Stasi History

Stasi History:
A Big Part of East Germany

Photos and story by John Clayton

he skies were dark and cloudy and the echoes of thunder could be heard in the distance. It was a cold and somber date this November day in 1990 as the Deutsche Bahn train in which I was traveling slowly edged its way into the Leipzig, Germany Hauptbahnhof Central Railway Terminus. Exactly a year before on November 9th 1989, the Berlin Wall had been breached, and Germany was working at the speed of a jetliner to make the previously divided country into one.

train tracks at an East German rail station in 1992

When German reunification took place on October 3rd 1990 after 45 years apart, it was obvious an enormous amount of work had to be done to bring East Germany up to the same standards as existed in capitalist West Germany. As but one example, are these train tracks photographed by John at an East German station in 1992, grass was STILL growing over and alongside the tracks. "One is so accustomed to seeing railroad tracks as clean, even sparkling in the sun, and clear of all detritus," says John, "it was a revelation to see the shoddy, often dirty conditions in such places as railroad stations. Not, I’m sure, a high priority on the list of the Stasi, or anyone in the East German hierarchy, to be smart and good looking.

The modern life style enjoyed in West Germany had still not reached this area of what had been East Germany, and the station was gloomy, drab and even depressing. But I was wildly excited as this was the first time travel was available to previously difficult to access East German destinations. When I looked out the carriage window I saw most of the railroad tracks into this 19 platform termini were all sprouting thick, all enveloping grass. The detritus of what had been East Germany was everywhere, but until 2006 I was not to know about a specific horror that lay a few blocks from the station.

inside the Leipzig train mainline station, 2004

“As noted in my feature,” says John, “when I first came through the huge Leipzig train mainline station in 1990, it looked, and was, awful. So when I returned with a group of fellow US travel journalists in 2004, it was stunning to see the enormous changes that had occurred. The station has now become a tourist Mecca and attraction with more shops to buy clothes, knick knacks, tourist “treasures,” shoes and on and on, than you think should even be in railroad station. Surely, this sort of shopping diversity should be in a Shopping Mall!"

author at a former border crossing between West and East Germany

“As someone who has always been fascinated by European history, but with special emphasis on “Things German,” I was thrilled – yes THRILLED – to see and even explore, my first border crossing between West and East Germany,” says John. “What was particularly intriguing,” he says “was the fact that my friends, who were with me in the car, were West Germans who had to use and go through THIS crossing on their way to see friends in East Germany. It was, so they told me, ALWAYS a very creepy and intimidating experience. So when I decided to roam around this now totally unoccupied by Stasi border guards, my West German friends were still scared and wondered if I’d be OK. Obviously I was, but it shows how deep an impact the Stasi had on both East and West Germans."

But there was one enormous building that was exactly as it had been when it was built in 1913 by the Old Leipzig Fire Insurance Company. Due to its rounded main corner entrance shape, it bears the unusual name “Runde Ecke,” and it’s now a museum about the GDR secret Stasi police, and from 1950 to 1989 it was the headquarters of the Stasi. When the Re-Unification process began, the Stasi tried to destroy as much evidence as they could about all the terrifying cruelty they'd inflicted on their citizens – much of it carried out in the Runde Ecke building. But thankfully the citizens of Leipzig occupied the building after the peaceful revolution and saved many of the incriminating and convicting Stasi documents.

Lubeck check point

This is the Lubeck Border Crossing station. It shows you how big they were, and with the so many avenues or aisles to go through – that all needed a large number of Stasi in attendance – it illustrates how it could well be an intimidating experience.

They also made sure to keep intact much of what this Stasi building contained so that future generations would understand the Stasi’s brutal methods. As I walked through its cold corridors I scrutinized the faded linoleum floors, the brownish yellow wallpaper, and the folding grills and bars at the doors and windows installed so that escape was impossible for those destined to die there. As one member of our US media group said as we exited the building into some most welcome sunshine, “it sure gave me the heebie jeebies. What a frightening place."

And yet…

When I toured Dresden’s The Zwinger, a museum complex housed in a magnificent early 18th-century palace later on, our guide was an older woman who been born and grew up in East Germany. I asked her how she liked “being free and able to do whatever she wanted.” After quite some time she whispered to me that she preferred “the old ways. Then I had everything provided. There were no worries. Today, well there is, how do you say it, too much competition. You understand?”