Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police

Mr. Koehler's writing is amazing and fluid. He writes so well and brings the reader into the ministry for state security ( STASI). I love this book because the author has left no stone unturned. He describes in great detail every aspect of Stasi operations. From domestic repression in the GDR, West German and Nato espionage, all the way to Stasi operations in the third world. Who would have thought the Stasi was such a huge network. I believe this to be a most informative book that reads like a novel. It is the kind of writing that keeps you propped up on your pillow at night. I salute Mr. Koehler in uncovering the truth about the world's most efficient and notorious secret police, the Stasi. It is only by understanding the brutality of the past that we can prevent it in the future. We all need to thank Mr. Koehler for bring these injustices to the hilt.

I was so impressed with STASI that, when I finished reading it, I immediately started reading it again. Of all the books about Cold War history that have emerged since the collapse of the Comrades, STASI is very near the top of the heap. It is a priceless study of the totalitarian evil of the East German police state and the thugs who ran it (One of the most fascinating parts of the book describes Stasi chief Erich Mielke's early history, including his participation in the murder of two Berlin police officers in 1931). Yes, there WAS an Evil Empire and the bad guys lost! I highly recommend STASI--it's outstanding and scholarly journalism that tells an important story, but reads like the best thrillers. Hooray for Koehler--I hope we get more books from him.

This book is a very interesting and thorough account of the East German security service. It is very well written and informative. Koehler did some excellent, in-depth research on the Stasi and this book reflects that. I would recommend it to any one interested in the Stasi, East Germany, or the Cold War in general.

Mr. Koehler provides a vivid picture of what made the DDR tick. He has deftly chronicled the intimate details of his interviews with former Stasi apparatchiks and victims of the Strasi's surveillance and intimidation. Koehler interprets the lurid details of East Germany's most sensitive government files which the Stasi never dreamed would be seen by western eyes. It is clear from Koehler's book that much of the eastern bloc's demise, in particular the DDR's, was due to the enormous drain of hard currency assets and manpower required to support an intensive domestic and foreign intelligence network. Koehler also chronicles the obsessive "fraternal support" of Nicaragua by East German leader Erich Honecker during the 1980s which further drained the limited resources of the DDR.It is fair to ask why it took Koehler nearly 10 years since the collapse of East Germany to complete his book. The Stasi documents which are the source for Koehler's research have been opened up in recent years to a limited number of journalists. In many cases, Koehler has an insiders account based on his exclusive access to recently released Stasi files. Koehler brings the best evidence yet of the Stasi's repression as he presents the facts of what it was like to have lived in the DDR more vividly than I have seen written anywhere else. As a traveler to East Germany during the Cold War years and the months leading up to reunification, I would have enjoyed an additional chapter detailing the Stasi's surveillance of western visitors to the former DDR. I found this book to be the intensive study of the East German secret police that I had been waiting for.

The East German security and intelligence service is known to the world as the MfS, or STASI. Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Western historians and scholars have bemoaned the lack of books, in English, on the subject. The delays in publishing have not been for lack of interest, but rather a lack of knowledgeable authors. John Koehler's, "STASI", is the missing book and provides an outstanding contribution to the history of espionage, the Cold War, and the German people.For more than eight years Koehler conducted detailed interviews with the original participants; a feat unheard of ten years ago. The result is an unparalleled "insider's look" at the scope of STASI intelligence and security operations. Koehler's background as a reporter and intelligence professional provide him with both an understanding of espionage and the ability to tell a compelling and interesting story.The STASI operated as the "little brother" to the much larger Soviet "Committee for State Security", or KGB. It earned the KGB's complete respect through the total repression of the East German people at home, and the skilled intelligence operations of the HVA (the Main Administration of Foreign Intelligence) outside it's borders.New details are presented about the pervasive infiltration of HVA operatives into West Germany's government, military, and industrial complex. The revelations of these infiltration's are so sensitive they still destabilized German politics after a decade. Other details reveal operations targeted against US forces and NATO including: the first penetration of U.S. Army intelligence by an East German spy as well as an expose of Americans selling our most sensitive defense secrets to the communists. Where some intelligence writers approach their topic with limited details and knowledge, Koehler involves the reader with a mastery of intelligence "tradecraft" that would make Tom Clancy jealous. Why read fictional accounts of espionage when the "inside" events of the Cold War are infinitely more intricate and fascinating? Spy fiction novelists will be using Koehler's book as a source for story plots and technical details for years to come. No single book can ever tell the complete history of espionage in the Cold War. Koehler's "STASI" does a through job of defining one piece of the giant jig-saw puzzle on Cold War spy history. Combine it with David Murphy's "Battleground Berlin; CIA vs. KGB in the Cold War" (Yale University Press, 1997) to provide another piece of the puzzle that looks at the "frontlines" of the Cold War in Berlin from the perspective of the other two major players in the area, the CIA and KGB.H Keith Melton Author of "The Ultimate Spy Book"; (Dorling Kindersley, 1996)