The Amber Room_ The Fate of the World's Greatest Lost Treasure - Cathy Scott-Clark [107]
We run through a list of codenames for Stasi informers and sources who worked on the Amber Room. 'Dead. Dead. Dead. Missing,' Wermusch recites. He is enjoying himself. 'Wait.' He stops at HIM 'Bernd' (a Hauptamtlicher Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter or senior paid Stasi informer). I know that one. It's the codename for a mole in the 'Kripo' [the criminal police], an Oberstleutnant. He did the strong-arm stuff for Enke. He's around. Anyhow, he appears to be your only choice.'
Will he help us, we ask?
'Depends on whether he thinks you're worth it. He told the German government where to go when they came sniffing around for information about the Amber Room after reunification.'
Is 'Bernd' reliable?
'He did time in Bautzen prison - it was said that he tried to play both sides, got caught cheating on the Stasi, allegedly selling secrets, and then found out from prison that his boss was messing around with his wife.'
So, the reason why he went to prison is unclear. We can't call him 'Bernd', we say. The Cold War is over. 'His real name is Uwe Geissler.'
Wermusch shuffles into the hall. 'I'll call him tonight. Oh,' he says, poking his head around the door, 'you might like this.' He tosses us a copy of Bernsteinzimmer Report.
We open it and read a few words from the introduction. 'The German fascists' robbery of Europe's cultural heritage was far worse than those carried out by the Persians at Babylon, the Romans at Athens or the Crusaders at Constantinople,' Enke wrote. And the Amber Room was 'the most painful loss of all'. We have read this passage before, in one of Enke's early reports to his Stasi masters. It made the final edit.
9
Two days later we find Giinter Wermusch blinking in the stairwell of his block, dressed for a field trip in a blue bomber jacket and combat trousers. 'How are my new friends?' he asks. His mood has lifted. 'I have some things for you,' he declares, passing us some papers. 'I typed out my theories last night. Just my small hobby. Not so important. Read them later.' He hands them over with an apology. 'Writing is too painful these days. Can't seem to hold a pen.'
No one picked up the phone at Uwe Geissler's apartment near Allee der Kosmonauten in East Berlin. But Wermusch knows the location of Geissler's weekend bungalow, two hours south-east of the city, and he thinks we might find Geissler there. As we drive out, beside the River Spree, Wermusch explains that he got to know Geissler while accompanying him on trips around the GDR after Paul Enke's death, interviewing potential eyewitnesses connected to the Amber Room story. Wermusch is interested to see how Geissler has weathered, he says. We think to ourselves how curious it is that this Lektor accompanied a Stasi informer on official investigations. But we will broach that subject later.
After an hour we arrive at Lake Krossinsee. Nearby is a red-brick village with a stagnant duck pond, a place Wermusch, who is now visibly sweating, says has become a favoured retreat among retired Stasi officers. A side road peters out into a sandy track that feeds a cluster of identical cement chalets running down to the shore. 'Uwe Geissler lives somewhere here,' Wermusch gestures, struggling to disentangle himself from the seat belt. Ahead is a signpost announcing Ziegenhals, 'Goat's Throat Village'.
The chalet peeps over a manicured border of marigolds, tiger lilies and busy lizzies. Frogs burp contentedly beside plastic tulips. The lawn is a deep emerald green and rolled into checks and stripes. A short, pigeon-chested figure in a purple polo shirt and nylon trousers leaps up from his garden chair as we approach and rushes over to the knee-high picket fence. A neighbour has informed us that this is Geissler's spread. 'Scheisse,' he shouts, his forehead creasing as he attempts to recall whether these are faces he would