Watch Former Stasi Agents Defend Their Deeds

[@granskare]

I recall reading of a woman who was imprisoned by the DDR authorities...after the wall came down, she looked into her STASI file and found that her informer was her husband....

[@granskare]

+michael barkley I would think you would have to travel to Berlin and apply...and you may have not have such a file...you probably would have had to have been into the DDR itself.

[@OfftoShambala]

Kiel Li Mikal get in touch with Edward snowden

[@kadosholl]

She was a teacher, her husband was an opponent of the regimen, and he betrayed her ... can you imagine the level of psychosis.

[@tobeytransport2802]

granskare why would you inform on your wife? If you didn’t like her then yeah but if you did why?? You know you’d lose her for a long time? If I lost my girlfriend I’d be very sad

[@ratulxy]

Something similar happened in the US too.

[@baskethilt]

I wish they could make these documentaries without sad string quartets and choirs.

[@terrytk9398]

baskethilt agreed - it blankets independent thought.

[@pagongtagi6124]

Totally agree, it's like cheesy music from those 70s pornos.

[@SisterDisharm]

Amen! So unnecessary!!!

[@ABC-dw7pe]

@@terrytk9398 lol okay - cause without them independent thought would allow some “balance” ?

[@1polonium210]

Sounds a bit like something from the "Paris, Texas" soundtrack.

[@mikemanners1069]

NOW they do not need the STASI...your own laptop and Iphone informs on you......

[@petebondurant58]

I don't know anyone being locked up and tortured for Facebook comments...outside of the PRC anyway.

[@svetlanabarrow6026]

And you don’t have to be married to them )

[@tacklefatkids]

@@petebondurant58 because you never hear about it. Don't be so naive. Question everything around you and you will see.

[@terrytk9398]

@@petebondurant58 but nevertheless the point is valid:you can be spied upon by the state & private capital. You can be controlled by both & both can lead to incarceration.

[@misterniceguy8765]

@@petebondurant58 just because you don't know anyone doesn't mean it isn't happening. It is and it's happening to myself ,wife, brother,uncle and mother.

[@markoatmac]

great video. I bought the book Stasiland of Anne Funder. The former Stasi Officers just notoriously deny the truth, it is quite more comfortable continuing to live a lie. Yes unfortunately not many people (including media) are interested in this sad chapter of history. But we will never leave this story to be told by the perpetrators only. I enjoy now 20 years of freedom, thank good this regime is history!

[@DeltaStar777]

Thanks for the book recommendation, I just bought it now so great with some summer read, thanks! :-) If you have not read The Ideal World of Dictatorship by Stefan Wolle I can highly recommend it.

[@lowrider81hd]

It’s an amazing book.

[@gangstalkingtv]

Today ppl are reporting Zersetzung tactics being used in almost every country

[@studiosuedpazifik6964]

@@gangstalkingtv sad developments, Bärbel Bohley, East German dissident, actually warned after 1989 already about this „they will study their methods in depth to subtilise them…‘ unfortunately she was right.

[@TheRichardSpearman]

I am sure you are just as concerned about the BND...unreformed and unrepentant, it continues today, although its initial enemy, the DDR, is no more

[@neillim6172]

I want to see Jouneyman picture making a documentary about CIA and Mossad crimes against humanity.

[@Yerrakhunt]

A documentary on Hamas or Hezbollah would be much more gruesome.

[@dieselscience]

For example, stopping the Nazi juggernaut then going on to end the Cold War?

[@dieselscience]

White14Man I would like to see a documentary not only about Hamas & Hezbollah, but ALL Islamo-terrorists.

[@avishaidavid988]

Name me one CIA Massacre.

[@fanenthusiast3802]

lol, delusional

[@GrumpyScamp]

If it had been the other way round, the headline would have read "Watch former CIA agents defend their deeds" lol

[@dannylgriffin]

Not exactly, but point taken. And not CIA, but FBI or DHS.

[@miketype1each]

It is little wonder that those who've committed horrible crimes seek to justify themselves. They continually make the effort, and of course, we must put an end to it. Exposure is what they despise; judgment is what they fear; and psychobabble is their native language.

[@TMS5100]

these monsters lovingly embrace authoritarianism.

[@user-fb9ql8bm2e]

they're not horrible crimes. they were suppressing the class enemy. communism is an ideology that seeks for the total liberation of the human race. People who actively conspired against the implementation of this system deserve the worst, they are holding back society from advancing.

[@TomiKaski]

Been asked about if they regret the things they did in STASI, trying to justify it with deeds done in other countries... Clear sign of that they are bitter for "losing" the Cold War, or that they have been repressing feelings of regret...

[@vanpallandt5799]

Same mentality as some ex Nazis..'did we really regret it..no..they were days of power and glory when we were masters of Europe'

[@JosephusAurelius]

Or they’re psychopaths

[@bollockowithalob]

STASILAND is an important book. Anna's the world's prettiest historian. Thanks for uploading.

[@tigerhong1]

These agents have no consciousness. I guess the perfect sociopaths for the job.

[@Ulf-qg1vd]

Well the west did similar things but no bothering about that?

[@100KGNatty]

@@Ulf-qg1vd True, the West also spys on political dissidents and activists, many are being stalked by the government.

[@johnnotrealname8168]

​@@Ulf-qg1vdYou know what this channel is right? Also West-Germany did not.

[@Ulf-qg1vd]

@@johnnotrealname8168 They did indeed. Oppression against communists stopping them from getting a job. There were no difference!

[@Ulf-qg1vd]

@@johnnotrealname8168 Yes it is a propaganda channel only presenting one side to promote capitalism as a paradise channel!

[@adam872]

Good lord, imagine being so unrepentent for those atrocities. The more you read about the Stasi the sicker you feel.

[@jonramsey6348]

Yea that’s what I was thinking….. another thing that scares the crap out of me is the depressingly low number of people who have seen this…. I think this would make people who would snitch on their own family/ friends in the name of ideology might reconsider if they saw this

[@su2004]

@@jonramsey6348 nowadays they do away with ideologies, they're trying to teach this to people as 2nd nature. There will be a whole lot of stalking and snitching going on. The people that inflict it now, will get it inflicted upon. I think the new generations will be especially ruthless

[@vaibhavsajith4267]

Bullshit you talk as if the cia arent killing leftist all over the world since ww2

[@Taketimeout3]

You are kidding. The same people are admired by many in the Russian Federation, and know it. They make out, and told the population that West Germany was constantly trying to undermine East Germany when in fact West Germany was criticized for cozying up and being too sympathetic to the East by the USA.

