Stasiland_ Stories From Behind the Berlin Wall - Anna Funder [37]
I ask to see Herr Winz’s ID too, but he fobs me off with a laugh and a dismissive gesture. Behind him the waiter starts, as if this could be a summons, but I catch his eye and shake my head slightly. He slides his notepad back into his apron pocket.
Herr Winz opens his briefcase and takes out papers and pamphlets and a thesis bound in a springboard cover. Then he places a small hardback book on top of the pile. It is Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ The Communist Manifesto.
He tells me he worked from 1961 to 1990 at the ministry in Potsdam, exclusively in counter-espionage. He picks up the thesis and reads its title:
The Work of the Ministry for State Security on the Defence Against Intelligence Infiltration by the Secret Services of the NATO States against the GDR. Presented from the Viewpoint of a Member of the Division for Counter-Espionage, Regional Administration, Potsdam.
‘This is a discussion paper I wrote based on my work at the ministry. If you read this, you will learn a lot of what you want to know.’
I flick to the front page, and see that the paper was written in 1994 for the ‘Potsdam Working Group of the Insiderkomitee for the Reexamination of the History of the Ministry for State Security, Inc.’
‘This was written for the Insiderkomitee?’ I ask.
‘Yes.’
‘You are a member?’
‘Yes, but we have changed our name to the “Society for the Protection of Civil Rights and the Dignity of Man”.’
The Insiderkomitee. Civil Rights and the Dignity of Man? I have heard of this group. It is a more or less secret society of former Stasi men who write papers putting their side of history, lobby for entitlements for former Stasi officers, and support one another if facing trial. They have close links to the successor party to the SED, the Party of Democratic Socialism, and it is alleged that together they may have access to the tens of millions of marks which belonged to the SED and remain unaccounted for.
It is widely suspected, however, that these men also harass people who they fear may uncover them. A former border guard who appeared on a television talk show was threatened with an acid attack and had to be placed under police protection. Home-delivered harassment is popular: one man had a ticking package delivered to his doorstep; wives have had to sign for porn not ordered by their husbands. The strangest incident I heard of was when a man was delivered a truckload of puppies, yelping outside his door and the driver demanding a signature. Car brake-leads have been cut, accidents and deaths reverse-engineered. The child of an outspoken writer was picked up from school by a person or persons unknown and taken to drink hot chocolate, just for an hour or so. Detaining people clearly has its own pleasures; a habit hard to break.
I look at Herr Winz and suddenly the landscape here seems crowded with victims: of the Nazis, of Stalin, of the SED and the Stasi; and now this lot, wannabe victims of democracy and the rule of law.
‘What does the Insiderkomitee do?’ I ask.
‘We try to present an objective view of history,’ he says. ‘To combat the lies and misrepresentation in the western media.’
‘It is said that the Insiderkomitee is also a front to co-ordinate action against those working to uncover what the Stasi did to people.’
‘I wouldn’t know about that.’
‘Why not?’
‘I am a small fish,’ he says. ‘I am here to tell you about the excellent work—the masterful work—of the Stasi in counter-espionage. That is where I spent my life.’
Either Herr Winz doesn’t know much, or he’s not telling. He won’t respond to my questions about the Insiderkomitee or talk