An uncertain future for Berlin's former Stasi headquarters

For those interested in an inside look at the world of espionage, Berlin has a lot to offer. Much of the country's legacy can be found right next to Potsdamer Platz in the German Spy Museum. Although it's currently closed due to the pandemic, the museum has been welcoming visitors since 2015 and offers a multimedia journey through time. From a World War I Morse code station to the password hackers of the internet age, it covers the main developments in espionage.

The modern museum leaves nothing to be desired in terms of its craftsmanship and concept. But it does have one shortcoming — it lacks an aura of authenticity.

On the other side of the city, one building has much more to offer in that regard: the headquarters of the former East German Ministry for State Security (MfS), or Stasi for short.

At first glance, the large site, which consists of 50 buildings and thousands of offices, looks just like it did before it was stormed by civil rights activists on January 15, 1990.

In German Democratic Republictimes, it was a restricted area, closed off from the outside world due to its highly secret function. Back then, some 7,000 Stasi personnel worked around the clock to secure the rule of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). They worked against the external enemy in the West and opposition figures in their own country, secretly trailing them, observing them, sometimes recording their every move. 

Not a pretty sight

However, nothing of this historical significance is apparent when one approaches the buildings today. Although the entrance is located directly at a subway station just 10 minutes away from the city center, all that's initially visible are soulless prefabricated concrete monoliths covered with graffiti. Entire buildings stand empty; many have been sold to private investors. Deutsche Bahn used to be a tenant here before it built a fancier headquarters elsewhere.

"It was too late to take care of the Stasi properties," historian Christian Booss told DW, after a tour of the almost deserted grounds. The chairman of the association "Citizens Committee of January 15," which has usage rights for part of the complex, is unafraid to be critical. He himself worked for several years for the Stasi Records Agency, the organization that administered the archives following Germany's reunification: The trove of information adds up to around 45 kilometers of bulging shelves and cabinets filled with informer reports from 40 years of East German rule.

Christian Booss has his office on the seventh floor of Building 1. On the first floor is the entrance to the Stasi Museum, whose exhibition is spread out over four floors. One can visit the unadorned office of Erich Mielke, the man who commanded the GDR secret police with a hard hand for 32 years until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989. In the next building, house 7, is an archive of files supplemented by another exhibition: "Insight into Secrets."

Yet, one is left pondering why the buildings haven't been better cared for. The left wing of House 7 has been empty for 30 years. "It's stunk for 30 years," says Booss, referring to the building's dilapidated pipes.

In the 1950s, Stasi employees in GDR times thought about the best methods they could use to "disintegrate" opponents of the regime. Their perfidious reports can now be accessed by anyone who wishes to see them, thanks to citizens who stormed the Stasi headquarters back in 1990. Many pages are even online.

In need of finishing touches

The museum is meant to discuss one of the most significant and inhumane aspects of the East German dictatorship, yet it still falls short of the goal, despite grand plans. In 2011 when Roland Jahn, the federal commissioner for the Stasi files took office, he aimed to transform the cold and forbidding-looking site into a lively "Campus for Democracy." But he only partly succeeded. The sign at the entrance is small and easy to miss. It arouses only a vague curiosity about what history the dilapidated buildings hold. 

Jahn, who was expatriated by the GDR regime in 1983 and deported to the West, will not see his project finished when he leaves his position at the end of his 10-year term this year. He will have no successor, because the Stasi Records Agency, founded on German Unity Day (October 3, 1990), will soon be integrated into the Federal Archives.

The end of the Stasi Records Agency

Christian Booss of the Citizens' Committee of January 15 considers this decision, which was passed by the Bundestag and supported by Jahn, to be a big mistake. The Stasi Records Agency had the right to "actively intervene in the debate on reappraisal," he said. Booss, who holds a doctorate in history, has a number of ideas for exploiting unused potential of the former Stasi headquarters.

One of his ideas is making use of the bunker behind House 7, which was completed shortly before the collapse of the GDR. There, he says, are facilities on two floors for water treatment, for generating emergency power and for telecommunications. "They were on their way to becoming the Stasi 2.0, a Stasi with electronics and everything," says Booss. This, he believes, could be used to impress younger visitors. The problem with this idea is that the bunker is off-limits to the building police. 

The gateway to the West

Booss realizes it is not possible to make a museum out of all the buildings, but feels the scope of the site must remain recognizable. After all, in relation to the size of the population, the Stasi was the largest secret police force in the Eastern Bloc. This is made clear by the architecture in which its headquarters were housed. In Warsaw or Prague, similar headquarters were significantly smaller. This is because the Stasi was directly at the "interface between East and West" and was therefore of particular importance for the Soviet secret service, the KGB, says Booss.

Their perception of the people in the GDR, says Booss, was correct. In no other country was there "such a strong revolt" against the secret police. Bearing witness to the courageous, non-violent storming of the Stasi headquarters and the peaceful revolution in other regions of the GDR is a permanent open-air exhibition in the courtyard of the Stasi Museum, which is usually blocked by cars. Unlike most exhibitions, it can even be viewed now during the coronavirus pandemic.

 

This article was translated from German by Sarah Hucal.