[@TheGamingMotionTGM]

It makes you feel more relatable with authoritarianism in 20th century germany if you're part of the younger population. Imagine a documentary featuring a denier shortly after the regime ended. The catch? This historical moment happens not when tv were still black and white but when coloured tv had becomed mainstream, like if the third reich somehow fell in the late 1980s.

[@tubbalcain]

And, now, it's all happening again, and on a global scale.

[@d.norris5371]

The fact the Stasi weren't ever prosecuted for similar crimes against humanity that the Nazis were is outright criminal. Granted they didn't commit genocide but they still did plenty of evil, sadistic things to their own citizenry - just like the Gestapo did.

[@Kitties_are_pretty]

The Nazis were punished by foreign powers, the only people capable of punishing former Stasi were Germans and they opted against purgation. As much as I despise the people that committed Stasi atrocities, I can see the logic in deciding not to pursue them for reasons of (new) national unity.

[@submariner200]

Joshua Brooks they figure to get rid of them covertly at a later time.

[@germanikolaas]

People dont even know the horrors of Communism Marxism, Despite Communism killing far more people and had looong lasting consequences and permanent changes of regions to this day, BUT they can recite the Nazis Holocaust Doctrine like Dogma. Which shows the deliberate obfuscation and omitting of History and the deliberate certain over embellished attention to one area for a strategic Historical ignorance, Being taught about WW2 was more about instilling a common collective of Mans original sin then it was about educating But this ignorance is dual edge, because you get schooled into ignorance about the stuff you do know about Nazis and then you still remain ignorant about the stuff you dont know. The reason why certain groups like the Stasi get a pass is because they are doing something beneficial for the establishment that even though isn't immediately obvious because these Elites plan ahead by decades, it will become so down the line.

[@rarler3333]

Rayray. Jewish babies had to be born first because they made the softest soaps. Nazis were like the indians in that they used all of the Jew.

[@TheNguyenben85]

I am sorry Joshua but the stasi did not anything wrong.

[@humansvd3269]

Lol, ask about Kennedy and Bush, don't ask about what we did. Its astounding these people were never murdered by their victims.

[@JJMHigner]

Thank you!

[@johnisme]

Stasiland is a wonderful read! Everyone should read it.

[@larrymcjones]

Read it a year or two ago. Really interesting.

[@samiramarley]

I do not wish to compare the Stasi to the Gestapo or the SS, as it's not particularly relevant. However, regarding the arguments I've witnessed in response to this vid, let me remind everyone that the Nazis did not only round up Jews or others simply because of their religion or ethnicity. The security forces during the Third Reich arrested and killed those whom they believed were "enemies of the state", a term which was then defined as including Jews. However, an "enemy of the state" could also be anyone - any protestant blonde-haired blue-eyed German, even - who spoke out against the National Socialists. This video is not about the merits or drawbacks of socialism. It is not a comparison of the Stasi to the CIA, the FBI, the NSA, the KGB, or any other organization implicated in crimes against civilians and their rights. This video is about abuses suffered by ordinary people at the hands of the East German security apparatus. There is no logical basis on which to assume that those who condemn the atrocities of the Stasi would simultaneously justify or support the objectionable actions of the CIA or the NSA or anyone else. I have no doubt that many Germans, particularly those who've lived in the former GDR, wish for a greater degree of social support, particularly those who are poor or who empathize with the poor. However, this is neither limited to Germany or Europe for that matter, nor does it translate to a wholesale desire to completely resort to a regime that imprisons people simply for having an opinion. It's hard for me to see how this video is an attempt to "rewrite history". Plenty of ex-Stasi officers have acknowledged the tactics and situations like those shown here. The question, really, is whether those actions were justified. My personal views are that even from a strategic, security-based standpoint they were not. Obviously, the two former officers interviewed in the video felt differently. As some commenters have correctly mentioned, even in the wake of the 9/11 attacks or those of December 7, 1941 on Pearl Harbor, there was a temporarily prevailing opinion that liberties may need to be curtailed. The lesson from this video, therefore, is not that socialism is bad or that the West is better than the former Communist Bloc, but rather, that any time a curtailment of liberties becomes justified on the basis of security and stability, atrocities such as this Stasi prison (and the prison at Guantanamo,... and Tuol Sleng in Cambodia, and Yodok-15 in North Korea, and Evin Prison in Iran) are the eventual result.

[@dogeyes7261]

Samuel Marley John Ehrlichman of the Nixon administration admits they couldn’t make it illegal to be black or against the Vietnam war, so they created the war on drugs as a pretext. Now the US imprisons more people than were in Gulags, has history’s most sophisticated domestic spying apparatus, fully militarized police issued military grade ballistic armor and rifles (despite having one of the safest jobs), armored cars, etc. A US citizen is more likely to be killed by a cop than a spree killer or common criminal with an AR15 or similar. This is on top of the US’s closest allies being the worst human rights offenders of the era. And this is on top of the US lying to start wars that kill tens of millions and displacing tens of millions more. And all of that to ensure a few thousand wealthy people get to keep the money they made by impoverishing tens of millions of others that are in turn subject to the above mass incarceration and extrajudicial executions, spying and blacklisting. The US exists on the same scale as the 20th century fascist governments of Germany and others, which far surpass the actual human rights abuses of 20th century socialism by the own admission of former CIA assets like Robert Conquest who admits to lying about the death tolls in socialist countries alongside modern academic historians admitting similar things. Without a doubt specific governments did specific things wrong. But in comparison, Stalin wasn’t as evil a man as Hitler or even Churchill or Obama or Trudeau or Macron etc. This is a startling revelation that should completely change how we view modern history.

[@rnj4209]

-

[@wvangus82]

It's too bad them two ex-stasi guys wasn't being interviewed from a prison cell.

[@Whitetigerking88]

It's hard to do that. They replace us we replace them that type of things in reality it is proof that they new system may be better. I grew up in the states and I want from free lunches to now lunches to war. Can't say life has been good but it's strange to be a live here. Most counties once injured euthanize people like me.

[@wildcatcreeksurvival2414]

Prison cell, !?!?! Electric chair would be more fitting for those mass murderers...

