The Stasi and the Berlin Wall | DW Documentary

[Music] the stasi records archive in berlin remnants of the former east german ministry for state security are still in storage here millions of files reports photos index cards one particular relic of the past was left behind by the head of the ministry himself a red photo album documenting some of the most decisive moments in his career [Music] the construction of the berlin wall declared as the anti-fascist protection rampart this photo album records what happened on august 13 1961 and the days that followed the book's condition reveals how often it has been looked through in milka's eyes the tail of the berlin wall was a tale of triumph the situation that unfolded after august the 13th proves that building an anti-fascist protection rampart was the good and right decision for the people of east germany the working class seized power never to let it go again [Music] [Music] this is erich milke's office where he began each day every morning at seven o'clock sharp as east germany's minister for state security the minister would call first thing and ask what was new had anything happened overnight what was going on at the border and passport checkpoints what about the people we were tracking something new came up every day and he always wanted to know everything had just one aim to keep an eye on everything happening in the country and at the border to keep it all under control to deter all enemies and traitors the minister placed great value on being informed immediately to ensure the appropriate response so we could coordinate all the necessary measures and when things came down to it he was relentless erich milke dedicated over 28 years of his career to ensuring that the berlin wall was insurmountable for him and his ministry this was a never-ending challenge [Music] to milk the wall was what ensured that his party and the state security apparatus stayed in power he saw his ministry as the shield and sword of the socialist unity party the sed we who serve the ministry for state security stand at the ready to unconditionally fulfill any mission the party and government assigns to us [Music] the ministry for state security gained importance when the wall was built its responsibilities grew and so surveillance became more total the entire intelligence apparatus expanded dramatically milka's conference room normally east german offices would hang a portrait of the state leader at the head of the table but mielke had an oil painting of the berlin wall hung instead it depicts the brandenburg gate forever shielded with state and party firmly secured behind it august 13 1961 in berlin images that shook the world over two million people had fled east germany the isolated country was nearing collapse sed party heads were convinced shutting the border crossing to west berlin would solve the problem once and for all two days in advance milka had informed his closest associates of the planned measures the stasi's operation was given the code name rose the minutes of the top secret meeting read today we enter a new phase of our checkist work steps are being taken to end desertion from the republic while combat groups and border patrols visibly took a position to seal off the east german sector the stasi operated in the shadows at the top secret operation rose meeting it was further decided that enemy forces are to be apprehended immediately without a fuss and by any means necessary these were preventative measures an uprising like that on june 17 1953 could not be allowed to happen again back then state security had failed and the soviet army had had to step in the building of the wall was a limitless test for erich milke and his ministry his photo album also documents the call to arms on august 23rd it was a show of power in east berlin [Music] party leader valda ulbricht followed by erihanika the mastermind behind the berlin wall the minister was on stage as well relegated at the time to the second row he appeared tense [Music] the flood of refugees to west berlin was endless despite orders to shoot people still found holes in the barbed wire fencing or windows along the border to jump out of the border police were overwhelmed and so mielke took action [Music] as minister i need to be the best i am responsible for maintaining safety in this country to me whatever the party decides is set in stone and i must enforce it with rigor and severity after discussing the matter with erihanika the party secretary for security and milka's direct superior destazi organized the evacuation of the border houses took over the securing of the sewage system had everything barred the ministry targeted anyone attempting to flee and anyone suspected of it our job was to keep things quiet and uneventful we couldn't do that in the years leading up to 1961 because the borders were still open now the issue had been taken seriously and any attempts to breach the border or flee had to be stopped by the end of 1961 the stasi had arrested 3 000 people suspected of planning an escape or who were opposed to the wall many were put on trial [Music] one event was particularly embarrassing in the first months of the wall a border officer hired to prevent escapes managed to flee himself in my eyes those were all wretched scoundrels no matter their motive be it political or economic nothing justified fleeing the country [Music] who is who tamil this was the decisive question and only the