The Stasi: The East German Intelligence and Security Service

267 Pages·1996·26.949 MB·English

by  David Childs, Richard Popplewell (auth.)

THE STASI
Also by David Childs
BRITAIN SINCE 1945: A Political History
BRITAIN SINCE 1939: Progress and Reform
THE CHANGING FACE OF WESTERN COMMUNISM (ed.)
CHILDREN IN THE WAR (ed.) with Janet Wharton
EAST GERMANY
EAST GERMANY IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE (ed.)
EAST GERMANY TO THE 1990s
FROM SCHUMACHER TO BRANDT
THE GDR, MOSCOW'S GERMAN ALLY
GERMANY IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY
GERMANY ON THE ROAD TO UNITY
GERMANY SINCE 1918
HONECKER'S GERMANY (ed.)
MARX AND THE MARXISTS
WEST GERMANY, POLITICS AND SOCIETY with Jeffrey
Johnson
Also by Richard Popplewell
INTELLIGENCE AND IMPERIAL DEFENCE:
British Intelligence and the Defence of the Indian Empire, 1904-1924
The Stasi
The East German Intelligence
and Security Service
David Childs
Professor of Politics
University of Nottingham
and
Richard Popplewell
Lecturer in Politics and Contemporary History
University of Salford
© David Childs and Richard Popplewell 1996
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Contents
Acknowledgements VI
List of Abbreviations and German Terms viii
The Changing Names of the Soviet Domestic and Foreign
Intelligence Agency xii
Introduction xiii
I. Gennan Communism, the Comintern and Secret Intelligence,
1918-43
2. The Origins and Development of East Gennan State Security:
The Ulbricht Years, 1945-71 33
3. The MfS, the SED and the East Gennan State 66
4. The MfS as an Internal Security Organ 82
5. East Gennan Foreign Intelligence, 1945-89 112
6. HVA Operations Against West Gennany 142
7. From Triumph to Catastrophe: The Stasi Under Mielke
and Honecker, 1971-89 174
8. The Aftennath 193
Appendix A
Biographical Information 196
AppendixB
Chronology 200
Bibliography 203
Notes 213
Name Index 243
Subject Index 248
v
Acknowledgements
David Childs is very grateful to the German Academic Exchange Service
(DAAD) for awarding him a scholarship which enabled him to spend some
time in the former DDR in 1994.
A great many people have been very generous with their time to discuss
various aspects of the DDR and/or the MfS. In Germany they include:
various members of the Citizens' Committees of Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig,
particularly David Gill, Heinz Meier, and Ulrich Wiegend; Andre Andrich,
Neues Forum, Dresden; Dr Sabine Bergmann-Pohl, MdB, formerly President
of the Volkskammer of the DDR; Dr Sc med Kay Blumenthal-Barby,
Berlin/Gottinghen; Dr Heinrich Bortfeldt, formerly Akademie fiir
Gesellschaftswissenschaften beim ZK der SED; Dr Manfred Braune, CDU,
Leipzig; Dr Eberhard Brecht, MdB; Elfriede Bruning, writer, Berlin; Wolfgang
Dehne!, MdB; Colonel Prof. Dr Helmut Eck, formerly of the Hochschule
des MfS Potsdam-Eiche; Dr Helmut Ettinger, formerly diplomatic service
of the DDR, PDS Berlin; Colonel Klaus Eichner, formerly head of Bereich
'C' of Department X of the HV A; Joachim Fiegel, PDS, Bonn/Chemnitz;
Bernt Forster, Leipzig University; Monika Friedrich, Gauck-Behorde, Berlin;
Dipl.-Psych. Svetla Friedrich, Leipzig; Prof. Dr Walter Friedrich, formerly
Director of the Institut fi.ir Jugendforschung, Leipzig; Horst Gibtner, MdB,
formerly Minister of Transport of the DDR; Dr Wolfgang Gudenschwager,
CDU, Berlin; Dr Karlheinz Guttmacher, MdB; Hildegard Hannan
Stadtmuseum, Oranienburg; AdolfHaidegger, CDU, Bi.irgermeister, Colditz;
Dieter Herberg, FDP, Leipzig; Prof. Dr Uwe-Jens Heuer, MdB; Matthias
Hinkel, Leipzig; Prof. Dr Hartmut Jackel, Free University, Berlin; Dr Dittmar
Keller, MdB, formerly Minister of Culture of DDR; Egon Krenz, formerly
General Secretary of the SED and Chairman of the Council of State of the
DDR; Vera (Wollenberger) Lengsfeld MdB; Dr Ekkehard Lieberran, PDS,
Bonn; Roger Loewig, painter, Berlin; Dr Michael Luther, MdB; Heide
Marie Li.ith, MdB; Friedrich Magirius, Stadtprasident Leipzig, Superintendent
der Nikolaikirchc, Leipzig; Roland May, SPD, Leipzig; Lothar de Maiziere,
formerly Minister-President of the DDR; Captain Wilfried Mannewitz,
formerly of the MfS; Rudolf Meinl, MdB; Barbara Miller, research student
Edinburgh University; Dr Hans Modrow, MdB, formerly Minister-President
of the DDR; Uwe Mi.iller, formerly SPD Leipzig; Dr Hermann Pohler, MdB,
Gert Poppe, MdB; George Pumfrey, PDS, Bonn; Klaus Reichenbach, MdB,
formerly Minister in the Office of the Minister-President of the DDR; Hans
VI
Acknowledgements vii
Jtirgen Richter, MdL, SPD, Chemnitz; Colonel Dr Klaus Rosier, formerly
head of Department XII ofHVA; Christina Schenk, MdB; Dr Gerald Schmidt,
CDU, Berlin; Richard Schroder, MdB, formerly Chairman of the SPD group
in the Volkskammer; Dr Sigrid Semper, MdB; Werner H. Skowron, MdB;
Arni Snaevarr, Foreign News Editor, Icelandic National Broadcasting Service;
Dr Gerald Thalheim, MdB; Rolf Thieme, CDU, Dresden; Cenzi Troike