[@juliuseskola1281]

It’s interesting to see how they don’t realize how well they are treated by their ”enemy”. I guess it would make them think they were even more right, if we imprisoned them.

[@ephraimdrakeful]

Dear Frau Paul you and your son, and your husbands story is very moving and deeply sad. I offer only my admiration and the knowledge that you speak the truth. Love forever to you and your family.

[@davidjb65]

I lived and worked in Romania for 2 years and had a short relationship with the local former communist party secretary's daughter (which I didn't know at the time). Although it was recent, the same rumour spreading and vindictive behaviour happened because I ended the relationship. But one night 3 men tried to attack me who I later found out were ex securitate. Trouble for them was I'm 6ft 3ins (1.90m), 95kg and grew up in the Black Country, where parts of it can be some of the toughest inner city areas in the UK - and I left all 3 lying in the road! As we say in the Black Country, "I GID 'EM SUM OMMER AYER KID!"

[@dieselscience]

David, PM me.

[@gmail2277]

you should smoke less?

[@keeszeldenproducts]

Fake news

[@girlfallenfromthemoon1897]

David Bradley I believe you and Im sorry for your experience - that woman you dated is a b.tch and her family is as well. I wish you all the best.

[@afyonafyon8689]

Hahahahahahahahah if they where ex securitate they would be pensioners in their 60 or 70s .....what a bullshit story ....if he really was an ex communist party secretary he would just have you arrested because after the revoloution the securitate just changed names low and mid level people kept their jobs and positions .. ...it is absoloutely ridiculous what you wrote it is equivalent of someone who is from outside of the uk coming to the uk and saying he dated an ex member of parliaments daughter who then split up with her so her father got mi5 or mi6 agents to attack him and this person then left thos mi5 agents lying in the road its nonsense hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[@swtrb05]

Those two ex stasi members are absolutely despicable and disgusting!!

[@KonradAdenauerJr]

You are absolutely right. I would add that they're also snarky and morally bankrupt.

[@david52875]

KonradAdenauerJr And really stupid.

[@default123default2]

No they are right. See what happened to Karen Stuart in the USA , jullian assange , Edward snowden

[@MrDgo4life]

@@default123default2 They are indeed correct and BASED in facts

[@TheRichardSpearman]

Propagandists never accept the truth. Expose the BND for what it is.

[@roterdachs]

Funny information: "If you consider the oppression of its own people the StaSi was much worse than the GeStaPo": The jews weren't our own people, or what? And their was an own KZ for political enemies in Buchenau. The StaSi was a control-system, but mostly no kill-system as it was in the 3. Reich. The audience from the USA should be remembered by these video, that they've even today a KZ in Guantanamo.

[@petebondurant58]

Guantanamo contains foreign jihadists, not US citizens.

[@roterdachs]

@@petebondurant58 Nürnberg did impose several death penalties in conjunction with KZs because of Human Rights not because of citizen rights.

[@ernestokrapf]

@@roterdachs and one other thing: the US STILL tortures people in prisons and etc, in the recent past they've killed and tortured lots of activists, but are people calling it a "horrible dictatorship"? I don't think so

[@klol3369]

@@ernestokrapf because these aren’t sanctioned by the government and people can still protest and change the government via voting, so by definition not a dictatorship, is it bad, very, is it a dictatorship, no, learn new vocabulary to describe bad things and don’t act like it’s the norm to be tortured in prisons in the us

[@drakegod84]

I see no difference between East Germany and America today, in fact, most of Europe is under this kind of oppression.

[@jayt7227]

I’m glad some still have eyes to see 😇

[@jetklaatu9831]

The Bourne Supremacy movie soundtrack was rather fitting to an interesting documentary. Thanks for sharing.

[@willieboy3011]

90 year old NAZI prison gaurds are prosecuted, yet these relatively young Stassi agents are not prosecuted for their crimes. They should be executed KGB style, with a bullet in the head, although their crimes were far worse.

[@NBKDan]

willieboy3011 Because locking people up for opposing the regime is FAR WORSE than perpetuating a systematic genocide of the jews.

[@willieboy3011]

Daniel Roman 17 million people held prisoner by Stassi. About 86 killed trying to escape. In just 5 years after WWII 160,000 Germans put into concentration camps. Stassi enforced the totalitarian communism imported from and directed by the USSR. Roughly 100 million killed in by communists.

[@NBKDan]

100 million? Where'd you get that figure haha

[@willieboy3011]

Black Book of Communism, the definitive work on communism.

[@NBKDan]

willieboy3011 Gee, you read one anti-communist piece of literature and now you're seemingly an expert on the subject. Oh by the way, the writers of that book admitted to having knowingly increased the number of casualties under communist regimes.

[@BackSeatHump]

I lived in West Berlin during the Cold War. I dislike sensationalist reporting. The title of this video, "Watch Former Stasi Agents Defend Their Deeds" is a lie. I watched the video and the one former Stasi agent did not defend his deeds. He merely stated the truth.

[@girlbuu9403]

Defending wasn't the right term. They were completely unapologetic and reflected remorse they didn't -terrorize more people- work more efficiently.

[@KaibaCorpCEO]

Peter Wolter was a spy in the West Germany giving documents to the East. He didn't terrorize anybody. There was another video on KZbin featuring Anna Funder called "Daily life under communism". It was entirely of sob stories of those oppressed by the DDR. Fine, the DDR was repressive, but also ask about the conditions in Pelican Bay, ADX Florence, and the mass incarceration of non-violent drug offenders. Do the people in SHU in Pelican Bay have a right to hate the justice system?

[@declannewton2556]

@@KaibaCorpCEO "Didn't terrorize anybody" The RAF was literally a Stasi front; armed by the Stasi and given marching orders by West German Stasi agents. They did terrorise the West.

[@jeanforest8060]

Two wrongs don't make a right...

[@shakeybill82]

I can understand, to a certain extent, that these two were carrying out their assigned duties, during the existence of of the GDR. But, do add that they apologize only for not having worked more efficiently, is inexcusable and vile. Knowing now how horrendous it all was, they should have learned their lesson, and detest what they were part of. There's only one place where that pair belong.

[@randomgeographer4410]

They do not apologize and they won't, never. The Soviets invented truly the most horrific and efficient tool of corrupting the human soul. In many terms, they even outperformed the Nazi secret police. I haven't seen any research that could indeed explain the degree of evilness and viciousness that Soviet state intelligence could cause to human nature. There is no cure on earth that could rehabilitate the people who were involved in these crimes.

