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Stasi: The Untold Story Of The East German Secret Police Paperback – Illustrated, 17 Aug. 2000

English edition by John O. Koehler (Autor)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 356 ratings
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In this gripping narrative, John Koehler details the widespread activities of East Germany's Ministry for State Security, or "Stasi." The Stasi, which infiltrated every walk of East German life, suppressed political opposition, and caused the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of citizens, proved to be one of the most powerful secret police and espionage services in the world. Koehler methodically reviews the Stasi's activities within East Germany and overseas, including its programs for internal repression, international espionage, terrorism and terrorist training, art theft, and special operations in Latin America and Africa. Koehler was both Berlin bureau chief of the Associated Press during the height of the Cold War and a U.S. Army Intelligence officer. His insider's account is based on primary sources, such as U.S. intelligence files, Stasi documents made available only to the author, and extensive interviews with victims of political oppression, former Stasi officers, and West German government officials. Drawing from these sources, Koehler recounts tales that rival the most outlandish Hollywood spy thriller and, at the same time, offers the definitive contribution to our understanding of this still largely unwritten aspect of the history of the Cold War and modern Germany.
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  1. Print length
    479 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    17 Aug. 2000
  4. Dimensions
    15.24 x 3.05 x 22.86 cm
  5. ISBN-10
    0813337445
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0813337449
  7. Lexile measure
    1290L
  8. See all details
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About the Author

John O. Koehler served as foreign correspondent for the Associated Press for 28 years, including stints as chief for both the Berlin and Bonn Bureaus. He also served as Assistant to the President and Director of Communications under Ronald Reagan.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; Revised ed. edition (17 Aug. 2000)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 479 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0813337445
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0813337449
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 3.05 x 22.86 cm
  • Customer reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 356 ratings

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John O. Koehler

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4.3 out of 5 stars
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Top reviews from Germany

