Richter, Walter. Der Militärische Nachrichtendienst der Nationalen Volksarmee der DDR und seine Kontrolle durch das Ministerium für Staatssicherheit: Die Geschichte eines Geheimdienstes. [The Military Intelligence Service of the National People's Army and Its Control by the Ministry for State Security: The History of a Secret Service] 2d ed. Frankfurt am Main, Peter Lang, 2004.
Kahn, IN&S 23.2 (Apr. 2008), notes that this work is based "on the many documents that have survived from the military intelligence service and the Stasi ministry."
Sarotte,
M.E. "Spying Not Only on Strangers: Documenting Stasi Involvement in
Cold War German-German Negotiations." Intelligence andNational Security
11, no. 4 (Oct. 1996): 765-779.
The focus here is on the activities of the East German Ministry for State Security (MfS or, popularly, Stasi) in its role as a foreign intelligence agency. The author notes that the absence of key document collections (the Main Administration for Reconnaissance, which directed "foreign reconnaissance and espionage," was able to destroy "the vast majority of its files") means that there are many holes in researching the Stasi's role in German-German negotiations.
Schmeidel,
John. "My Enemy's Enemy: Twenty Years of Co-operation between West
Germany's Red Army Faction and the GDR Ministry for State Security."
Intelligence and National Security 8, no. 4 (Oct. 1993): 59-72.
"East German training and active support of the RAF [Red Army Faction] by the GDR Ministry for State Security [footnote omitted] is now a documented fact."
Schmeidel, John C. Stasi: Shield and Sword of the Party. New York: Routledge, 2008.
Peake, Studies 52.2 (Jun. 2008) and Intelligencer 16.1 (Spring 2008), calls this "a thorough, though not definitive, and generally well-sourced treatment of the MfS."
Schroeder, Klaus. Der SED-Staat: Partei, Staat und Gesellschaft, 1949-1990. Munich: Econ-Ullstein-List-Verlag, 1998.
Krieger, I&NS 19.1/196/fn.5, calls this "an excellent new overview of GDR history."
Searle, Alaric. "'Vopo'-General Vincenz Müller and Western Intelligence, 1948-54: CIC, the Gehlen Organization and Two Cold War Operations." Intelligence and National Security 17, no. 2 (Summer 2002): 27-50.
Former Wehrmacht Generalleutnant Vincenz Müller returned to the Eastern Zone of Germany from Russia in September 1948 and began "a remarkable career as both soldier and politician." This article looks at two unsuccessful efforts -- one by the U.S. Army's CIC and the other by the Gehlen organization -- to encourage Müller to defect to the West.
Sorenson, Anne. Stasi og den vesttyske terrorisme [STASI and West German Terrorism]. Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 2006.
According to Hansen, IJI&C 21.1 (Spring 2008), this work is "based largely on source material from the BStU" and provides "a comprehensive description of the relationship between West German terrorist groups and the GDR's" STASI. The reviewer believes that the book, available only in Danish, is a "very important historical work [that] goes far beyond its original Danish audience."
Thomas, Marrilyn. Communing with the Enemy: Covert Operations, Christianity and Cold War Politics in Britain and the GDR. Oxford and Bern: Peter Lang, 2005.
According to Berger, I&NS 22.4 (Aug. 2007), the centerpiece of this work is the stay in Dresden in 1965 by a group of young Christians from Britain. However, the work tells a "complex and fascinating story about Cold War politics and the role of the British and German churches in it." Along the way, the author sheds "much light on the way in which a young GDR operated in a world which it perceived as predominantly hostile."
Unverhau, Dagmar, ed. State Security and Mapping in the German Democratic Republic: Map Falsification as a Consequence of Excessive Secrecy? Berlin: Lit Verlag, 2006.
Krieger, JIH 6.2 (Winter 2006/7), notes that in October 1965 the GDR's National Defence Council "passed a ruling which specified how publicly distributed maps had to be modified in order to meet the concerns not only of GDR security agencies but equally of the Soviet Union.... The authors amply illustrate how military installations were diminished in size or made to look like farm buildings. Railway lines were deleted, electrical power lines made to vanish..... The 1965 order also banned grid coordinates which made it possible to move road intersections or even villages by several kilometres."
Vermaat,
J.A. Emerson. "The East German Secret Service Structure and Operational
Focus." Conflict Quarterly 7, no. 3 (Fall 1987): 44-57. [Calder]
Wagner, Helmut. Schöne Grüsse aus Pullach: Operationen des BND gegen die DDR. Berlin: edition ost/Das Neue Berlin, 2001.
According to Maddrell, I&NS 18.1, the author "was for 30 years an officer in the MfS' Line II..., the main element in the MfS' counter-espionage service." The work "is strongest on the ... last 10 or 15 years of the DDR's life."
Wegmann, Bodo. Die Militäraufklärung der NVA. Berlin: Verlag Dr. Köster, 2005.
Schmid, JIH 7.2 (Winter 2007-2008), notes that the author "presents a detailed picture of the structure and the functioning" of military intelligence in the GDR's National Peoples Army. Wegmann "focuses mainly on the anatomy of the organization rather than on its results but gives examples for the latter as well."
Whitney,
Craig R. "East's Archives Reveal Ties to Terrorists." New York
Times, 15 Jul. 1990, A6.
Return to East Germany Table of Contents