[@begachka]

I agree 100%. 'Ask about Bush'... what an idiot. Typical excuse of any scumbag, 'oh but him down the road, he's done much worse'. Moscow is still trotting out the same line - it's all the US's fault, what about them? Any ultimate justice will hang over these people forever.

[@barbarapitenthusiast7103]

They belong in heaven

[@barbarapitenthusiast7103]

@@randomgeographer4410 capitalism killed 3.4 bilion people with no regres sooo

[@declannewton2556]

@@barbarapitenthusiast7103 No, the Stasi belong in the deepest pit of hell

[@annalisa14]

Bravo Anna Funder. For your bravery and your dedication. This is an excellent story.

[@jackobtthoronn5388]

She should go to Chile and interview the victims of Pinochet in cohoos with Nazi War Criminals like Klaus Barbie Walther, Rauff, Erich Priebke Eduard Roschmann, with the tacit knowledge and approval of the US Government under Nixon Administration and Henry Kissinger it's main Architect and planner!!! How ironic a Jew in cohoos with Nazi War Criminals..

[@vanpallandt5799]

@@jackobtthoronn5388 neither was good but there is a tendency that now cant mention the Holocaust without someone saying what about the Gulag. Or mention the latter without someone saying what about the Holocaust

[@themovingdance2744]

She was a lawyer which illustrates her command of English literary style

[@themovingdance2744]

@Jackobtthoronn5388 I speak Spanish. That sounds interesting. I m an anthropologist in Latin American history with colonial and post colonial interests

[@davetoob]

the FBI does the same things to me

[@whoseeyesareflowers639]

davetoob yup. Look up gangstalking

[@valleypinesknighysfiretony2150]

Robert Anthony snow is my dad and instead of a tee shirt my complex was bomed

[@gangstalkingtv]

💯

[@JeffKay-wu8jd]

In America the Department of “Homeland Security” (sound familiar?) have taken on this role. It’s known as “gang stalking” and they use fake criminal charges, false diagnoses of schizophrenia, and Directed Energy Weapons/microwave weapons to affect the physical and mental health of their “subject” to discredit them and stalk them to provoke a response to them arrest them for said reaction. Welcome to the USSA

[@67pkmaniac]

The Stasi spy was a bad guy who did bad things, then justifies his actions because someone else somewhere did something just as bad or worse. We call this messed up tactic of diversion "What-About-ism". Stating the negative actions of another doesn't make you innocent.

[@d46512]

He sees his own guilt when he feels the need to redirect the conversation to completely unrelated topics

[@ThatsNotASpoon]

Hi, I'm an extention history student and I was thinking of using this as one of my sources on a study of differing representations of the history of the Stasi. I was wondering if you could tell me the details of the program so I can source it. Also, I noticed that the end was slightly cut off, was the ending of any further significance? Thanks :D

[@taraarrington2285]

It exists in America. Look up fusion centers.

[@terrydavis6132]

@@taraarrington2285 it's been happening to me for over seven years now , because of a retiring sheriff mounted a vengeance campaign against me

[@taraarrington2285]

@@terrydavis6132 I believe it.

[@pwthcim]

I bet you would have asked Mrs. Lincoln "How was the play?"

[@Gewehr_3]

Reminds me of a certain program and prision today.

[@pacearrowspeeding]

This is still going on, only now it's far worse. The techniques of this horrible oppressive regime were studied and mastered and now they're being deployed all over the world by an underground network. The term "Gangstalking" was created to discredit anyone talking about this Orwellian nightmare. We need people to start waking up to the fact that this system is now far larger and stronger than it ever was before. It has now not only been deployed on a far larger number of people, it has also largely gone unnoticed due to the stealth techniques that were common place back then that have been studied and perfected today. This is the single biggest threat to freedom in North America and in all of the other First World "Democratic" run countries. We need people to start talking about this and waking up to what's really happening. As long as the true enemy of freedom remains "invisible" they will never be caught.

[@jayt7227]

Mmmmmmhm u better preach that educated and informed sermon

[@rnj4209]

[

[@TheHOTchocolate911]

where is this documentary from? who is the author/producer? :< i need a work cite for this!!

[@tinydestroyer4672]

5 years later and no answer

[@Kitties_are_pretty]

​@@tinydestroyer4672 They're probably still at their computer, refreshing the page.

[@cucumber623]

@@Kitties_are_pretty yeah, dial up is a bitch

[@aaronhrynyk]

It’s 2021: is anyone relating this to modern day situations?

[@nunyunbizz8380]

English, German, Dutch and Frisian are close sisters in the Indo-European language family. German isn't strange or difficult to learn for an English speaker. But I understand what she was getting at. So sad that people who are cultural and genetic brothers and sisters feel so much apprehension toward each other. Especially since we are now in such danger from enemies who hate us for no other reason than that culture and those genetics.

[@bobbyhood101]

Nunyun Bizz not so unusual when you have two world wars and all the death and destruction that goes along with those memories!

[@patrickmccutcheon9361]

@@bobbyhood101the tragedy is that people who are so similar and could have gotten along with each and even had first cousins sitting on the respective thrones ended up at war with each other, a war that could have been avoided. That war and its successor provoked by the vindictive Versailles treaty led to the decline of Europe. It did not need to happen.

[@mike69dude]

if this woman's son was taken to the west and away from a place she wanted to escape from then why would she bring him back? who was it that said "when we give birth to baby boys, is it to provide ourselves with sons or the world with men"?

[@DinoCism]

I mean, I don't think anybody disputes that the Stasi destroyed the lives of those they viewed as enemies (often cause they pretty much were, self-stated enemies of the state these people served) but there is something uncanny about seeing an Australian woman looking at this old German prison in this tone of like "isn't this horrific beyond imagining" when you know there are CIA black sites in Germany and other European countries operating right now, this very day torturing prisoners without trial and all that. The tactics they use are pretty much the same as the Stasi because police use the same tactics to discipline and punish hostile populations basically everywhere. The formal ideology of the state is pretty much window dressing when you get down to the actual nuts and bolts of what a state security apparatus is and the difference between a fascist, communist or neoliberal state are nowhere near as great as followers of any of those ideologies would like to believe. East Germany is not somehow qualitatively more horrific, except maybe ideologically to anti-communists, but it was quantitatively more repressive for the obvious reason that it was a country created by war and out of the ashes of not just the Soviet Union's revenge on third reich for destroying so much of Russia's population that it has permanently affected their national growth even today, but also the long shadows of the failed Communist revolution in Germany which was brutally repressed by freidcorps militias who would go on the become the fascist leaders of the Nazi Party. Simply put, in a country with so many fascists sharing a capital city and a direct border with the hostile West the necessity of repression to maintain a Communist state at that time was simply higher than it is in say fucking Canada or somewhere where the government faces no real imminent threats to its power. Not that the Canadian state doesn't torture and imprison etc. especially it's indigenous populations but the level of repression necessary to maintain day to day life is obviously of different magnitudes.

