Imagine what it would be like for you to try and begin to understand others' opinions and observations of your life. This looming idea that someone was always watching and not necessarily knowing what those around you were observing until after the fact. It was not until Timothy Garton Ash's learning of the Stasi files collected by the East German secret police, "that [he] started wondering whether Andrea had been working for the Stasis and whether she had opened the curtains so we could be photographed from the other side of the street" (5-6). And the reality of the situation is that you indeed were being watched by the Stasi but not knowing until after the fact. Would their observations have a profound effect on your interpration of these events? Would this cause you to alter your understanding of these events basedon what information you discover in hindsight?
The very concept of the Stasi files suggests a large amount of distrust on behalf of the GDR secret police and many of the crimes that they arrested people for were for such miscommunications as "mehl box", which in German translates to box of flour, but all the citizen meant was mail box. He was arrested because of it. And as Ash mentions in his memoir, it was interesting for even him to compare his own written account with that of others' observations, stating that "[he was] made sensitive, perhaps oversensitive, by the Stasi experience," (242).
So how does one begin to reconstruct their past? As a journalist and writer living in East Germany in the 1970s, he was put undersurveillance and tracked throughout his time there. As Germany sought to restore the country in the East, the Stasi contrasted the tactics of Hitler and the Third Reich by instead, "injecting fear, uncertainty and suspicion into every walk of life, making sure that few people ever uttered anything that might anger the regime".
The very divisions between East and West Berlin had created an atmosphere throughout Germany that fostered mistrust between these opposing sides. It would appear that these resentments between one to another were derived from pre-existing perspectives that these Stasi officiers were acting on.
As Ash seeks to understand the mindset of these Stasi officers, he was plagued with questions such "What was it like to work in the ministry? How did they come to be there? What did they think they were up to in investigating me? What are they doing now?"(164). One of these Stasi officers, Erich Mielke, was one that Ash had briefly profiled in his memoir, actually was imprisoned at the time. According to the generalized accounts of these officers, "what [we] were doing, spying abroad, was more like what "normal" secret services do, what all states do, so they feel they have less or even nothing to be ashamed of" (165). However, on the reverse side of the coin, the Stasi took to a radical form of intelligence in pursing citizens of East Germany and finding petty reasons to investigate them. As Ash states, "these gentlemen radiate a sense of quiet power: the power that comes, that has always come, that always will come, from secret knowledge" (243). The Stasi itself proved to have many different interwoven aspects that allowed for them to be successful in a unit. It does depend however, on how one chooses to measure success. In the Cold War, the very existence of the Stasi stands in an interesting junction within the European context. All countries are trying to rebuild but also apply some sort of control to the newly formed divison.
Timothy Garton Ash's account of The File, is one that examines these perspectives. At this point, he has read through his file and is seeking to get answers to what is going on, especially what prompted these men to join the Stasi.
In 1989, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, unification of Germany came in the next 11 months. Elections that took place in East Germany were won by conservatives who shifted the focus of this state towards unification with West Germany. As of October 3, 1990, under the West German constitution, Germany was officially one nation. Timothy Garton Ash presents an interesting perspective on Germany, in a lecture titled, "Germany Needs Europe", and he seeks to answer both the German question as well Germany's involvemnet in the EU, quoting Henry Kissinger, "Germany is in fact too big for Europe, but too small for the world".
Timothy Garton Ash is one of many who was monitored through the eyes of the East German secret police. His artful depiction of his own account in conjunction with that of the Stasi creates a deeper understanding of almost a level of paranoia that took place in East Germany.
The File would be an interesting movie mirroring Bourne, Bond and others like it, where there is a certain degree of surveillance. The film would seek to tell dueling perspectives and therefore perpetuate this knowledge of the Stasi that much further. Even today, "there is a two year wait list for people wanting to look at their own Stasi files", each rich with a story. Just imagine the music from Bourne playing in your head...
Discussion Questions
1)
Ash takes the time to note in his Stasi file that he was
ascribed the number “246816” or “Romeo”. In lieu of this semester and exploring “identity”
throughout the course of German history, I wonder what it meant for him to be
thought of as another number among many?
How does this compare or contrast to Alter’s experience?
*** “You
have a very interesting file” (6).
2) Germany itself is a relatively young nation state with only about 20 years "under its belt". Is the concept of peace throughout Europe, especially in reference to Germany, a fair assertion to make? Do people still wrestle with the German question or has it since dissolved with German involvement in the EU and unification of the country?
3) It seems that Timothy Garton Ash and other people like him who were under surveillance of the Stasi would have the right to their own information. However, as one source pointed out, knowledge of these files has been made popular through various forms of media and that there is also a "two year waitlist". How does viewing one own's information take two years? Wouldn't it be the rights of these individuals to see their own files?
4) In post WWII Germany, many citizens had different reactions to the exposure of the Final Solution and Nazi involvement. And with this, there is a huge stigma that exists as these officers continue after the Holocaust. Is there that same type of stigma associated with being a Stasi officer? As much as a
Nazi officer or within the SS??
5) One of the biggest aspects to restoration after the fall of the Third Reich was the idea of collective guilt or being guilty by association. Is that a fair assertion to make within the context of East Germany and the Stasi. How do people in Germany cope today
with this transition between Nazism and the Stasi? What are the similarities between the SS and the Stasi? What are the differences??
6) I believe that Timothy Garton Ash should be admired for the way he writes The File. He writes very honestly both on a personal level as well as a political level throughout discussions in his memoir, even exposing himself to his readers. But for those who are just now reading their files and getting a sense of their lives through the Stasi, what is it like for them?? What would it be like for a family member to find out that a sister or brother was giving information to the Stasi?
Resources
Ash, Timothy Garton. The File. London: Harper Collins Publishers Ltd., 1997. Print
Fulbrook, Mary. A History of Germany: 1918-2008 The Divided
Nation. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 2009. Print.
For further information on the Stasi files, please visit:
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