Stasi: The Untold Story Of The East German Secret Police [Paperback]

John O Koehler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 17, 2000

In this gripping narrative, John Koehler details the widespread activities of East Germany’s 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 Stasi’s 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 insider’s 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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Mr. Koehler has written a book as gripping as it is truthful. It is not only worth reading, it is worth remembering" -- Washington Times

About the Author

John O. Koehler served as foreign correspondent for the Associated Press for 28 years, including stints as chief for both the Berlin and Bonn Bureaus. He also served as Assistant to the President and Director of Communications under Ronald Reagan.

Product Details

• Paperback: 478 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (August 17, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813337445
• ISBN-13: 978-0813337449
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #351,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the book on the Stasi I had been waiting for, May 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police (Hardcover)

Mr. Koehler provides a vivid picture of what made the DDR tick. He has deftly chronicled the intimate details of his interviews with former Stasi apparatchiks and victims of the Strasi's surveillance and intimidation. Koehler interprets the lurid details of East Germany's most sensitive government files which the Stasi never dreamed would be seen by western eyes.

It is clear from Koehler's book that much of the eastern bloc's demise, in particular the DDR's, was due to the enormous drain of hard currency assets and manpower required to support an intensive domestic and foreign intelligence network. Koehler also chronicles the obsessive "fraternal support" of Nicaragua by East German leader Erich Honecker during the 1980s which further drained the limited resources of the DDR.

It is fair to ask why it took Koehler nearly 10 years since the collapse of East Germany to complete his book. The Stasi documents which are the source for Koehler's research have been opened up in recent years to a limited number of journalists. In many cases, Koehler has an insiders account based on his exclusive access to recently released Stasi files. Koehler brings the best evidence yet of the Stasi's repression as he presents the facts of what it was like to have lived in the DDR more vividly than I have seen written anywhere else.

As a traveler to East Germany during the Cold War years and the months leading up to reunification, I would have enjoyed an additional chapter detailing the Stasi's surveillance of western visitors to the former DDR. I found this book to be the intensive study of the East German secret police that I had been waiting for.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is the one book on the STASI you must have!, January 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police (Hardcover)

The East German security and intelligence service is known to the world as the MfS, or STASI. Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Western historians and scholars have bemoaned the lack of books, in English, on the subject. The delays in publishing have not been for lack of interest, but rather a lack of knowledgeable authors. John Koehler's, "STASI", is the missing book and provides an outstanding contribution to the history of espionage, the Cold War, and the German people.

For more than eight years Koehler conducted detailed interviews with the original participants; a feat unheard of ten years ago. The result is an unparalleled "insider's look" at the scope of STASI intelligence and security operations. Koehler's background as a reporter and intelligence professional provide him with both an understanding of espionage and the ability to tell a compelling and interesting story.

The STASI operated as the "little brother" to the much larger Soviet "Committee for State Security", or KGB. It earned the KGB's complete respect through the total repression of the East German people at home, and the skilled intelligence operations of the HVA (the Main Administration of Foreign Intelligence) outside it's borders.

New details are presented about the pervasive infiltration of HVA operatives into West Germany's government, military, and industrial complex. The revelations of these infiltration's are so sensitive they still destabilized German politics after a decade. Other details reveal operations targeted against US forces and NATO including: the first penetration of U.S. Army intelligence by an East German spy as well as an expose of Americans selling our most sensitive defense secrets to the communists. Where some intelligence writers approach their topic with limited details and knowledge, Koehler involves the reader with a mastery of intelligence "tradecraft" that would make Tom Clancy jealous. Why read fictional accounts of espionage when the "inside" events of the Cold War are infinitely more intricate and fascinating? Spy fiction novelists will be using Koehler's book as a source for story plots and technical details for years to come. No single book can ever tell the complete history of espionage in the Cold War. Koehler's "STASI" does a through job of defining one piece of the giant jig-saw puzzle on Cold War spy history. Combine it with David Murphy's "Battleground Berlin; CIA vs. KGB in the Cold War" (Yale University Press, 1997) to provide another piece of the puzzle that looks at the "frontlines" of the Cold War in Berlin from the perspective of the other two major players in the area, the CIA and KGB.

H Keith Melton Author of "The Ultimate Spy Book"; (Dorling Kindersley, 1996)

38 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, but biased and poorly organized, March 2, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Stasi: The Untold Story Of The East German Secret Police (Paperback)

I really wanted to like this book, and for the vast majority of it, I was set to give it three or more stars. But as I approached the end, the organization, the poor editing and the overt political bias severely impeded my enjoyment and, ultimately, the book's utility to the reader.

The strongest compliment I can pay to this work is that it is extraordinarily comprehensive. It is a detailed overview of Stasi history, personnel, procedures and operations over the four decades East Germany existed. And if the author had been content to write the most comprehensive English-language book on the Stasi to date, I think he probably could have succeeded. But, unfortunately, he chose not to.

The most glaring problem I observed with the book is its haphazard (at best) organization. At the chapter level, the book is reasonably well organized, certainly not disorganized to the extent that complaints are merited. However, within each chapter, the author bounces from one year to another thirty years in the future and then back to the original era. One topic after another is dredged up with little regard to cohesion or organization.

Going along with the poor organization, the book seems to have been hastily edited as well. The author seems to repeat himself often and frequently returns to matters discussed several times previously. I think if 50 pages had been removed from the book, it would have improved it considerably. I am frankly surprised that a former writer for the Associated Press produced such a poorly edited, comparatively poorly written work.

Finally, the author's political slant frequently detracted from the flow of the narrative. I respect his right to say whatever he wishes in his published works -- that's what makes us different and better than East Germany after all -- but in this book, I believe he carries his editorializing to a ridiculous extent. Yes, we all know Communism is bad, and we've all heard a million times that Ronald Reagan is single-handedly responsible for defeating it. There's no need to remind us of that for the umpteenth time when the book is 50 pages too long as it is. In my mind, the author's frequent interjections come off as pedantic and condescending.

This book was a real disappointment to me. I was genuinely excited about reading it, but the flaws were insurmountable in the end. Frankly, I was barely able to finish reading it. This book could have been so much better, and I'm saddened by the wasted potential.

Yet I can't quite recommend against reading it. If you have any interest whatsoever in the Stasi, it is probably worth reading just so long as you are aware of the shortcomings as you come into the endeavor. It is a very comprehensive work -- if anything, a bit too comprehensive (again, the poor editing is to blame.)

In the end, I wish I had read a review that had mentioned the blatant political leanings; like I said, I appreciate and respect the author's right to say whatever he wishes, but the political comments come so very often that I believe they detract significantly from this work.