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  • Stuart A. Herrington
    5.0 out of 5 stars Gourmet food (or books) take time to prepare
    Reviewed in Germany on 30 November 1999
    Jack Koehler's study of the Stasi is a labor of love by perhaps the best qualified person to deal with East Germany's pervasive machinery of repression. I note that one reviewer wonders why it took so long for Koehler to come out with his book. As a personal acquaintance of the author who followed his journeys to Germany, and who watched with admiration as Koehler made repeated forays into the former DDR, always with an ear to the ground for documents and former Stasi-types willing to talk, let me assure all his readers that no "quickie" treatment of the Stasi would have been worth reading. Jack Koehler went the extra mile in his research at great personal expense, without a contract or advance from a publisher, because he believed the untold story of the Stasi needed to be revealed. All of us who value real history and subscribe to the belief that history's mistakes must be studied to avoid repetition owe Jack Koehler our thanks and respect. He is a great American who climbed into the arena, with no assurances of success. Like Theodore Roosevelt, Mr. Koehler will never belong among those "cold and timid souls" who take no risks, and who are thus doomed to know neither victory nor defeat. In character, John Koehler is now working on another book that promises to be electrifying as he illuminates yet another sordid corner of the Cold War. "Stasi" and his next book should be "must reads" for everyone who cares about the evils governments can perpetrate.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Amazon Kunde
    4.0 out of 5 stars Nicht schlecht, sehr detailreich...
    Reviewed in Germany on 17 December 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Man merkt allerdings durchwegs, dass das Buch vom "Gegenüber" verfasst wurde. Insbesondere die Passagen über die Zustände und Vorgänge in den zahlreichen STASI-Gefängnissen sind aber erschütternd detailreich und gehen unter die Haut - Ostblockromantik kommt so nicht auf und das ist gut so. Als geschichtsinteressierter Leser, der auch und vor allem die dunklen Seiten des Kommunismus etwas beleuchten will, kommt man voll auf seine Kosten - das Buch ist seinen Preis wert!
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  • rnbraley@erols.com
    5.0 out of 5 stars Stasi is a Cold War classic
    Reviewed in Germany on 20 February 1999
    Jack Koehler understood Soviet communism and he understands Germany like few other authors. Stasi contains dozens of anecdotal stories of the spy cases that were the basis for the spy novels of recent decades, but its main attraction is that Koehler gets the context right.
    He presents a living and breathing picture of Germany in 1931, before Hitler took over, and then of the divided nation throughout the Cold War. He knows the key roles of the famous Chekists who focused on Germany, including Lavrenti Beria, Yuri Andropov and Ivan Serov, and those before and after them, too. Among others things, the book is a biography of Stasi chief Erich Mielke, who learned his craft from the NKVD in Moscow, and his key deputy Markus Wolf, raised in the Soviet Union. Mielke and Wolf built an apparatus to rival the KGB itself. Koehler was the only Western reporter to interview Mielke at the height of the Cold War, and was called as a witness at Mieke's trial.
    Two accounts that stand out among dozens are the last days of the Red Army Faction (the third generation of the Baader-Meinhof Gang) when they were assassinating industrial leaders and judges, and Muammer Qaddafi's hit-team bombing the La Belle discotheque in the American sector of Berlin that killed three and wounded 243 people, many of them Gis. Koehler pinned down the roles of 13 Libyan perps including the two women who planted the bomb.
    Koehler has created a classic. It is essential for an understanding of the Cold War.
    Russ Braley, New York Daily News Correspondent in Germany 1955-1975, and author 1984
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  • wwmarsh@ix.netcom.com
    5.0 out of 5 stars John Koehler has penetrated the Stasi
    Reviewed in Germany on 2 February 1999
    This excellent book goes well beyond standard scholarship on the history of post World War II Germany. Mr.Koehler's research and extensive interviews (where did he find these people?!) present East Germany in a fascinating perspective, presenting new information on the GDR's role in world terrorism and its subversive efforts in the Third World. Especially gratifying is the detailed examination of the circumstances surrounding East Germany's most prominent spy in Bonn, Guenter Guillaume, and his role in bringing down the chancellorship of Willy Brandt. Mr. Koehler's account of the Soviet role in establishing the Free Jurists in West Berlin presents information that, to the best of my knowledge, has never before been published.
    Mr. Koehler's book is very well written. It is gripping from beginning to end and, in my view, is essential reading for anyone interested in modern German history.
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  • marram
    3.0 out of 5 stars sehr interessant - aber warum gibt es immer noch keine deutsche Übersetzung?
    Reviewed in Germany on 25 August 2018
    Ja, das lässt doch tief blicken, dass es immer noch keine deutsche Übersetzung gibt. Wer soll denn da geschont werden? Oder hat man Angst vor Maria Brauner? Das Buch verdächtigt sie, eine KGB Agentin gewesen zu sein. Wer war Maria Brauner (Gattin von Atze Brauner, Filmproduzent)? Traut sich keiner, das zu klären? Also, wir brauche dringend eine deutsche Übersetzung und gute Recherchen über Maria B. Traut sich in Deutschland keiner? Angst vor den Stasiseilschaften und dem KGB, oder was? Müssen mal wieder die Amerikaner für uns die Drecksarbeit machen wie so oft, weil die deutschen Medien so hoffnungslos mit Agenten durchsetzt sind? Die massive antiamerikanische Propaganda ist ein mehr also deutlicher Fingerzeig, wie es in Wirklichkeit um die angebliche Pressefreiheit bestellt ist. Wie verlogen ist das denn wieder? Wann wird dieser ganze Stasisumpf endlich gründlich ausgemistet? Müssen das auch wieder die Amerikaner machen, weil die verlogenen deutschen Medien einfach völlig unfähig und zutiefst korrupt und verlogen sind?
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  • Marcio L. Silva Gama
    5.0 out of 5 stars Every socialist dictatorship needs a cruel political police
    Reviewed in Brazil on 2 September 2024
    Verified Purchase
    Certain episodes of global history should teach us about the dangers of socialism. The emergence of STASI shows how an authoritarian government works to reduce the population to mere instruments to exert their absolute power.
    Control of information through society, denunciation practices from population, friends, and relatives, control of private processes shows that democracy is a fragile regime that needs to be protect from arbitrariness of government agents. Free societies must build trust between their participants, in a good faith negotiation between citizens. Governments never have to have full power over citizens. This is not what governments are made for.
    A good book about a terrible issue and a blueprint to avoid political polices oppressing their own citizens.
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  • Benedict
    3.0 out of 5 stars Not really a page turner.
    Reviewed in Belgium on 13 December 2023
    Verified Purchase
    If you’re looking for thriller style description of encounters between spies and those spied on then this isn’t the right book.

    The contents is dense with valuable information nevertheless. The writer is American and it shows indeed as another reviewer noted. In comparison to Dear Leader by Jang Jin-Sung life as a North Korea propaganda officer and border crosser this book is slow.
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  • Johoho
    5.0 out of 5 stars Stasi Nasties
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 14 August 2022
    Verified Purchase
    I like the author's style. He gives a lot of information without the book becoming convoluted. It's fascinating to read how it only took a few characters on either side and with different motives to really cause problems for the other side. There must be still a lot of retired stasi colonels kicking about the world. It's good that so many of them are named in the book
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  • Steve Capone, Jr.
    5.0 out of 5 stars Readable, and - though somewhat dated - exceptional in researched detail!
    Reviewed in the United States on 1 August 2020
    Verified Purchase
    I'd recommend this book, though it was written about 20 years ago, as a resource for learning about the Stasi. It's contributed a lot to the fuller picture I have of the DDR's sword and shield, even having visited a number of stasi museums, prisons, etc. and read several books on them. This belongs in your collection if you want to know more than you do, however much you think you know...
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  • Mike Steiner
    5.0 out of 5 stars Ouvrage de référence sérieux et très bien documenté.
    Reviewed in France on 29 July 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Cet ouvrage est avec "Berlin-Stasi" de Jean-Paul Picaper, le plus sérieux, complet et détaillé qui soit sur le sujet (parmi la cinquantaine d'ouvrages qui traitent cette thématique). Si vous êtes à l'aise avec l'anglais, ce livre est pour vous.

    This book is the most serious, complete and detailed on the subject (alongside "Berlin-Stasi" by Jean-Paul Picaper). A must if you are interested in East-German history and what was going on on the other side of "The Wall".
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