[@jayt7227]

Yup they don’t believe in trials human or civil rights freedom liberty or equality. Something tells me this time around their fates will be less merciful because they should have learned

[@alhollywood6486]

Your woke ideology will be your undoing. Embrace humanity, with all it's faults, or else you will be subject to whatever authoritarian tickles your fancy.

[@jasonwiley798]

You are so full of you t. If you don't see the differences between the Nazis, gdr and the US then open you eyes.

[@robertoaseremo4163]

After the Berlin Wall thumble former East German people should do away Soviet past like Soviet memorial statute Carl Marx and Lenin just like Lithuania , Latvia and Estonia did get rid Soviet memorial on their Soil

[@SectorB.]

If I lived Germany it would be removed.

[@BelloBudo007]

I tuned into this because I caught something on Radio National (Australian radio), about the Stasi and wanted understand more. I can't but help feel extremely sorry for the German people who suffered under Hitler's regime with Gestapo & then the SS, and just when it looked like it was finally over with the end of WW2, along came the Reds, Stalin & the Stasi. It must have been living hell. I actually had friends that grew up in Hungary & Czeholslovakia, and their stories were frightening. But nothing compared to the Stasi. It's too bad the East Germans didn't have their own equivalent of the Nazi Hunters & track down these men.

[@Maya-yl8gh]

Thats true, stasis never has been hunted down. Living comfortably in scadinavian countries etc

[@LordValorum]

"We were just following orders" Sounds familiar doesnt it?

[@patkearney9320]

The Brits treated us Irish the same way in English prison's

[@Colls515]

Honestly lesson for us all. People with power abuse others frequently throughout history

[@metalguy098]

Does anyone know the name of the piece of music that starts at 11:00?

[@heatherzloty7143]

Whoever edited the language interpretation of the movie missed the fact that the German words are superimposed on the English translation rendering understand the entirety of the message impossible!!!! Great job!

[@DrCruel]

Probably had something to do with Germany declaring war on us. Not much you can do about that.

[@operator9858]

The stasi may have been the most advanced at the time, but since then the US has advanced to the point were the stasi now look like they were playing kids games and our justifications are the exact same.

[@paulconnors2078]

Just like the Nazis, the Stasi kept impeccable records of their nefarious deeds.

[@tomjanik4671]

I heard people did live pretty well in the GDR. They protested, not to tear down the wall, but to restructure a more efficient, workable Socialist system.

[@A_Haunted_Pancake]

I'd like to point out that Berlin is one of the most left-leaning places in all of Germany and the East Side of the City was the center of the Communist system. As sad as i am that Frau Pauls circle of "Friends" did not like to hear about her story, (possibly because they were implicated themselves), but not all of Germany is like that.

[@heidigough8585]

I recently read Stasiland while in Berlin. Horrifying. To visit the DDR Museum in Berlin you would think the East German state was some benign entity with a bad taste in wallpaper not the kind of state that committed torture, murder and regularly locked up political prisoners as for one thing it gave them a cracking source of West Deutschmarks when their release was bought. A really sad time in German history which shouldn't be diminished nor forgotten about just because of the time which preceded it. A terrifying thought of how many former Stasi agents are now in positions of power.

[@cucumber623]

i find it crazy that this subject is so under discussed, its always the nazis or stalin etc but when it comes to the ddr its like people have forgotton or more likely want to forget, the ddr makes the 70/80's ussr look like a free country

[@Virsho]

wait till you hear about western countries

[@borisdavidcontreras2956]

Those two stasi guys should be jailed. Also come to think that the former East German dictator escaped to Chile and lived peacefully till he died. Same with his bitch of a wife Margot Honecker who died in Santiago on 6 May 2016, at the age of 89.[On her death Hubertus Knabe, director of the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial, said that "she never critically reflected on what she had done. Up until her death she was a nasty, stubborn woman." Her funeral was described by German media as "bizarre" and featuring "diehard" communists with East German flags.

[@rickrudd]

I just can't believe none of these guys got a royal beat down after the fall of the wall. if I knew some pencil necked douche had been dedicating his life to interfering with my personal family life, than the minute the GDR collapsed I'd gleefully embarrass the shit out of him.

[@cinesimonj]

You' let his deeds control you.

[@pressureworks]

for the stasi stooges, skip to 9:00.

[@robertoaseremo4163]

All those Former East German Secret Police known as Stasi should be hold accountable and a price to pay for what did to there East Berliner people for they have presecuted and executed without cause

[@TomG1990]

As George Carlin said, "The Germans lost World War 2, but fascism won." Good luck, and all the best.

[@Robertsson]

Congratulations to Mrs. Funder for this great documentary. I am so sorry for yhe German people for having to suffer like that!

[@dietmarbitterlich3500]

CIA, FBI AND NSA doing worse.

[@zednevada7362]

the Berlin wall was am experiment for the end times final curtain.In agenda 21/30 ultimate aims. This is what is going to happen. The wall came down as a counter operartion and lots of tv and school teachings to brain wash people that could 'never happen to them ' . I was a torture experiment with other children for 2 years as a child and more on of what iv been put through. I became aware of the UK stasi machine which is massive and very similar except more technology to zersetzung in Germany. I am filing for recompense and compensation and to leave the entire commerce legalase system . If I am not recommended and my belongings not returned then I do cases . If I do court cases then I do not enter maritime law but refer to it only in terms of the gov and pals being totally immune from it even murdering people for entertainment. no point in accepting that in court you will get nothing or a dreadful compensation a serious insult for extreme horrors. extreme horrors my 6 rabbit children they murdered will never recover from as they are gone.

[@jackharrison6771]

I have Anna's Audiobook. Stasiland. It's quite good, and I recommend it, Thanks for posting.