stasi could find the answer soon his ministry began inspecting and spying on anyone working at the border crossings each border patrol was assigned a full-time ministry employee as supervisor each barrack was to have its own informant and so the stasi took total control over all officers patrolling the border [Applause] just a few months after the wall had been built erich milke moved to his new headquarters in the entrance way his great idol felix jaczynski head of the soviet secret police organization the checker despite their success mielke demanded his staff remain vigilant deserters of the republic have essentially been liquidated but it would be a mistake to assume that means our enemy has become less active instead in response to these measures the ultras from bonn and nato agents have employed even more cunning tactics to reach their criminal goals by and by as the wall was fortified escaping over the border became increasingly difficult so refugees turned to evading the sed regime and milk his ministry in daring escape tunnels under the wall the task of liquidating moles was entrusted to a special unit within the ministry they used their intelligence to tear down escape tunnels they learned of to create ditches and counter tunnels or to install microphones and motion detectors milk estasi was eager to recruit spies from east and west alike and infiltrate groups attempting to help people escape that's what we think it was like war it was always a defeat when people left somewhere the border was not properly secured and you didn't know that people wanted to leave and the more there were or the more active they were the greater our defeat and our failure stasi surveillance footage of a home in west berlin recorded on june 28 1962 the secret operation maulvofe moles had been underway for several weeks when an undercover agent codenamed panko discovered plans for an escape tunnel the stasi decided to set a trap for the diggers [Music] while the border patrol sealed what they assumed was an entranceway to the tunnel with sand stasi agents awaited the tunnel builders underground as soon as the escape helpers entered the tunnel the stasi fired [Music] one helper zigfriednovka who was trying to bring his wife and son to west berlin was killed for appearances sake the informant was also arrested he later received a medal for his duplicity yet despite these efforts mielke's henchmen couldn't get a handle on the unraveling situation [Music] in early october 1964 57 people managed to escape to west berlin through a tunnel in banawastrasa it was the largest mass flight in the history of the wall known to date the tunnel was discovered just as the escape helpers were leaving shots were exchanged and east german border police officer egon schultz was killed the stasi took up investigations and secured objects that had been left behind in the tunnel they included a woman's purse gas masks and the alleged murder weapon a gun belonging to one of the escape helpers internal reports by the stazi's murder investigation committee as they called it reconstructed the course of events they concluded that egon schultz had been hit by a bullet from the gun found at the site but it was a kalashnikov belonging to a comrade that killed him the official story that we reported was that tunnel builders had shot and killed aegon schultz i only heard the other version of the story years later and not officially according to that version of events aegon schultz was accidentally shot by one of our own someone who got nervous and reacted too frantically but the truth could not be allowed out so the top secret report was kept under wraps right until the demise of east germany with good cause it was claimed [Music] and in light of your mother's tears who mourns for you her dear son we denounced before the entire world your murderers the shooters and their instigators in west berlin and bombs one of the guests present that day was erich milke hanukkah's right-hand man it was his idea to portray the tunnel builders as murderers and his plan worked in the west public support for escape helpers dwindled step by step mielke was handed over the reins for securing the border the stasi grew responsible for bolt holes below and above ground [Music] the checkpoints were federal citizens diplomats military personnel and persons with a special permit came and went were particularly vulnerable with a wall in place and secured escaping east germany was most successful at border crossings especially with forge documents in 1964 the stasi completely took over passport control and searches for wanted individuals to the intelligence agency the bottlenecks created by the cold war were a gold mine for information gathering everybody who crossed the border was now subject to inspection by the stasi that included the over four and a half million west berlin inhabitants who crossed over to east berlin on holidays to visit relatives in the 1960s their papers were processed by friendly border staff undercover stasi inspectors dressed as east german border troops but the border remained closed off to east german citizens nevertheless people kept trying to slip through any cracks they could find out each time the border was penetrated it was followed up by an analysis that's why the ministry for state security formed working groups to design technologically improved facilities which were then tested the testing site was kept top secret here the stasi