Customer Reviews

Stasi: The Untold Story Of The East German Secret Police

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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.

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)

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.

This book is a very interesting and thorough account of the East German security service. It is very well written and informative. Koehler did some excellent, in-depth research on the Stasi and this book reflects that. I would recommend it to any one interested in the Stasi, East Germany, or the Cold War in general.

Stasi is an excellent study in constrasts and merits the attention of anyone interested in current affairs, terrorist studies, European history, political science and intelligence history. Since the author has met many of the people discussed in the book, it is a text loaded with anecdotes and details that many biographers or historians never get to probe. The author shares these singular observations with his readers.

The dark side is sad indeed. Koehler begins by exposing the feudal world of East German leftist radicals and how the Stasi organization emerged from thier international machinations. Erich Mielke, who became the Minister for State Security, built the Stasi into an unbelievable machine that promoted evil. In order to do this he became a feudal serf of the KGB, and a king in East Germany. Ultimately, he became a pill-popping addict despite his successful, shameful reign of terror. Under his tutelage, Stasi officers, most of whom had the barest rudimentary education, spied on their neighbors, bugged confessionals, and tortured countless German citizens. One citizen, Josef Kneifel, described his life under Mielke's world of concrete control as similar to that of a "dazed animal" while the "vassals of Moscow" worked overtime to destroy the lives, marriages, and occupations of numerous frightened East Germans.

Koehler contrasts the absolute despair of living under the Stasi against the dedication and committment of freedom-loving people to bring an end to the Stasi kingdom of cruely, ruthless power- mongering and paranoia. The agencies and individuals who sacrificed much to bring freedom and civility to life in the Stasi empire were understaffed and risked many dangers. Traitors from within their own ranks motivated only by money or the need to feel superior to others sold them out time and again. Koehler faithfully catalogues the close calls, successes and failures of these brave people. Undaunted, they continued to pursue their goal of freedom for those in communist countries with the help of average people such as lathe operators, secretaries, pastors, and railroad dispatchers. Erich Mielke believed that Poland's working classes could never upend the communist regime in Poland. Ultimately, as Koehler shows, the Stasi chief underestimated them.
This book also touched on virtual terrorism's birth. Both IBM and Texas Instruments unknowlingly employed Stasi spies who gathered information about computers and communications apparatus. Another group had developed a unique particle spray, similar to a chemical weapon, to spread over enemy communication stations and disrupt correspondence in case of war.
Finally, Koehler warns readers that former Stasi officers, well-trained in terrorist techniques, are unemployed and looking for work today. They also continue to maintain connections to the Russian mafia which operates in a land full of uncharted and unclaimed fissile material. Mielke's men still lurk in the underworld, unwilling and unable to function in civil society again.
I love books by journalists because they are packed with information. Koehler does a masterful job of keeping the numerous personalities and their activities from becoming a jumbled morass of confusing paragraphs. The book is structured well and easy to read. The excellent topic, clear prose, detailed insights and good organization make this book very much worth buying and reading.

Mr. Koehler's writing is amazing and fluid. He writes so well and brings the reader into the ministry for state security ( STASI). I love this book because the author has left no stone unturned. He describes in great detail every aspect of Stasi operations. From domestic repression in the GDR, West German and Nato espionage, all the way to Stasi operations in the third world. Who would have thought the Stasi was such a huge network. I believe this to be a most informative book that reads like a novel. It is the kind of writing that keeps you propped up on your pillow at night. I salute Mr. Koehler in uncovering the truth about the world's most efficient and notorious secret police, the Stasi. It is only by understanding the brutality of the past that we can prevent it in the future. We all need to thank Mr. Koehler for bring these injustices to the hilt.

I was so impressed with STASI that, when I finished reading it, I immediately started reading it again. Of all the books about Cold War history that have emerged since the collapse of the Comrades, STASI is very near the top of the heap. It is a priceless study of the totalitarian evil of the East German police state and the thugs who ran it (One of the most fascinating parts of the book describes Stasi chief Erich Mielke's early history, including his participation in the murder of two Berlin police officers in 1931). Yes, there WAS an Evil Empire and the bad guys lost! I highly recommend STASI--it's outstanding and scholarly journalism that tells an important story, but reads like the best thrillers. Hooray for Koehler--I hope we get more books from him.

I grew-up in the DDR, was expelled for political reasons in 1986 and then returned to The State of Brandenburg in 1991 only to leave again 9 years later when I realized how little has really changed. This book was fascinating reading for anyone that had a 3 volumne "file" with the Stasi. It should also be interesting for anyone looking to understand not only what drove the DDR State Apparatus but also what intimidated and kept the general population in line. The style sometimes reads like a college textbook but the story itself is anything but textbook-like and the seedy & scandalous details keep ones attention despite the books sometimes too-intellectual feel.

Jack Koehler's study of the Stasi is a labor of love by perhaps the best qualified person to deal with East Germany's pervasive machinery of repression. I note that one reviewer wonders why it took so long for Koehler to come out with his book. As a personal acquaintance of the author who followed his journeys to Germany, and who watched with admiration as Koehler made repeated forays into the former DDR, always with an ear to the ground for documents and former Stasi-types willing to talk, let me assure all his readers that no "quickie" treatment of the Stasi would have been worth reading. Jack Koehler went the extra mile in his research at great personal expense, without a contract or advance from a publisher, because he believed the untold story of the Stasi needed to be revealed. All of us who value real history and subscribe to the belief that history's mistakes must be studied to avoid repetition owe Jack Koehler our thanks and respect. He is a great American who climbed into the arena, with no assurances of success. Like Theodore Roosevelt, Mr. Koehler will never belong among those "cold and timid souls" who take no risks, and who are thus doomed to know neither victory nor defeat. In character, John Koehler is now working on another book that promises to be electrifying as he illuminates yet another sordid corner of the Cold War. "Stasi" and his next book should be "must reads" for everyone who cares about the evils governments can perpetrate.

Being a part of the book myself, I feel the world should thank the author John O. Koehler for bringing to light the suffering of all my fellow comrades in chains and the men and women convicted "cold war spies". People, who lost their lives on the guillotine or spent years of agony in prisons behind the "Iron Curtain" At the end, it was "them" who brought down the "Evil Empire". The "now" free world never saw the need to honor them. With this book the author pays tribute to some of the victims like: Heinz Friedemann Elli Barczatis Karl Laurenz ...and thousand, and thousand more........