[@thermionic1234567]

I spent ten days in East Germany in 1986 and am still traumatized by how horrible it was. I'm inclined to think East Germany was worse for the average person than Nazi Germany. Keep in mind Jews, Gypsies and the mentally ill were not in that category but were a very small percentage of the population.

[@blueswan7655]

What was your experience like?

[@thermionic1234567]

@@blueswan7655 It was a miasma of oppression. Large percentage of the population was in uniform. The first thing I saw after crossing the intra-German border were soldiers actually goose-stepping. Pollution. Dirt. Crappy food. Run-down buildings and lots of war damage still. The worst part, however, was the entire society was based on a lie. People would talk furtively about the oppression. We were told one had to register one’s new typewriter - every character had to be typed- with the Volkspolizei to prevent a samizdat culture from arising. Propaganda everywhere. Dismal housing projects. A few observations. One good thing was that police states tend to be pretty safe. People seemed honest as well.

[@blueswan7655]

@@thermionic1234567 what brought you there?

[@thermionic1234567]

@@blueswan7655 A school trip.

[@Ocinneade345]

@@thermionic1234567 had you been there before the extra squeeze from the west you would have seen something different

[@Zlervo]

At about 7:33 I always wonder where that building was. Was it bordering the wall?

[@DinoCism]

Does anybody really think if you asked an American or German intelligence agents "do you think you have anything to apologize for" in this condescending way as if only their countries had committed atrocities that they would give any different answers than these two men?

[@mickybooth3575]

Evil men plying their trade all these type of people are one and the same bullying vile creatures no matter were they come from in the world

[@lwt9132]

I wish they could make these documentaries about the terrible prisons in the usa or the western block and actually blame those country.

[@flowersofthefield340]

Good Documentary 👍 Really shows you how vile and pure evil 😈 all these people were and are. !!!!

[@watchman001]

You don't lose a war when you turn the enemy into you

[@atrikroy9160]

like the cia turned all the nazi german scientist into cia

[@josephharmon1286]

I wish that people didn't copy their fucking methods in 2019

[@cardinalbree9365]

"Stasiland" is a pretty good book.

[@default123default2]

It's propaganda

[@cbcb40]

@@default123default2 what isn't?

[@RubbaDubbaDooskie]

"Hey, I have a genius idea: let's pay Toddd to build bomb, transport bomb, plant a bomb, and frame a child for terrorism. They'll never raid our pensions." - Cui Bene.

[@KaibaCorpCEO]

Peter Wolter has nothing to apologize for. He does not have to apologize for his association with the Stasi or anything that he has done. The oppression of the Stasi is relatively mild and quite humane. Did the Stasi engage in mass murder? How many governments, especially those that were democratically, that they overthrew? Tell me how bad the Stasi was, really! I ask for evidence that the Stasi was more brutal than the Argentina junta, DINA (of Chile), PIDE (of Portugal), SAVAK (of Pahlavi Iran). Show me that the Stasi was more brutal than the Atlacatl Battalion (of El Salvador), the CIA's Phoenix Program in Vietnam, and the CIA activities in Indonesia in 1965. Do you ask for the people involved in those agencies to apologize for anything? What about the conditions in Pelican Bay SHU?

[@TheDuckseason]

You are a fool, you obviously have not watched enough of the GDR and Stasi films to know the full control, and ramifications of such a regime. They may not be as equal as some of the others you have mentioned, none the less it was still a horrible post WW2 existence. A Russian experiment that only stopped after Russia started running out of money to support it. The cold war near an end and the wall comes down once the people are crushed and the money is gone.

[@KaibaCorpCEO]

The FBI harassed and surveilled people. It is the standard MO in any country. Look up COINTELPRO. West Germany banned the Communist Party and also had a repressive secret policy. In reality, most people wouldn't be bothered by those type of agencies if they are apolitical or do not protest against the system. The Stasi was one of the least repressive intelligence agencies in the world as one could see by the examples I cited.

[@MrMcMind]

how can you say &quot;least repressive&quot;, your example just shows the opposit. Everyone in eastern germany knew about the Stasi and what they did. The stasi did not had to hide behinde faked exuses to arrest someone, like the FBI had to do, they just took the person they suspected, even in the western part of berlin. The stasi just knew two types of persons loyal employees and everyone else was supicious. The COINTELPRO just focused a specific group of people and not the whole dam population. Just to give you a perspective about the amount of information they gatherd: around 111 kilometers of files, 1,7 million fotos, 24500 audiofiles. The BStU got 1604 employees today to organise all these documents at 14 locations. And they got 15500 sacks of torn appart documents. In all this time they just manged to reconstruct 500sacks containg 1,57 million documents. And nobody knows how many documents the statsi managed to destroy. just and example how repressive they were: A document from 1977. The stasi documented that a 4 year old child brought western toys to his kindergarten. They told the mother to prevent this, but she didnt. www.bstu.bund.de/DE/Archive/FundstelleArchiv/westspielzeug_text.html The stasi was every where, when you went shopping in the next grocerystore and even in kindergarten.

[@KaibaCorpCEO]

Again, the Stasi would not care much about you if you were apolitical or not a subversive. Most of the information the Stasi collected is just stuff that could be found on most Facebook profiles. If the Stasi had the capabilities of the NSA, they would be much less invasive and more subtle. You don't know how much information the FBI or NSA had, your information about the quantity of data means nothing without a comparison.

[@MrMcMind]

I just gave you an example where the stasi did bother about a 4 year old kid, you dont really want to tell me that the 4 year old kindergarten kid was trying to otherthrow the political system, dont you?! Also you cant compare a new age technology where people just willingly give away their whole daily live to an era where all of this had to be done by on the spot observation by agents and convidential informants. We may not know how much information the FBI gathered in the same time periode, but we do know is that their scoop was smaller. Their goal was not to spy on everyone, they did not try to prefent people from leaving the country and then put them into prison for this. There is a reason why the NSA is called a successor of the Stasi and not of the FBI... Also the Stasi would not have been less invasive, one of their strategies was to be feared much like the russian NKWD to prefent citizens to rise against the system.

[@leemorgan8478]

The Americans & British said that the East Germans were the worst travelling from the West to West Berlin the German Stasi & Guards were very 'Security Consciousness' & were very hostile & would really test you're patience & mess you around but they say they'd rather the Soviets they say they were great & when the Stasi give them shit they'd call for the Soviet Officer . Mind you the KGB were the best spies you could ever meet there English perfect & were very clever .