Loewig, Berlin; Dr Wolfgang Ullmann, MdB; Joachim Walter, writer,
Gauck-Behorde, Berlin; Konrad Weiss, MdB; Wolfgang Wiemer, SPD, Bonn,
and several individuals who did not wish to be identified.
For their kind hospitality David Childs would also like to thank: Patricia
Clough; Prof. Dr Hartmut Jackel and Frau Margarete Jackel; Svetla and Martin
Friedrich; Prof. Dr Siegfried Prokop; Ceszentia Troike-Loewig; Dr Axel and
Frau Hai-Oh Noack and Lenny.
Among those resident in the United Kingdom, the authors would particu
larly like to thank Professor Christopher Andrew of Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge; Peter Johnson, former Reuter and BBC correspondent in Berlin
and Moscow, O.J. Bachmann and Dr Tilman Remme.
Abbreviations and
German Terms
AtNs -Amtfiir Nationale Sicherheit. Office for National Security, November
1989 to December 1989.
Apparat -literally, 'apparatus, equipment'. Usually, closest translation is
'organization'.
BEK -Bund der Evangelischen Kirchen. Federation of Protestant Churches
in the GDR.
Bezirk-largest administrative district of the GDR.
BtV-Bundesamtfiir Verfassungsschutz, 'Federal Office for the Protection
of the Constitution'. West German security service.
BND - Bundesnachrichtendienst, the Federal Intelligence Service, West
Germany's foreign intelligence organization.
Bundestag-the directly-elected chamber of the (West) German parliament.
CDU-Christlich-Demokratische Union, the Christian Democratic Union.
Main right-wing party in West Germany, roughly equivalent to
'Conservatives'. Also, the SED-dominated party in East Germany.
CSCE -Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
CSPU-the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
CSU-Christlich-Soziale Union, 'Christian Social Union'. Bavarian sister
party of the CDU.
DBD-Demokratische Bauernpartei Deutschlands, Democratic Peasants Party
of Germany, one of four SED-'allied' parties.
DDR-Deutsche Demokratische Republik, 'German Democratic Republic',
East Germany.
DKP-Deutsche Kommunistische Partei, the German Communist Party, the
successor to the KPD from 1968.
DVdl-Deutsche Verwaltung des Jnnern, (DVdl), German Administration
of the Interior in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany, 1945-9.
ECCI-the Executive Committee of the Communist International.
FDJ-Freie Deutsche Jug end, 'Free German Youth'. East German communist
youth movement.
Freikorps- Volunteer units outside the regular army (Reichswehr) of the
Weimar Republic.
FRO-the Federal Republic of Germany, West Germany.
GDR - the German Democratic Republic, East Germany. In German, the
DDR, short for 'Deutsche Demokratische Republik'.
VIII
Abbreviations IX
Gestapo--Secret State Police of the Third Reich.
GI-Geheime lnformatoren. Pre-1968 designation of Stasi informers.
GRU-Glavnoe razvedivatelnoe upravlenie, 'Main Intelligence Directorate'.
Soviet Military Intelligence.
GST-Gesellschaft fiir Sport und Technik, 'Society for Sport and Technology'.
HVA-Hauptverwaltung Aujkliirung, 'Main Administration Reconnaissance'.
The Stasi's foreign intelligence organization.
IM -lnoffizielle Mitarbeiter, 'Unofficial Colleagues' or collaborator. Stasi
informers.
INO -lnostranny Otdel-the Foreign Department. The first foreign espionage
agency of Soviet Intelligence.
ISH-Seamen's International in the interwar period.
IWF - lnstitut fur Wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Forschung, 'Institute for
Economic Research'. Cover for first East German foreign intelligence
service.
Junkertum- 'Junkerdom', the squirearchy of Prussia.
KGB-Komitet gosudarstvennoi bezopasnosti, 'Committee of State Security'.
Soviet security and foreign intelligence agency. See below.
K5-Kommissariat 5, political secret police forerunner of MfS, 1945-50.
KPD-Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, Communist Party of Germany.
KoKo-Kommerzielle Koordinierung. Clandestine MfS department within
Foreign Ministry of GDR.
Kripo-Kriminalpolizei, criminal police,
Kreis- 'district'. Sub-division of the Bezirk.
KVP- Kasernierte Volkspolizei, People's Police in barracks.
Land- province of West Germany. Largest administrative district of the
Eastern Zone of occupied Germany, 1945-52.
LDPD-Liberal-Demokratische Partei Deutschlands, Liberal Democratic
Party of Germany, one of the four SED-'allied' parties in the GDR.
MAD - Militiirischer Abschirmdienst, West German Military Counter
Intelligence.
MfS - Ministerium fur Staatssicherheit, Ministry of State Security. East
German intelligence agency, 1950-89.
M-Gruppen-Military groups (i.e.: sub-units) of the Militiirapparat.
Militiirapparat-Military Organization of the KPD.
Mitarbeiter -literally, 'co-worker'. Closest English equivalent is 'collabo
rator' without its usual, pejorative sense.
Nachrichtenapparat-Intelligence Organization of the KPD.
Narkomindel - Narodny Komissariat Innostranych Del - the People's
Commissariat of Foreign Affairs, the Soviet foreign ministry in the 1920s
and 1930s.