them. A real challenge for young and old alike. ►THE FACEBOOK PUZZLE ►ENCODING AND DECODING MESSAGES What does Facebook know about us? Do we still control The visitor experiences the working of the rotor-ba- our own data? Every completed part of the multimedia sed cipher machine Enigma and communicates with puzzle reveals what happens with our personal data other visitors using coded messages. on the world’s largest Social Media Platform. Experience the si- ghts and sounds of the world of espio- nage 7 OUR COLLECTION The collection of objects which form the foundation Visitors can also view a number of cipher machines, of our exhibition has been assembled over a number signalling technology from World War Two and the of years and from a wide range of sources (secret Cold War and even an original Enigma machine. services, cryptologists and communications specia- lists) and give a unique insight into the work of secret Fans of James Bond should make a beeline for our agents. All verified by independent leading experts, collection of original film props from across the the original tools of the espionage trade give a com- decades. Although a fictional character, his creator prehensive and first hand impression of the work of Ian Fleming was himself once engaged in the murky spies: dead letter drops; special weapons, a mind-bog- world of international espionage and based his cha- gling array of hidden cameras and listening devices racter and stories on his extensive experience. concealed in pens, shoes and much more besides. The majority of the camera technology – hidden in All our exhibits are accompanied by expert commen- key fobs, watering cans and female underwear - stem tary and displayed in top-quality fittings, supplemented from workshops of the East German Stasi. by state-of-the art touchscreens and videos. Exceptional artefacts from all the ages of espio- nage 8 EYE-WITTNESSES WERNER GROSSMANN WOLFHARD THIEL (Former Stasi General) (KGB spy during the Cold War) Werner Grossmann (born 1929) was the head of the Wolfhard Thiel (born 1951) is a former KGB spy. Re- HVA, the East German international intelligence cruited in 1976, the trained physicist and his wife agency between 1986 and 1990 and Deputy Minister worked as a “sleeper” in the USA and gathered a for State Security until the end of the DDR. range of military intelligence. In the eventuality of war between the superpowers, he was to lead the CHRISTOPHER MCLARREN network of Soviet spies in New York. (US-Army, Teufelsberg) Christopher McLarren (born 1947) is a former member RUDOLF F. STARITZ of the US Army. Posted to the Field Station Berlin on (German Military Intelligence officer during World Berlin’s Teufelsberg between 1973 and 1975, he worked War Two) as an intelligence analyst monitoring the radio traffic Rudolf F.