[@84rb]

...and these stasi men still get pensions from the German state!

[@PrezVeto]

84rb I remember reading that they don't. Some former Nazis do, but GDR henchmen don't.

[@MrDgo4life]

DDR henchmen do not. Former.nazis do.

[@declannewton2556]

@@MrDgo4life Based

[@flowersofthefield340]

big pensions and don't forget their worthless medals 🏅

[@mcnogard1552]

I was on a schooltrip to east germany where we were guided through a stasi building. If some of the information below is wrong, then excuse me as I was on this trip 8 years ago. I learned that in the 50s and 60s prisoners was in rooms full of cold water and was brought out when their legs was soft. They were taken into small boxes where they had to have an uncomfortable position, only getting food through a small hole, which could fall past your head. After the 60s they focused more on treating their prisoners "humanistic". So instead of torturing physically, they tortured more psychological. It was possible to study torture in Sovjet. The focus was to constantly micro torture their prisoners. Each prisoner was given a number which they was reffered to instead of their real names, on nights they turned off ovens, on days they turned them on. There was no windows, no communication was alowed, prisoners should only stand in their cell, they were not alowed to train. Prisoners eyes were folded and trasported to other prisons in order to make them confused about where they was. Their clothes was taken while confronting stasi officers. Stasi made sure that the prisoners couldn't commit suicide by having no sharp tools in their rooms, and having net at places where prisoners otherwise could have jumped off.

[@uncleTedK]

All lies.

[@R3dSt4r90]

"... but we`re talking about east germany" hahaha

[@brianfinnegan664]

Don't get it

[@default123default2]

Soviet gulag had 1% of the population. USA prison system , 2% of the population

[@Kitties_are_pretty]

​@@default123default2 That isn't even true. But my goodness, even if that number wasn't made up by a moron, it would still be a shit argument. So the rate of incarceration for crimes in the USA would excuse the mass repression and imprisonment of the USSR's population for imaginary crimes? And this is ignoring all of the other atrocities of the Soviet system, which are even more atrocious than the gulag system. You tankie fucks make me sick. I genuinely wish you could be sent to the glorious system you defend, but it collapsed under the weight of its own atrocities and repression so it can't come to the phone right now.

[@ninga926]

@@default123default2 you're wrong,it's 5% in the us prisons not 2%

[@ninga926]

@@Kitties_are_pretty you mean that shitty capitalist propaganda that is lying and brainwashing you,the great union collapsed because of 2 morons that destroyed it,not because the immaginary atrocities committed by the union......

[@mfbfreak]

Sounds a lot like the apologism of many dutch people for the slavery committed around the 1600s. The government still has not formally apologised for the atrocities committed by the dutch state in that era, and everyone's still learning about the virtues of the Golden Age.

[@tubbalcain]

1600? The world was way different then. You want to see modern day slavery? Go to Africa or the Middle East. But, he, no one cares. (because its all about the money, and playing the victim) And the Dutch suffered under the nordic countries, France, Spain and the Brits. And yes, with slavery, rape, murder.. You name it, what about that? Those poor Dutch , the never did overcome this period... Hundreds of years ago.

[@danditto6145]

Spent six years of my life staring at that wall where Freedom ended and victims started. Truly, a horrible system, glad to play a small part aiding the German people in defeating Communism. God bless the poor people that suffered or suffer under international Socialism/Communism.

[@danditto6145]

@Führer Goyim U.S.Army enlistment is six years. The wall and the DMZ in Korea were the flash points of the Cold War.

[@RevolutionarySM]

The Stasi was a cruel instrument of a Stalinist regime, but only created after the western allies refused a neutral democratic Germany. Stalin never wanted a divided Germany, his goal was to build a united neutral state. But the anticommunist Konrad Adenauer of West-Germany, refused a unified neutral Germany. Had the western allies agreed with Stalin's Note, then unification would have been possible in 1952! Revolutionary socialists never supported the formation of this bourgeois looking Stalinist state. The GDR was build as a blueprint for this neutral Germany. Only in 1967 did its constitution talked about socialism. So this state was not socialist and sure not communist. Western people are told that communism ruled in East Germany, which is a BIG LIE. The Ministry of State Security ( Stasi ) would jail socialists and communists too which they did. Enemies of the state were all who rejected the dictatorship of the party!

[@NBKDan]

Revolutionary Socialist Media "Bourgeois looking Stalinist state" Sorry but Stalinism isn't an ideology. It's a word typically used by anti-communists to slander socialist states like East Germany. It's funny that a "socialist" would side with the imperialists on GDR. What kind of a path would you take to build socialism? History has shown us that you need centralised power to fend off the imperialists. If East Germany hadn't been so authroritarian it would've been defeated long before it's demise in 1990. Western agents were sabotaging the country 24/7 and it was under a constant threat from neighboring NATO states. I don't want an authoritarian regime either but this is the real world we're talking about.

[@NBKDan]

***** Sure Stalin had his own ways of practicing marxism leninism but it wasn't anything distinctive to the point where it would constitute as an independent ideology separate from marxism leninism. Every leader varies slightly from the ideology they're supposedly following. Stalin had to adopt to the realities of the early 20th century but he was still following marxism leninism. Nazism and fascism do exist since they're completely independent ideologies. National Socialism (nazism) was the dominant ideology in Germany from 1933 to1945 and they were very vocal about it, the national socialist party was the ruling party and national socialist principles ruled the country's political, economic and cultural life just like what happened in Italy with fascism.

[@NBKDan]

Eric Bush But it seems you're perfectly fine with those same germans taking orders from Washington.

[@ericbush3399]

Daniel Roman There is a difference. Study up on the Stasi & then give your opinion. One more thing. Last I heard Washington & NATO aren't one in the same.

[@Number1Dougster]

Daniel Roman Spare me. Any comparison between Washington's relationship with modern Germany with Moscow's relationship to it's former satellite states is ludicrous.

[@Easedale2]

After reunification the Stasi were investigated thoroughly: "As a result, around 30,000 cases were opened by public prosecutors against former employees of the Stasi. In the end, 20 individuals were found guilty, of whom 12 were given fines and seven suspended sentences. Chief prosecutor Schaefgen was unable to find a single case of torture, the use of radioactive radiation, of pharmacological drugs, the administering of electrical shocks or similar torture methods. And certainly not for want of strenuous effort." Bruni del la Motte in Stasi State or Socialist Paradise. Whilst in West Germany many former Nazis with blood on their hands resumed public service and went unpunished.

