Enemy Engagement [Feindberührung]

Oliver Stone made a movie about Edward Snowden.  I haven’t seen it, and I’m not sure if I ever will.  While he was making the rounds of the media to promote his new movie, he made a statement that compared our country’s surveillance capabilities with that of the Stasi, East Germany’s Ministry of State Security.  Mention of the word “Stasi” brought back memories from long ago, when the Berlin Wall came down and East Germans stormed Stasi headquarters.  When they got inside the building, they found the millions of files the Stasi kept on the East German citizenry.  What they brought to light was a security apparatus that used a huge network of informants to help spy on their own people.  My interest in the Stasi rekindled, I found a documentary on Amazon titled Enemy Engagement, the story of an East German dissident and the “friend” who informed on him.  What followed was recollections as told by each man to the cameraman.  Then both men met face to face and discuss with each other what happened over forty years ago.  When they weren’t engaged in conversation, they read from the dissident’s Stasi case file [it was rather large].  This makes for some compelling viewing.  

Peter Wulkau was a student at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig, East Germany in the late 1960s, around the time of the Prague Spring.  He thought the ideals of Prague Spring [“Socialism with a human face”] would be a good thing for East Germany.  He was about 20 years ahead of Gorbachev in wanting to reform the system from within.  But he was the kind of student who, when presented with something he knew to be false, would not hesitate to raise the “Bullshit flag.”  For instance, he wanted to buy a pair of pants but was told he could not because there was not enough raw textile material to make pants.  And yet the East German government propaganda said that textile production had increased by 20 percent.  So, do you believe what you have seen and heard in your own experience, or what the government tells you?  In East Germany, of course you believe what the government and the party tells you, without question.  He always found that life experience always contradicted ideology in East Germany.  Peter Wulkau was the sort of person who was intellectually curious – he questioned things.  If one wants to get ahead in East Germany, being “intellectually curious” was not the way to do it.  He was an angry young man because he was constantly being fed propaganda that didn’t jive with reality.   

In May 1969, the Stasi wanted to open an “investigation” on Wulkau.  He was the son of an ex-GDR Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs, who “betrayed the GDR and now resides in West Germany.”  Because of who he was related to, he already had a target painted on him.  At university, he was suspected of “forming groups hostile to the state.”  One of Wulkau’s professors noted Wulkau questioned the working class’ leading role in society, and that he read decadent bourgeois literature.  He was intelligent and very well-read, intellectually superior to most students in his group, but that he was unable to approach all subjects and questions from a class perspective.  He intimidated younger members of his group who had not developed a “fixed class perspective.”  He had an “extremely individualistic perspective” who has “positioned himself outside the collective he despises.”  For these sins Wulkau was expelled from university and not allowed to continue his education.  Wulkau wanted to teach Marxism in high school, but without qualification from the university he would be unable to fulfill that dream.  He could no longer live in Leipzig and had to find “practical work” that would enable him to help build socialism.  He relocated to Magdeburg in 1974 and took work in the Fahlberg-List Chemical Works, because he was allowed only to perform manual labor so he couldn’t do any “political damage.”  

Compared to Leipzig, Magdeburg was very boring for Wulkau.  To alleviate the boredom, he joined a Protestant Students’ Group [PSG].  The group had “Open Evenings” where they would debate literature, philosophy and theology.  This group was under surveillance by the Stasi.  There was a suspected ‘Berlin Scene’ within the group that made “negative comments.”  This group is where Wulkau met a guy named Hartmut Rosinger.  Rosinger had been investigated by the Stasi in 1972 and was given an ideological clean bill of health.  He was true believer in Marxism.  He didn’t see East Germany as an iron-fisted dictatorship, and as for the rules and restrictions placed on society, he agreed with them.  As a loyal Marxist, he was okay with working for an organization like the Stasi to maintain the status quo.  He was quite thrilled and honored to be recruited by the Stasi.  He became what is known as a “Volunteer Operative” [their phrase for ‘informant’] for the Stasi and was given the code name ‘Hans Zimmer’.  Rosinger’s first meeting with the Stasi took place in February 1974 at the Fröbel Special School in Magdeburg.  Rosinger was able to establish a good relationship with the priest where the PSG held its meetings, so the Stasi determined it would be easy for him to penetrate the PSG and introduce “defensive measures of a corrosive nature”.  Shortly after he became a “VO”, he met Peter Wulkau.  