examined the effectiveness of various barrier systems they prepared for all possible contingencies there were even blockades that could stop a tank and the staff was trained in how to respond to hostage situations and armed border crossing attempts the guys taking a hostage must never be successful that was our top priority if there was no time to negotiate or the captor wasn't willing to negotiate then there was only one thing left to do shoot to kill [Music] an internal stasi training video on operational psychology [Music] what does it mean to act wisely and courageously as a checkist what does it mean to live by the laws of war in times of peace this film will show you how a dangerous enemy was fought and rendered harmless by the clever and courageous actions of a collective of czechists [Music] here at checkpoint charlie on friedrichstrasse the east german riot police officer bocad demanded entrance to west berlin by taking a border control officer hostage kneeling was shot dead four stasi members including the killer were later interviewed on camera [Music] [Applause] aside the fact that we all felt uneasy and shook at the knees we were also filled with a sense of pride at having fulfilled our combat mission as checkists at the border of imperialism later found that niring had described his military conscription as an infringement upon his right to freedom that had been forced upon him the report concludes the body was cremated the urn burial is pending meanwhile traffic at the border continued as if nothing had ever happened [Music] with as many as seven thousand hundred employees the stasi department for passport controls and person tracking rose to become the largest of the ministry's operations [Music] it was the perfect disguise for a secret mission [Music] checking passports was just our cover story our actual job was to gather intelligence at the checkpoints we needed to know who was entering the country what kind of people were they where were they going that was all work that only the shazi could do travelers often mistook these encounters for a harmless chat but to the stasi agents this was a tactical method for filtering incoming traffic inconsistencies in someone's travel documents were cause enough to pull them out of line and have a talk with them if that someone was politically relevant the corresponding reports were prepared and forwarded to the relevant departments within the ministry [Music] this is how millions of people found their way into the stasis filing system they were scanned for any possible clue and might even be tricked into accidentally providing evidence against someone close to them some are registered as potential informants each time the friendly border guard stepped up to check your passport the stazi was watching eric milke made good use of the opportunities the berlin wall provided him his employer the ever-present sed party was pleased mielke's most important ally irihanika quickly rose through the ranks to become party and state head good prospects for his top minister the seventies marked the dayton period of the cold war to the stasi officers it brought a wide range of new responsibilities germany recognized east germany as a sovereign nation in the basic treaty of 1972 and thus acknowledged its territorial integrity the aim was to restore good neighborly relations on the one hand the wall had to remain psychologically and physically intact on the other hand we wanted to present ourselves to the world as open-minded that meant an ever-increasing amount of work for us everything related to dayton politics was extremely dangerous to us the transit agreement aimed to ease travel between east and west germany but it also improved the chances of east german citizens to steal a way into west germany hidden inside exiting cars despite being denounced as human smugglers the number of those assisting escapees once again rose these are these gangs were engaged in smuggling people out using all sorts of different tactics the violation of customs seals installing secret hatches in their trucks forging custom seals or simply smuggling people in the trunks of passenger cars [Music] as soon as anyone suspected of being a smuggler entered from the west the moment he crossed our border we wouldn't let him of course we had staff and cameras surveilling all highway service areas and rest stops right up to the end in 1989 we wrote down the plate numbers of every west berlin car we saw every single one the paranoia of a secret service agency each foiled escape attempt was meticulously reconstructed captured refugees escape helpers or individuals suspected of being either were sent to the ministry's detention centers roughly three-quarters of the people detained by the stasi in the 1980s were accused of immigration or escape offenses officially east germany had no political prisoners whoever they locked up was a criminal these were all citizens who had violated east german law every citizen knew east german law so if i know the border is closed and i'm not allowed to cross the border then i need to act accordingly to the stasi crossing the border illegally was a particularly serious offense those accused had to be categorized as such if i knew that a defendant had done all they could to penetrate the border by hook or crook then of course i had to assume that they would also try to break out of detention prisoners were never informed of when their hearings were set