DATE=7/14/99
TYPE=NEWS FEATURE
NUMBER=5-43877
TITLE=REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK / STASI
BYLINE=CANDACE WILLIAMS
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: IN THE 10 YEARS SINCE THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL, MANY
RESIDENTS OF FORMERLY COMMUNIST EAST GERMANY HAVE DEMANDED TO SEE
FILES KEPT ON THEM BY THE NOTORIOUS FORMER SECRET POLICE NETWORK,
THE STASI. V-O-A CANDACE WILLIAMS RECENTLY TOURED THE BERLIN
HEADQUARTERS OF THE FORMER SPY OPERATION AND REPORTS THE STASI
KEPT MORE THAN PAPER ON FILE.
TEXT: WITH COMMUNISM'S COLLAPSE IN EAST GERMANY, IT IS DIFFICULT
FOR MANY YOUNG GERMANS TO IMAGINE LIFE IN A VIRTUAL POLICE STATE.
YET FOR CITIZENS FROM THE FORMER GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC,
SURVEILLANCE BY THE STASI -- OR MINISTRY FOR STATE SECURITY --
WAS A FACT OF LIFE. THE DREADED POLICE INFILTRATED EVERY ASPECT
OF SOCIETY -- USING THEIR OWN AGENTS AND OTHER INFORMANTS TO SPY
ON A POPULATION OF 16 MILLION.
WITH A GROUP OF OTHER U-S JOURNALISTS, I RECENTLY TOURED THE
BERLIN HEADQUARTERS OF THE FORMER STASI.
GERMAN PRESS SPOKESMAN JOHANN LEGNER ACCOMPANIED US. HE TOOK US
TO ONE ROOM FILLED WITH BAGS OF DOCUMENTS THAT STASI EMPLOYEES
HAD TORN TO PIECES, WHEN CITIZENS COMMITTEES RAIDED STASI OFFICES
THROUGHOUT EAST GERMANY IN LATE 1989. THE PROTESTS COINCIDED WITH
THE COLLAPSE OF THE BERLIN WALL. PEOPLE WERE DEMANDING TO SEE
INFORMATION ABOUT THE STASI AND WHO IT HAD SPIED ON.
MR. LEGNER SAYS AUTHORITIES HOPE TO PIECE TOGETHER THE TORN
DOCUMENTS TO LEARN THEIR CONTENTS. BUT HE ACKNOWLEDGES THE TASK
IS DIFFICULT, GIVEN THE SHEER VOLUME OF PAPER.
//IST LEGNER ACT//
IF YOU WOULD RECONSTRUCT THESE PAPERS, YOU WOULD HAVE AT
LEAST 25-MILLION PAGES. WE ARE GOING THROUGH A PROCESS
TO DO THIS BY MODERN TECHNOLOGY.
//END 1ST LEGNER ACT//
THE STASI FILES IN BERLIN INCLUDED NAMES AND INFORMATION ON
FORMER AGENTS WHO OPERATED IN THE WEST DURING THE COLD WAR. MR.
LEGNER SAYS SOME OF THE DOCUMENTS ENDED UP IN THE POSSESSION OF
THE U-S CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, AND THAT GERMANY WANTS THEM
BACK. ACCORDING TO THE GERMAN PRESS, PRESIDENT CLINTON HAS
PROMISED TO RETURN THE FILES.
DURING THE COLD WAR, THE STASI ALSO KEPT WHAT MR. LEGNER
DESCRIBED AS "SMELL SAMPLES" OF PEOPLE -- CLOTH SAMPLES
CONTAINING THE SCENT OF INDIVIDUALS THAT COULD BE USED FOR DOG
TRACKING AND IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES. WE FOUND THESE SAMPLES IN
SEALED GLASS BOTTLES.
// 2ND LEGNER ACT//
DURING AN INTERROGATION, FOR EXAMPLE, YOU HAD THE
OPPORTUNITY TO FORCE A PERSON TO GIVE YOU A SMELL
SAMPLE, JUST AS IF YOU CONTACT TEXTILES (TOUCH CLOTH)
WITH CERTAIN PARTS OF YOUR BODY, YOUR SMELL IS PRESERVED
...WE HAD SEVERAL HUNDRED OF THESE SMELL SAMPLES OF MORE
OR LESS PROMINENT DISSIDENTS WHICH THEY PRESERVED.
//END 2ND LEGNER ACT//
SPOKESMAN LEGNER SAYS THE STASI ALSO COLLECTED INFORMATION ON
EAST GERMANS, BY INTERCEPTING MAIL AND EAVESDROPPING.
//3RD LEGNER ACT//
WE HAVE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS, I THINK, MILLIONS OF
LETTERS FOR EXAMPLE HERE. MANY OF THEM NEVER ARRIVED AT
THEIR DESTINATION WHICH THEY JUST COLLECTED BECAUSE IT
MAY BE USEFUL TO HAVE THESE LETTERS. ALSO, THEY JUST
LISTENED FOR HOURS AND YEARS ON TELEPHONES. CERTAIN
PEOPLE HAVE THOUSANDS OF PAGES OF THEIR OWN TELEPHONE
CONVERSATIONS STORED HERE.
//END 3RD LEGNER ACT//
OUR TOUR ALSO TOOK US TO A ROOM CONTAINING MORE THAN
TWO-AND-A-HALF MILLION INDEX CARDS, SIMILAR TO THOSE FOUND IN A
LIBRARY. THESE FILES CONTAINED INFORMATION ON SPY OPERATIONS
AND CODE NAMES OF THE PEOPLE INVOLVED.
THE VISIT ENDED IN YET ANOTHER ROOM WITH SEPARATE FILES ON
INFORMANTS AND THE PEOPLE THEY MONITORED. MR. LEGNER SAYS THE
UNDERGROUND COLLABORATORS HAD TO PRODUCE A HANDWRITTEN DOCUMENT
WHICH SAID HE OR SHE SPIED WILLINGLY FOR EAST GERMANY.
MR. LEGNER, A FORMER JOURNALIST, SAYS INFORMANTS ALSO SPIED ON
HIM. ONE OF THEM WAS SOMEONE HE CONSIDERED A FRIEND. MR. LEGNER
SAYS THAT FRIENDSHIP IS NOW OVER. (SIGNED)
NEB/CAW/RRM
14-Jul-99 3:33 PM EDT (1933 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