We see both Wulkau and Rosinger in the present day reading aloud Wulkau’s Stasi case file, which is filled with reports Rosinger made to the Stasi about Wulkau.  What amazed me during this whole exercise was the manner of both men.  They are both so “matter of fact” when reading from the file.  There is no anger from Wulkau, but there is regret from Rosinger.  Both are dispassionate when reading from the text, as if they were reading to one another from a novel.  But every so often, Wulkau would interject a question.  When Rosinger reported that Wulkau expressed “negative thoughts” during a PSG meeting, Wulkau asked Rosinger what he thought was negative.  Rosinger replied that he thought Wulkau was well-read on the subject of Marxism, but that Wulkau also questioned the very legitimacy of socialism.  That struck him as being “negative.”  Rosinger reported to his case officer that Wulkau would talk to the PSG about his past in Leipzig.  He also found out that Wulkau planned to write a book that could never be published in the GDR.   

In May 1974, Wulkau formed a “Working Circle for Marxism” within the PSG.  The group’s interest was in reading Marx’s works in their original text instead of what the GDR government said was in them.  Wulkau attended the Working Circle meetings until November 1974.  In March 1975, the Stasi asked Rosinger to find out why Wulkau stopped going to the Working Circle meetings.  His attendance dropped off sharply because he had work, his wife worked in Shönebeck, and he and his wife had a little girl to look after.  Rosinger also found out the subject of Wulkau’s book – youth problems in the GDR.  The Stasi recorded that Wulkau was hostile to socialism, had stopped going to meetings watched by VOs [yes, plural], and seemed content to receive few visitors.  Rosinger told the cameraman that he and Wulkau would do something unheard of – they would debate political and ideological topics.  In East Germany, you weren’t supposed to have an opinion – there was only the party line.  That was the only thing that was permitted in the press – nothing else.  On a subsequent visit to Wulkau’s home, Wulkau loaned Rosinger two books – How Communists Educate Children by Gerhard Möbus, and another work titled Marxist Sociology in Action.  The books were provided to Wulkau by his father, who was living in West Berlin.  The books were smuggled to him somehow, but the Stasi never mentioned the method.  Of course, Rosinger passed the books along to his case officer.  Both books were written in the West and displayed “anti-communist tendencies”.  Wulkau didn’t force the books on Rosinger.  Rosinger was genuinely interested in them.  Wulkau expressed anti-socialist thoughts, read subversive literature, and was about to publish a book the State would like very much to suppress.  What was in this book?  It was a satirical look at the Stasi.  Wulkau read a passage from the book to Rosinger.  In this passage, the main character [named Hubert] is taking a walk while smoking his pipe.  After he crossed a bridge he stopped at a post that had a picture [of what he doesn’t say].  Hubert fell to his knees and began to pray [a spoof of the Lord’s Prayer]:  

Our Father in Moscow, blessed be thy name anyway.

The Kingdom come, from Moscow to Washington and in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily Work.

And forgive us our doubts, as we forgive our leaders.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from oddballs of all kinds,

Heretics and collaborators.

As yours is the money, the army, and the press, forever and ever…no longer.  

The Stasi feared Wulkau would deliver his finished manuscript to his father in West Berlin, so that he could have it published in West Germany.  In his own mind, Rosinger thought if Wulkau was going to publish his book, he ought to find a way to do it at home in East Germany for an East German audience.  That’s how Russian dissidents would do.  Publish it at home and let the chips fall where they may.  It upset Rosinger that such a thing would be published in the West for a western audience to consume as anti-East German propaganda.  

