There's a fascinating new exhibition of photographs that's recently opened in Berlin, It features photographs from the East German secret police files. Some show Stasi agents in various disguises which to be honest have more in common with Groucho rather than Karl Marx. These photos could be viewed purely as absurd 70’s kitsch, however due to the nature of the organisation that compiled them, they take on a slightly sinister air. By the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Stasi employed 97,000 people, alongside this they also had an army of 173,000 informers scattered within the population. In the GDR there was one Stasi agent for every 67 citizens, by comparison in Nazi Germany there was only one Gestapo agent for every 2000 people, and in the Soviet Union, one KGB agent for every 5830 people. On a lighter note though one intriguing aspect of the files is the identity of the main Stasi model. Could it be that Van Morrison, Northern Ireland's most popular sourpuss, was in the pay of the Warsaw pact? We need to know.
For further reading on the GDR,author Anna Funder’s book ‘Stasiland’ is a tremendous and revealing insight into The Stasi and it’s effect on ordinary East Germans. I’d recommend it without hesitation.
More details on the exhibition can be found by clicking HERE
2 comments:
Was Van's Brown-Eyed Girl a clerk in the Stasi's typing pool? We need to know!
By the way, Andy, on the East/West Germany theme, did you ever see the film Goodbye Lenin!? Thoroughly recommended.
I loved Goodbye Lenin. Proof that the Germans do posess a sense of humour
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