[@jvarela965]

Bruni del la Motte is not an unbiased source. She is an apologist for the Soviet System the former East German Government and an a leftist anti-American - capitalist bigot.

[@vaibhavsajith4267]

100% west was always a nazi sympathisers

[@frankgordon8829]

95% of the Soviet Polit Bureau were Jewish & trained the E. German Stasi.

[@84rb]

what is really shameful: nearly no one was ever prosecuted for the sins of Stasi or other easter bloc security services after the fall of the Iron curtain...

[@goolag6536]

The man born in Braunau On The Inn was right. Germany and all of Europe would be a safe clean place for all Western Europeans and European Russians if he would of Succeeded.

[@michaelmorgan8311]

Those former Stasi agents are despicable

[@jayt7227]

They believe themselves gods gift to the world

[@SiVlog1989]

In some ways they remind me of those who promote "The Lost Cause," myth in the Southern States of America, they tell their own version of history to allow them to sleep at night, easing their conscience after supporting an abhorrent cause

[@KevanBrose]

They believe themselves gods*

[@visker81]

those torture tools the show are in the basement of the center building, not used by the stasi but by the russians after the war.

[@RenegadeSamurai]

Those 2 make me sick to the stomach....

[@strelacstrelac2650]

Why ?

[@TheRichardSpearman]

@@strelacstrelac2650 A BND stooge perhaps?

[@chrisbrown8640]

Does anyone know if the Stasi every got hold of any Gestapo files ? , just curious

[@PeterPaoPao]

All he had as a counter argument was a load of whataboutery, "Vietnam...", etc.

[@turkelafandiyev]

+PeterPaoPao He said it because they started with Stalin. Stalin had nothing to do with Stasi, he had died long before)))

[@glasshalffull8471]

Its hard to disagree, I dont remember East Germany invading any countries and killing countless innocent civillians, U.S have invaded too many countries or intefered into than I could list, swings and roundabouts.

[@jiros00]

Amazed to be watching a 12 year old youtube video.

[@Andy-sh9eq]

These men are stupid doing this they could be murdered by ex prisoners

[@bigjeff7877]

no due process at all or constitutional rights in other countries

[@jayt7227]

Mmmmmmhm

[@flowersofthefield340]

It's OK their still as vile today

[@markfoley5595]

The real problem is that todays generation don't care - That's very sad.

[@willieboy3011]

"The Stassi was much worse than the Gestapo." Gestapo 40,000 agents watching 80 million. Stassi 102,000 watching 17 million. KGB 480,000 watching 280 million (50,000 KGB in 1980s Moscow alone is more than the entire US CIA, FBI, etc combined for 300 million). Terror police, Gulags, Political Prisoners for criticizing government (legal in the West), Imprisoned population (825 murdered trying to escape E Ger, according to Stassi files), and One Party Rule = Totalitarianism = Communism = 100 million dead worldwide.

[@AtomicElectronCo]

I would deal with it personally if they had done it to me or my family. I understand they wanted to help reunification along...fine....I would deal with any wrongs to me or my family.

[@ricardofan2733]

I hope you all know West Germany also had a secret police, that worked more sectretly, yet did the same atrocities when they felt like such

[@vanpallandt5799]

People from East Germany were executed for calling for multi party elections..when did the BND assist with that

[@vanpallandt5799]

Whataboutery

[@weeklongjester]

they shot people that wanted to leave west germany dead?

[@oliviad4754]

In the last few seconds, who is the man whose face is painted on the wall?

[@neddersass8439]

The two men kissing each other on the wall? Erich Honecker and Leonid Brezhnev. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_God,_Help_Me_to_Survive_This_Deadly_Love

[@JJMHigner]

It was done as a graphic mockery in 1980 or so of the weird inter-communist brotherhood custom of the 'fraternal kiss', which Gorbechev refused to do!

[@peterred]

the same way the cia defends their deeds

[@vinrusso821]

Give examples.

[@warp_scribe]

vin russo Chile, Granada, Nicaragua,etc,etc

[@jonboymk1bridgemaryfront889]

German government should of gone after the worst of the stasi machine

[@cucumber623]

i think it comes down to time and money, one in 5 or 6 i think she said worked for the stasi in some cappacity, so even if you wanted to just prosecute the organisation itself which was huge it would take an enormous amount of time and money, and also which she said is that germans are just tired of it and are trying to move on which i can kinda understand, it doesnt in any way releave them of any wrongdoing, the gaslighting alone is still affecting people to this day

[@deoglemnaco7025]

My dad was Stasi and he was very proud of the traitors he put away. Some with a bullet to the head. It was important to maintain order. I do not agree with his methods but he was a good dad to me

[@A_Haunted_Pancake]

@@deoglemnaco7025 What about the People who weren't traitors and still got put away ?

[@deoglemnaco7025]

@@A_Haunted_Pancake it happens. My dad wasn’t perfect but he was my dad

[@caveman385]

Simon Weisenthal even said he though that the Stasi were worse

[@sidecar7714]

Source?

[@humansvd3269]

@@sidecar7714 he said it sometime around 1993.

[@flowersofthefield340]

They were alot more dangerous bec they had more of the state to cover for them

[@MightybyGrace]

we never learn, check out what it means to be a targeted individual these days

[@samlomas7316]

Paranoid Schizophrenia?

[@MightybyGrace]

@@samlomas7316 you seem to be out of your biscuits and a part of the problem

[@samlomas7316]

@@MightybyGrace "targeted individuals" nearly always have paranoid schizophrenia. You are part of the problem for encouraging this behaviour

[@sufimuslimlion4114]

@@samlomas7316 yes sir lol. That’s exactly what it means.. just paranoid schizophrenia by people who are so desperate to not admit they might be mentally ill because of their stigma and stereotypes and fear of what it means - so they just instead start with the fact that they’re not paranoid not mentally ill and are victim of a massive huge conspiracy with thousands of people, numerous government agencies spending millions and thousands of hours because our little paranoid schizophrenic is just that special and important and dangerous to the evil faceless bad oppressive elite people who control everything lol

[@JJMHigner]

Absolutely. Thank you!

[@trevmanu1]

The woman's name is Vera Lengsfeld. Her husband was Knut Wollenberger.