Wulkau felt he was being watched.  He wasn’t wrong.  He was allowed to move to a different apartment.  The Stasi became involved in the decision about where he could live so that he can be watched more easily.  Unknown to Wulkau, his new neighborhood was filled with Stasi operatives.  He was being watched and photographed.  Direction microphones were pointed at his residence.  While he and his family were away for whatever reason, Stasi agents would break into their home and photograph everything.  In July 1975, he told Rosinger to limit his contacts with the PSG because some of the people seemed like they weren’t as they presented themselves.  Rosinger went into a mild panic because he thought Wulkau was talking about him.  But Wulkau didn’t suspect Rosinger.  There were others he suspected, just not Rosinger.  Rosinger had a good poker face, which his Stasi masters liked about him.  His cover wasn’t blown, but he was concerned that soon Wulkau would soon know who the real mole was.  During a visit Wulkau left Rosinger alone in the room for 20 minutes.  In this time Rosinger found the typed manuscript of Wulkau’s book.  Wulkau also talked of applying for the position of assistant director of the Meininger Theatre.  He did apply, but in September 1975 Wulkau got a rejection letter from the theatre.  After he was rejected by the theatre, he did something extraordinary – he wrote a letter to Erich Honecker.  He saw no way out of his current situation and asked Honecker what it would take for him to realize his potential instead of wasting away his intellect in a menial job.  He told Honecker he wanted to use his abilities for the service of the GDR, but wondered why the state insisted on keeping him away from even the slightest of intellectual work.  Shortly thereafter he quit his work at the chemical works and took a job as a waiter at a place called the “Green-Red” Wine Studio.  

Rosinger talked about how he would go about meeting with his case officer when he had something to report.  The meetings were always at a location that was neither his own apartment nor Stasi headquarters.  He and his case officer would meet in an apartment that was rented by an elderly couple.  The only time Rosinger saw them was if either he or his case worker wanted coffee or tea.  He described how he had to avoid being seen by people he knew to maintain his cover.  He was quite enthused about the whole cloak-and-dagger thing.  The Stasi wanted a typing sample from Wulkau’s typewriter so they could match it to Wulkau’s manuscript.  Rosinger went to Wulkau’s place and asked to use the typewriter so that he could write an application for a telephone.  It was as hard to get a telephone in East Germany as it was to get a car.  He really did want a phone, but he was creative enough to use it as an excuse to get the typewriter sample.  Wulkau also had a friend from Indonesia.  This friend could come and go to West Berlin because he also worked in an embassy.  Since he worked in an embassy, his Indonesian friend was never searched by East German authorities.  Wulkau loaned his book to his friend.  The Indonesian friend turned out to be a Stasi informant [“VO Anton”].  VO Anton took the book to the Stasi and they photographed it.  Both he and Rosinger continued to gather information on Wulkau.  The Stasi finally arrested him in March 1978.  He was taken to the Moritzplatz Detention Center in Magdeburg.  He had no idea why he was detained, because he had no idea Rosinger and VO Anton reported on him.  

Wulkau’s interrogators tried to get him to confess to his “crimes,” but Wulkau didn’t want to play their game.  During one of his interrogations, Wulkau was asked what he meant with the Lord’s Prayer spoof.  He replied that Marxism-Leninism was not a science but a belief, like a religion.  It was comparable to medieval Christian structures.  The Stasi then put him on trial six months later, where Rosinger was called as a witness.  The two men came face-to-face in court, still “friends.”  Rosinger walked over to Wulkau, patted him on the shoulder and told him “hang in there, old boy.”  It was during Wulkau’s trial that it finally occurred to him that Wulkau was in his predicament because he had informed on him.  He began to have second thought about being a Stasi informant.  It finally dawned on him that he had done personal harm to someone.  The Stasi didn’t blow Rosinger’s cover, and had him continue to spy on Wulkau’s family while he was imprisoned.  The Stasi wanted to know how Wulkau’s wife would react to her husband’s detention.  Would she contact somebody in West Germany, or get in touch with a lawyer?  The Stasi tried to get her to sign false statements, and when she wouldn’t they threatened to take her daughter away from her.  When she asked the Stasi why her husband was arrested, they told her it was possible espionage committed with his father.  They told that story to Wulkau as well, probably in order to get him to confess to writing his book because an espionage conviction meant the death penalty.  But despite the death penalty threat, Wulkau still wouldn’t confess.   