and those presiding over their trials were stasi members milke had seen to it that his ministry remained completely in charge of handling their enemies there was a desk in the back by the window the defendant on trial was meant to be facing the light daylight so that observers could study his facial expressions better simply by studying their characters you could learn about their intellect how they responded to certain things and how to address them we asked them about everything even the smallest details and of course we also used psychology the ministry interrogators were well trained and ruthless their job was to draw out confessions defendants were not allowed to see anyone they were never addressed by their given names but only by their cell numbers they were ordered to keep their hands above their blankets at night when they slept and at least every 20 minutes the light was briefly switched on and then off when you started videos milken knew he could rely on his faithful followers the head warden was surrounded by like-minded comrades i didn't find it burdensome at all neither did the members of staff who served there in fulfillment of their duty that was the job they had been entrusted with as members of the ministry for state security and as such it was never bothersome to us [Music] celebrations for the 15-year anniversary of the berlin wall in august 1976. the people were called to rise up and fight this time eric milke was in the front row looking pleased and confident publicly east germany was pursuing daetant but this policy of all things is what triggered the mass expansion of the stasi towards a total surveillance regime between 1970 and 1980 the number of those employed by the ministry more than doubled to 80 000 we need to coordinate so effectively that there is no area of security relevant process that we are not informed about on time anywhere we go we need patriots and confidants volunteers and contacts who will support us in our fight there can be no space where at least one of our agencies isn't active [Music] many ordinary citizens helped to keep watch who was leaning towards the west who could be thinking about leaving who was in touch every clue no matter how small or insignificant it seemed was followed up on phone lines and mail were monitored more extensively everything was examined and evaluated anything that had successfully been employed to plan or execute an escape was seized immediately people tried using diver's equipment to swim across the spray river or the baltic sea things like that some even tried using tethered balloons or hot air balloons so anything that could be used to build one was also seized [Music] over 90 of all escape attempts were uncovered and thwarted in advance hardly any refugee even made it as far as the death strip [Music] just like the wall milka's imperium had become indispensable to keeping the sed regime in power an internal recording of the ministry's 30th anniversary in 1980 milke was at the height of his power when eric honika promoted him to army general outwardly the sed leader and his faithful minister seemed like too like-minded compatriots but privately they were far from friends it was clear that milka was the servant the loyal foot soldier and hanukkah the one giving the orders [Music] nothing was allowed to interfere with his policies especially his foreign policy and the stasi kept receiving additional responsibilities in my opinion this was one of the greatest mistakes of the ministry for state security as an intelligence service and security agency to compensate for the deficits of the party leadership in 1975 east germany was signatory to the helsinki accords which included an acknowledgement of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms such as the freedom of movement but for all intents and purposes these exact rights were virtually non-existent within the regime nevertheless a growing number of east german citizens placed formal requests to exit the country and the stasi handled them all we cannot let these powers catch us on the back foot we must always keep the upper hand in this situation that applies especially to recognizing potential applicants in advance so we can increase preventative measures milka's main efforts were geared towards compelling applicants to withdraw their request if they did not they risked discrimination and criminalization that was the ministry's deterrent but east germany was sliding into an economic crisis hanukkah needed a solid currency and goodwill from the west in order to take out credits worth billions the stasi was wary of the pine that would put them in hanzo it was in 1984 on a sunday i got a call in the morning with orders to immediately contact hundreds of applicants seeking to leave and to inform them that they could relocate the following day we knew that that was the stupidest possible thing to do but it was just another one of those lone decisions made by hanukkah that had to be carried out to the letter no matter the disastrous consequences we foresaw whoever thought that would lower the number of applications for relocation was obviously being naive in fact the opposite came to pass after those first applicants crossed over it created a pull effect and inspired thousands of others to follow their lead one such applicant for relocation in 1984 was 23 year old michael bitner from east berlin the stasi file morgenthau or morningdew tells his story it contains