The Stasi: Secrets, Lies and British Spies

With access to recently-opened court files, Julie Etchingham reveals some of the Stasi's UK operations and asks why its other secrets are yet to be revealed.

Das offene Geheimnis

A documentary that explores questions of secrecy and power in relation to the East German Secret Police (the 'Stasi') within East German society. The film is based upon key findings from an extensive research project, 'Knowing the Secret Police', and reflects upon how different kinds of knowledge were circulated through social, religious, political and literary networks within the former GDR. The filmmakers present this research with footage filmed at key locations throughout East Berlin and the wider surrounding landscape, including the Stasi archives and former HQ, Karl-Marx-Allee, Volkspark Friedrichshain, rural 'dacha' cabins, the urban neighbourhood of Prenzlauerberg and the social housing estates of Marzahn.

Sag mir, wo du stehst

Das Ministerium für Staatssicherheit - Alltag einer Behörde

Jeder schweigt von etwas anderem

In the documentary Last To Know political prisoners, sent to jail for openly opposing the East German regime that existed until the German reunification in 1990, talk about their times of trial and their lives today. Neither they, nor their families have come to terms with what happened.

Anderson

Documentary about poet Sascha Anderson.

Stasi, un État contre son peuple

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, thousands of documents were hastily shredded by the dreaded GDR political police. 16,000 bags filled with six million pieces of paper were found. Thanks to the meticulous work of technology, the destinies of men and women who had been spied on and recorded without their knowledge could be reconstructed.

Erich Mielke - Meister der Angst

Docudrama about life, career and breakdown of Erich Mielke, the former Security chief of East Germany.

Deckname Pirat

Was my father really a spy, as his file in the former East German Secret Service (STASI) suggests? This question marks the starting point of a son’s journey into his late father’s past which still remains somewhat mysterious even today. Eric Asch is looking for answers – in the Stasi archives, at the NSA and in his own family history. The result is a very personal documentary which reports ironically about the practices of secret service during the Cold War.

Spionen som hamnade i kylan

A documentary spy thriller that takes place during the Cold War but which gets its resolution today in the small village of Burträsk outside Umeå, northern Sweden. A deeply-believing priest, well-liked and respected by everyone or a ruthless spy who has no hesitation in referring his friends and colleagues to the dreaded security service STASI in the former GDR. Who is Aleksander Radler, the man with two different personalities?

Cell 364

While Germany sits as one of the major democratic models, an ex-prisoner of the Stasi delivers from his former cell a frightening testimony that questions the sustainability of our contemporary democracies.

Stasi auf dem Schulhof

At the end of the GDR existence, around 8,000 children and young people were so-called "unofficial employees" of the State Security. They were approached and recruited in youth clubs, churches and schools. They were assumed to spy on their friends or report on their parents.

Karl Marx City

Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker take a powerfully personal journey through the former East Germany, as Epperlein investigates her father’s 1999 suicide and the possibility that he may have worked as a spy for the dreaded Stasi security service.

Das Leben der Anderen

In 1983 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler begins spying on a famous playwright and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, and faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria.

Hidden Agenda

A young medical student travels to Berlin to investigate the apparent death of his brother and discovers a secret life of espionage, betrayal and murder at the highest levels.

Der Rote Kakadu

A coming-of-age story set in Germany in the 1960s. Siggi becomes involved in a love triangle when he falls for Luise, but the tightening political climate forces him to make a fateful decision.

Wie Feuer und Flamme

Germany 1982: The country is divided into two parts. Nele, coming from West-Germany, travels to East-Germany where she meets Captain, singer of a band. They fall in love with each other, but the regime "takes care" of their relationship, meaning: They can not see each other again. Germany 1990: The country is reunited. Nele starts searching their lost love...

Sternenklar

East-Berlin, 1980. Two sisters, one professional fleeing assistant and one soldier. And an escape that could go either way...

Gurken Sind Grüner Auf Der anderen Seite

Berlin, 1989. Helena and Louise are happy in their relationship if it wasn't for this huge wall separating them. The only solution is writing letters. But what the two of them don't know is that Stasi officer Bernd who works for the surveillance department, is enjoying their constant letter exchanges as his daily bed time story. While Bernd has yet to figure out how to read between the lines, his assistant Eberhardt grows suspicious and desperately tries to open Bernd's eyes. But maybe Bernd isn't as oblivious as Eberhardt thinks he is. While the officers are playing hide and seek with Louise's and Helena's letters, the women are already in the midst of escaping. Nothing can stop them now. Except for maybe...the Fall of the Wall?

Lars

East Berlin, 1985. Lars, a young Stasi Lieutenant, discovers his parents are underground smugglers. Now, with his commanding officer over for dinner, Lars struggles to reconcile his feeling of kinship with his ideology.