Stasiland_ Stories From Behind the Berlin Wall - Anna Funder [129]
[the] targetted spreading of rumours about particular persons with the aid of anonymous and pseudo-anonymous letters…making compromising situations for them by creating confusion over the facts…[and] the engendering of hysterical and depressive behaviours in the target persons.
See Jürgen Fuchs, Unter Nutzung der Angst 2/1994, published by the BstU, and ‘Politisch-operatives Zusammenwirken und aktive Maßnahmen’ in Bearbeiten–Zersetzten–Liquidieren Analysen und Berichte 3/93 of the BstU, pp. 13–24. For the Stasi’s own definitions see also Das Wörterbuch der Staatssicherheit: Definitionen des MfS zur ‘politisch-operativen Arbeit’, Siegfried Suckut (ed.), Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin, 1996.
p. 227 None of the torturers at Hohenschönhausen has been brought to justice. See Ritchie, p. 877.
pp. 237 and 242 Articles on Herr Bohnsack include Der Spiegel 29/1991 pp. 32–34 (in which Bohnsack confirms that West German politicians’ votes were bought by the Stasi), and Der Spiegel 30/1991, pp. 57–58. On disinformation see also Der Spiegel 49/1991, pp. 127–30. Despite the Stasi vote-buying, Brandt’s term as chancellor was short-lived. Two years later Brandt fell when it was revealed that one of his closest advisers, Günter Guillaume, was one of Wolf’s agents.
Acknowledgments
My first debt of thanks is to the people who told me about their lives, most of all Miriam Weber, whose story was the impetus for finding the others. I am grateful too, to the people who spoke with me but whose stories are not in this book, in particular Herr Wolfgang Schellenberg, whose life deserves a book of its own.
I am indebted to many other people I spoke with in Germany. Frau Hollitzer at the Museum in der Runden Ecke in Leipzig was generous with her time and hospitality. The staff at the Federal Authority for the Files of the Former GDR (Der Bundesbeauftragte für die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der ehemaligen DDR), in particular Regina Schild, Dr Klaus-Dietmar Henke, Thomas Auerbach, Roger Engelmann, Jens Gieseke and Bernd Eisenfeld were most helpful with their information and, sometimes, their own experiences. Frau Neubert at the Bürgerbüro e.V. Verein zur Aufarbeitung von Folgeschäden der SED-Diktatur provided invaluable insights, as did her colleague Uwe Bastian. Martin Gutzeit, the Berliner Landesbeauftragte für die Stasi Unterlagen, was helpful, as were staff at the Antistalinistische Aktion Berlin—Normannenstraße e.V (ASTAK), the Bürgerkomitee ‘15 Januar’ e.V. zur Aufarbeitung der Stasi-Vergangenheit, and the Forschungs-und Gedenkstätte Normannenstraße, Berlin. My thanks too, to Professor Manfred Görtemaker of the University of Potsdam.
This book would not have been written without the extraordinarily generous support at its inception of members of the Australian German Association. I thank the AGA for the award of the Educational Development Fellowship 1995, and most particularly its members BMW (Australia) Ltd, Dresdner Bank AG, Mercedes Benz (Australia) Pty Ltd and Deutsche Bank Group in Australia. I thank also Mr Andrew Grummet for his facilitation and friendship.
My heartfelt thanks to the Australia Centre, Potsdam, where I was writer-in-residence over 1996–97. Dr Ditta Bartels in Australia and Ruth Bader and Rico Janke in Potsdam provided invaluable encouragement and administrative support while the real work began.
I am grateful for the Felix Meyer Creative Writing Award, and a New Work grant from Arts Victoria which bought me time to write. A fellowship at Varuna—The Writers’ House and the support there of Peter Bishop were terrific.
I thank the Australian Society of Authors and John Tranter for their assistance through the Mentorship Program. I am much indebted to Marion Campbell of the University of Melbourne