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Product Description
In this gripping narrative, John Koehler details the widespread activities of East Germanys Ministry for State Security, or Stasi. The Stasi, which infiltrated every walk of East German life, suppressed political opposition, and caused the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of citizens, proved to be one of the most powerful secret police and espionage services in the world. Koehler methodically reviews the Stasis activities within East Germany and overseas, including its programs for internal repression, international espionage, terrorism and terrorist training, art theft, and special operations in Latin America and Africa. Koehler was both Berlin bureau chief of the Associated Press during the height of the Cold War and a U. S. Army Intelligence officer. His insiders account is based on primary sources, such as U. S. intelligence files, Stasi documents made available only to the author, and extensive interviews with victims of political oppression, former Stasi officers, and West German government officials. Drawing from these sources, Koehler recounts tales that rival the most outlandish Hollywood spy thriller and, at the same time, offers the definitive contribution to our understanding of this still largely unwritten aspect of the history of the Cold War and modern Germany.
From the Author
Exposing a brutal communist East German secret police
When the Berlin Wall crumbled on November 9, 1989, I was determined to write a detailed account of communist East German's secret police, the Stasi, which since the end of World War II had ruthlessly oppressed 17 million citizens, hundreds of thousands of whom were imprisoned under inhuman conditions. Thus, I flew to Berlin the next day to begin my research by renewing contacts I had made while serving as Berlin bureau chief of the Associated Press during the height of the Cold War and while serving as a U.S.Army intelligence officer. During the following eight years I interviewed hundreds of victims, Stasi officers who had defected, and I sifted through thousands of Stasi and western intelligence documents. Besides unearthing crimes against humanity, I was able to probe Stasi espionage against West Germany, the United States and NATO, aiding international terrorism, collaboration with the Soviet KGB and Stasi activities in Third World countries in support of the Soviet Union's quest for communist world domination. Three years ago, one of my best sources, a Stasi colonel who had defected, died under mysterious circumstances shortly before he was to testify for the prosecution in the trial of alleged terrorists charged with the bombing of a Berlin discotheque in which three persons, including two American GIs, were killed and more than 200 injured. Murder? German justice officials and a former Stasi colonel, who was close to the victim, believe it was. Why did I write this book? I felt strongly that the reign of a ruthless cabal of communist ideologues needed to be exposed to the world. I believed that I owed this to all the victims of totalitarianism. Simon Wiesenthal, the noted Nazi hunter, told me that if one leaves out the slaughter of jews, gypsies, homosexuals and other human beings that the Nazis had classified as "Untermenschen", subhumans, the Stasi was worse toward its fellow citizens than the Nazi Gestapo and the Soviet KGB combined. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
When the Berlin Wall crumbled on November 9, 1989, I was determined to write a detailed account of communist East German's secret police, the Stasi, which since the end of World War II had ruthlessly oppressed 17 million citizens, hundreds of thousands of whom were imprisoned under inhuman conditions. Thus, I flew to Berlin the next day to begin my research by renewing contacts I had made while serving as Berlin bureau chief of the Associated Press during the height of the Cold War and while serving as a U.S.Army intelligence officer. During the following eight years I interviewed hundreds of victims, Stasi officers who had defected, and I sifted through thousands of Stasi and western intelligence documents. Besides unearthing crimes against humanity, I was able to probe Stasi espionage against West Germany, the United States and NATO, aiding international terrorism, collaboration with the Soviet KGB and Stasi activities in Third World countries in support of the Soviet Union's quest for communist world domination. Three years ago, one of my best sources, a Stasi colonel who had defected, died under mysterious circumstances shortly before he was to testify for the prosecution in the trial of alleged terrorists charged with the bombing of a Berlin discotheque in which three persons, including two American GIs, were killed and more than 200 injured. Murder? German justice officials and a former Stasi colonel, who was close to the victim, believe it was. Why did I write this book? I felt strongly that the reign of a ruthless cabal of communist ideologues needed to be exposed to the world. I believed that I owed this to all the victims of totalitarianism. Simon Wiesenthal, the noted Nazi hunter, told me that if one leaves out the slaughter of jews, gypsies, homosexuals and other human beings that the Nazis had classified as "Untermenschen", subhumans, the Stasi was worse toward its fellow citizens than the Nazi Gestapo and the Soviet KGB combined. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
THE FIRST TIME I MET Erich Mielke, the notorious chief of the communist East German secret police, was in February 1965, during a reception for Alexei N. Kosygin, successor to Nikita S. Khrushchev as premier of the Soviet Union. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
THE FIRST TIME I MET Erich Mielke, the notorious chief of the communist East German secret police, was in February 1965, during a reception for Alexei N. Kosygin, successor to Nikita S. Khrushchev as premier of the Soviet Union. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What should have been a fascinating book is ruined by a massively simplistic, yet all-pervasive, 'USA = Great, Commies = Bad' black-and-white mentality. If you're looking for insights into Communist East Germany I would recommend Anna Funder's Stasiland and Timothy Garton Ash's The File instead: these two books, by literate and intelligent writers, are everything this book is not.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This author misses a real opportunity with this topic. There is a lot of good source material here,but the book is spoilt by the authors subjective views and clear bias.The chapter on Chile is just one example of the unreconstructured cold-war rhetoric which spoils the book.There is a well reseached book to be written on this important issue;unfortunately this is not it.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I bought this book a few years ago and took it away on holiday with me. After the first few pages i could not put it down. Every opportunity i had for any reading, i was at this book.
