East German Spook Reunion
It was supposed to be an opportunity for academics to discuss the espionage activities of the former East Germany. But an event in Denmark this weekend quickly devolved into a bunch of old men justifying their life's work of spying.
At first glance, it looked like a group of retirees on holiday: two buses filled with gray-haired men, and a few women, heading north on the German Autobahn. But rather than heading for Legoland or Tivoli Gardens, the group was on its way to the University of Southern Denmark in Odense. And they weren't tourists either. Rather, all of them -- at least 60 in total -- were former East German spies.
The trip was the brain child of Danish Professor Thomas Webener Friis, who wanted to give the ex-spies an opportunity to tell their stories "before it's too late." Many of them, after all, are getting older and have, thus far, kept mum about their time spent working for the communist dictatorship. But the event ended up having little to do with historical research. Indeed, it quickly devolved into unreformed East German minions doing what they could to justify their Cold War activities.
"I am proud of our work and of our outstanding results," said, for example, Ralf-Peter Devaux, 67. It was the first time Devaux, who was the long-time head of the department that placed East German spies in the West German capital Bonn, had spoken publicly about his spook past. "I wouldn't do anything differently today."
One of the results chalked up to Devaux's department was the 1974 resignation of Chancellor Willy Brandt after it was revealed that a close aide of his, Günter Guillaume, was actually an East German spy.
Werner Grossman, the now 78-year-old former head of East Germany's foreign espionage department, was too ill to speak for himself. But a statement of his was read: "We didn't carry out coup d'états, murders or kidnappings as other secret services did. We didn't work with terrorists." The East German agents, he claimed, were "peace scouts." The statement was greeted with applause from the assembled spooks.
Indeed, for much of the day, the event had little to do with historical research and much more to do with historical justification. The some 250 conference-goers present were treated to all manner of claims as to the professional, harmless nature of East Germany's spying activities. And little of what they said was contradicted. Indeed, nobody bothered to point out, after Grossman's claims, that East Germany had indeed provided safe harbor to terrorists from the Red Army Faction, operating in West Germany in the 1970s and 80s. The Stasi -- East Germany's notorious secret police -- likewise helped Carlos the Jackal get his hands on explosives that ultimately killed a young man in an attack in West Berlin.
The event had originally been planned to take place in Berlin during the summer. It was cancelled, however, after a public outcry. Many were concerned that the conference would merely provide the former spies with a platform from which to justify their pasts. Germany's Birthler Commission, the group commissioned with investigating the activities of the Stasi, likewise elected to boycott the event, though one observer was sent.
"Our fear that this forum would not be the appropriate one for such a discussion seems to have been validated," the observer, Jens Gieseke, told the German news agency DPA.
Professor Friis, however, was satisfied. He did, at one point, urge his aging guests to "turn off the autopilot. Afford yourselves the luxury of self-critique." But in the end, his judgement was a positive one. "I thought it went quite well," he said.
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