A State of Secrecy: Stasi Informers and the Culture of Surveillance

343 Pages·2021·10.793 MB·English

by  Alison Lewis

“Alison Lewis exposes aspects of Stasi infiltration into cultural circles with
revelatory nuance. Her genius lies not only in groundbreaking archival
research but also in putting those discoveries to stunning and complex
effect. Reads like a thriller. A dazzling achievement.”
— Susan Signe Morrison, professor of English at Texas State University
“A State of Secrecy is a compelling work that anyone interested in the GDR
must read. With a balance of patient, in- depth research, ruthlessly clear-
sighted analysis, and psychological intuition, Alison Lewis lays bare the
dynamics of secrecy in the GDR, but more important, the mechanisms that
sustain totalitarianism in the modern world. An intellectual tour de force
and a read as gripping as the extraordinary stories contained within it.”
— Karen Leeder, professor of modern German literature at New College,
Oxford
“Carefully fording the gaps inherent in secret police files, Alison Lewis tells
fascinating Cold War stories about Stasi informers who were instrumental
in influencing literary production and policing culture in East Germany.
Extensively researched, A State of Secrecy is an important book that shines a
light on the shadowy double lives of agents who were saddled with secrets.
It exposes the extent of their collaboration and surveillance activities, as
well as their habitus, motivation, and recompenses.”
— Valentina Glajar, professor of German at Texas State University
“A State of Secrecy presents an inside look into the East German Ministry
for State Security and its employment of writers as unofficial collaborators.
Alison Lewis traces the intersecting biographies of five Stasi collaborators
across the spectrum of informers deployed in the area of literature and
culture. By presenting in- depth portraits of these personalities and the
different kinds of surveillance they were involved in, A State of Secrecy paints
a fabulous picture of a collective biography of Stasi informers within the
cultural sphere, their motivations, and their justifications, clearly explicating
how the Stasi used humane forms of surveillance to control and curtail
cultural expression for nearly forty years.”
— Carol Anne Costabile- Heming, professor of German at the University
of North Texas
“Lewis takes a frank look at the Stasi apparatus and the literary writers
who became its willing informants out of ideological persuasion, literary
envy, or both, and who so often have been simultaneously demonized and
glamorized. The study exposes the cruel banality of the socialist surveil-
lance regime.”
— Cathy Gelbin, professor of film and German studies at the University
of Manchester
A StAte of Secrecy

A S TAT E O F
S E C R E C Y
Stasi Informers and the
Culture of Surveillance
AliSon lewiS
Potomac Books An imprint of the University of Nebraska Press
© 2021 by Alison Lewis
All rights reserved. Potomac Books is an
imprint of the University of Nebraska Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Lewis, Alison, 1958– author.
Title: A state of secrecy: Stasi informers and
the culture of surveillance / Alison Lewis.
Description: Lincoln: Potomac Books, an imprint
of the University of Nebraska Press, 2021. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2021008006
isBn 9781640123793 (hardback)
isBn 9781640124844 (epub)
isBn 9781640124851 (pdf)
Subjects: lcsh: Germany (East). Ministerium
für Staatssicherheit—H istory. | Intelligence
service— Germany (East)— History. | Authors as
spies— Germany (East) | Informers— Germany (East)
Classification: lcc jn3971.5.a56 i615
2021 | ddc 327.1243/100922— dc23
lc record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2021008006
Set in Lyon by Laura Buis.
Designed by N. Putens.
contentS
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xiii
List of Abbreviations xxxix
1. Recruiting Writers for the Stasi, 1949– 1962 1
2. Handling Informants and Sustaining Motivation, 1962– 1972 33
3. Policing the “Line on Writers” and Living the Secret Life, 1971– 1976 65
4. The Secret War on Political- Ideological Diversion, 1976– 1978 99
5. Simulation and Secret Policing the Underground, 1979– 1982 133
6. The Culture Wars, 1983– 1989 165
Conclusion 201
Notes 213
Selected Bibliography 255
Index 267

illuStrAtionS
Following page 164
1. Paul Gratzik in the film Vaterlandsverräter, by Annekatrin Hendel, 2011
2. The cover of the im- Vorgang file opened on Paul Gratzik in 1962
3. MfS position paper on imv “Peter,” Paul Gratzik, in 1972
4. Report on a meeting with imv “Peter” in 1972
5. Farewell telegram from Paul Gratzik to his officer, Wenzel
6. A report by im “Peter” on Heiner Müller
7. A portrait of Paul Wiens with his third wife, Irmtraud Morgner
8. A portrait of Paul Wiens smoking his pipe in 1977
9. One of Maja Wiens’s reports on Rudolf Kunze
10 & 11. Meeting report with ims “David Menzer,”
alias Sascha Anderson, 1977
12. Portrait of Sascha Anderson in 1990
13. One of the last meeting reports filed by Paul Wiens’s case officer, 1982
14. The final meeting report filed by Paul Wiens’s case officer, 1982
15. Maja Wiens at a reading on May 10, 1984
16. Maja Wiens chides her case officer
17. Maja Wiens castigates the regime for its failings