Wulkau was convicted of committing “acts of incitement against the State” and sentenced to four and a half years in prison.  Next we see Wulkau showing Rosinger his “accommodations.”  His exercise area in the detention center was an outdoor 8x10 cell, with stucco walls and a chain-linked ceiling that exposed him to the outdoor elements.  Wulkau referred to his exercise area as a “tiger cage.”  It is an apt description.  He was not allowed to make any kind of sound – no sneezing, coughing, singing, talking or whistling.  The Visiting Room was small, barely large enough to hold three chairs and a table for Wulkau, his wife, and a guard who would always be present during monthly visits.  They couldn’t talk about his case or the prison conditions – just “neutral subjects.”  As for his own cell, it looks like it’s 6x8, big enough to hold two beds and a desk.  Rosinger sat at the desk and asked Wulkau to shut the door so that he can get a feeling of what is what it was like inside the cell.  Wulkau did so, and for good measure he locked it.  Wulkau turned Rosinger’s attention to the peephole in the door, mentioning that the peephole was quite irritating, especially in the beginning of one’s experience in jail.  Rosinger appeared shaken by the experience [especially by the locking of the door], imagining how hard it must have been for Wulkau.  

According to Stasi reporting, Rosinger was beginning to have his own doubts about Marxism-Leninism.  He didn’t want to incriminate people who expressed legitimate criticisms of particular social issues.  He asked his Stasi case officer if Marxism-Leninism was the absolute truth.  Per Rosinger, “the moment you ask yourself that question for the first time, everything collapses.”  The two men continued their field trip.  The next stop was the abandoned criminal prison in Cottbus, to where Wulkau was transferred in December 1978.  Wulkau’s cell was like an open bay barracks which held twelve men.  Bunk beds were stacked four high, and there was one toilet.  There was solitary confinement [“the Slammer”], which held a wooden bed to which the prisoner would be chained.  There wasn’t very much room to move around.  If you pissed or crapped on yourself, you would be punished – called a pig and be beaten up.  Then you were marked as having missed your “educational target.”   

Wulkau was released from prison in December 1979.  He and his wife were disappointed that he wasn’t deported to West Berlin, but at least he was happy to be out of prison.  Rosinger visited Wulkau upon his release.  He sensed Wulkau was more cautious and distrustful.  That’s what prion had done to him.  But, he still hadn’t suspected Rosinger was his informant.  He never mentioned any suspicion of Rosinger about his arrest.  But he reported on the Wulkau’s until they left East Germany for Hannover in March 1980.   

Rosinger:  I must say, I am sorry, that really wasn’t me…That cannot be me.  This is, yes, really stupid, idiotic, isn’t it.   

After emigrating to West Germany, Peter Wulkau got to read and study what he wanted.  He liked his work [he didn’t say what his work was], but he noticed his marriage wasn’t working anymore.  For that he blamed the Stasi – the strains had broken he and his wife apart.  In January 1982, Hartmut Rosinger ended his relationship with the Stasi and relocated to Bad Tennstedt.  He knew he betrayed a trust and wanted to get a fresh start somewhere else.   

Rosinger:  Yes, the details are always the hardest part.  The details are what hurt you.  And which I need to piece back together to spell ‘that was you!’  That wasn’t anyone but my own self.    That’s the hardest part.  And you have to reconnect time and again that it was a part of my life.  That’s the biggest problem.  And now I’m in this situation here, right now, at this table with Peter and it’s even harder for me to take in, to understand.  Very difficult, very difficult.  I am really very, very sorry.

Wulkau:  I know that.  I’ve worked out that I had 39 informers.  All of whom were working to ‘corrode’ me, to send me to prison, ultimately.  39.  Men and women.  You are the only one to have owned up to it, and early on too.  The only one to sincerely regret what you did, and early, this is worth something.  You creditably decided, early on, to face your past and show remorse.  This is really worth something.    

Rosinger:  But it’s unfortunately impossible to wind back.   

Wulkau:  Yes, but I believe that is the tragedy of life, that we cannot take back anything we have done.  That’s just the way it is.  

Rosinger:  I’m sorry.  

Wulkau:  That’s normal. [Cue the subtle, sad music]  

The Stasi had 91,000 full time employees, with 189,000 volunteers to help them watch everybody.  Around 250,000 people in East Germany were imprisoned for “political crimes.”  In 1989 the Stasi left enough paper that if stacked together would be almost 100 miles of paper.  They left behind over 15,000 bags of shredded files, of which only 390 bags have been reconstructed.   

Such is the price for living in a “workers’ paradise.”