Having long been fascinated by anything concerning the DDR and a regular listener to RBI until its final closedown in 1989, i have now actually been able not only to visit places mentioned within this book such as the Stasi HQ in Berlin, but also meet people who grew up in the East.
You have to keep a very open mind when reading this book and make your own judgement, recognising that whilst the DDR had its own propaganda machine, so too did the West (and still does to this day). But the extremities which the Stasi went to and methods employed ranged from the obscure to total paranoia.
A fascinating and very addictive read.
Having long been fascinated by anything concerning the DDR and a regular listener to RBI until its final closedown in 1989, i have now actually been able not only to visit places mentioned within this book such as the Stasi HQ in Berlin, but also meet people who grew up in the East.
You have to keep a very open mind when reading this book and make your own judgement, recognising that whilst the DDR had its own propaganda machine, so too did the West (and still does to this day). But the extremities which the Stasi went to and methods employed ranged from the obscure to total paranoia.
A fascinating and very addictive read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Unreliable and biased
I have been aiming to buy this book for a long time, I bought it at Kinokuniya. My aim was to understand the Democratic Germany experience in depth. Read more
Published on 30 April 2009 by Ogun Eratalay
Excellent in depth insight of life in Socialist East Germany
Great book giving a detailed insight into life of ordinary East Germans under the rule of socialist Eric Honecker.
Published on 23 Nov 2008 by I. REYGAN
Stasi: an excellent book
Do not be fooled by other reviews of this book; it is a superb and enjoyable read, and by far one of the most entertaining reads of the subject that I have read. Read more
Published on 24 May 2008 by Ricky Brooks
Right-wing crusader's rant
I've just got to page 4. Already the Eastern Block is backed by the armed might of the Soviet Union, but West Germany is protected by the shield of the USA and its NATO allies. Read more
Published on 16 Oct 2007 by Tom Nibbs
Squandered opportunity
There is much that is interesting in this book, but the tone and bias of the author squander his privileged access - a wire journalist, former US intelligence officer and Reagan... Read more
Published on 27 Feb 2007 by E. Baumgartner
Objective? Not in any way imaginable!
If this author had not declared himself to be A) American and B) a former US Army intelligence officer, we would have had a fair idea of those facts after reading this. Read more
Published on 29 Jan 2005 by Koshmar_61
Still an untold story.
This is populist,subjective and not a good objective study.There are far better items of research around.Save your money and search elsewhere.
Published on 22 May 2003 by P. patrick
Poor and subjective book
The author seems to concentrate himself in a anti-communist struggle rather than providing the reader with good unbiased information and letting to the reader any eventual... Read more
Published on 17 May 2000
Excellent book. You wont be disappointed.
This book is a very interesting and thorough account of the East German security service. It is very well written and informative. Read more
Published on 8 Jun 1999
Stasi is a Cold War classic
Jack Koehler understood Soviet communism and he understands Germany like few other authors. Stasi contains dozens of anecdotal stories of the spy cases that were the basis for the... Read more
Published on 20 Feb 1999
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