three handwritten applications each one declined an internal note adds the necessity for relocation is not given at this time the stazi still believed it could convince bitner who had fulfilled his military service without any objection to stay in east germany they were wrong on november 24th 1986 michael bitner tried to cross the death strip 32 shots were fired as he reached the top of his ladder bittner is struck and dies the incident put milka in an awkward position three days prior two refugees had been shot and killed along the wall the celebration of berlin's 750th anniversary in east germany's capital was just around the corner honika and milka both feared international condemnation of the firing orders and so they decided that bitner's death had to be kept secret at all costs and so the stasi forged an arrest warrant for the deceased it claimed that a criminal gang of human smugglers had smuggled him out of east germany the truth about michael bitner's death became a state secret the whereabouts of his remains are unknown to this day thanks to their cover-up festivities for berlin's 750th anniversary were undisturbed one of the main attractions a float commemorating the building of the berlin wall [Music] the combat groups of the working class secured the brandenburg gate this image swept around the world [Applause] [Music] by 1989 milka had served as minister for 31 years but he still had no time to rest in the private rooms directly adjacent to his office now other images were sweeping around the world in hungary the iron curtain was wearing thin thousands of east german citizens fled to prague where they occupied the west german embassy until they were allowed to continue to west germany in trains passing through east germany an increasing number of east germans were filing applications requesting relocation by early november 1989 nearly 200 000 applications had been received everybody could see that the ship was sinking and we had no room left to maneuver we had no leg left to stand on there was no place left to turn of course that had all been different in 1961 then slowly but surely doubt started arising a sense of helplessness began to spread it came from the top down as well and slowly but surely we became more and more aware of it [Applause] at first the mounting crisis could be pushed aside and ignored in october 1989 the sed leadership celebrated themselves at 40 years of east germany meanwhile thousands of protesters marched through east berlin up to the palace of the republic mielke's worst nightmare was that they would continue on to the brandenburg gate and march to the wall i don't know what he felt or sensed all i know is that he thought he could still salvage this even if that meant we had to shoot i'm convinced we would have opened fire at the brandenburg gate festival [Music] but the protesters did not march to the gate in the following weeks however more and more people took to the streets demanding change free elections and the freedom to travel the sed and stasi try to get the spiraling situation under control by releasing a new ordinance allowing travel and immigration upon request a small misunderstanding that famously had a ground-breaking effect as far as i know this goes into effect immediately without delay on the night of november 9th more and more people flocked to the border crossing at bon holmastrasse to test this new would-be freedom to travel open the gate the people demand stasi lieutenant colonel harald yega was on his own that night eventually he ordered the border crossing to be opened there was no superior around to give direction [Applause] a almost colonel of the ministry would never have been able to order the border to be opened under normal circumstances that could never have been the case so there was no need to train for this case opening the border crossing would have been considered high treason the thousands of people standing in front of us were the ones who opened the border if they hadn't been there i would never have opened it to this day nobody knows where erich milke was that night four days after the fall of the iron curtain he held his first and last speech in the people's parliament i love all people truly i do that's what i stand for in 1992 erich milke was charged with being partially responsible for the killings at the wall but the proceedings were abandoned due to his failing health he died in may 2000 erich milke's photo album of victory was not the only legacy found in the state security store rooms after the fall of the wall there were also all the nondescript things that the state security took from arrested fugitives and also from the walls dead and archived none of this was to be made public everything was to remain forever in the dark so [Music] you

Channel: DW Documentary

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Keywords: Documentary, Documentaries, documentaries, DW documentary, full documentary, DW, documentary 2021, Berlin Wall, Stasi, Erich Mielke, East Germany, GDR State Security, mielke, cold war, the berlin wall, west germany, berlin wall documentary, berlin wall history, iron curtain, german democratic republic, german history, the berlin wall documentary, the berlin wall explained, the berlin wall history, berlin wall documentary dw, berlin wall built, 13. august 1961 mauerbau in berlin

Id: haxkWC6MgcQ

Length: 42min 26sec (2546 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 11 2021