Watch Former Stasi Agents Defend Their Deeds

Stasiland (2006): Everyone knows about the Nazi camps of Auschwitz and Dachau. But few are aware of the systemic oppression that went on under the Stasi. Now some ex-Stasi agents are trying to re-write history.
For downloads and more information visit journeyman.tv/57040/short-film...
"I won't apologise for anything. I can only apologise for not having worked more efficiently", states former Stasi spy Peter Wolter. He maintains that the thousands of people tortured and imprisoned were; "quite rightly punished". Along with other ex-agents, Wolter is campaigning to have a museum documenting the suffering of prisoners in Stasi prisons closed. As Anna Funder, author of 'Stasiland' states; "these were people writing doctoral theses on how to destroy a soul". Now thousands of ordinary Germans who had their lives destroyed by the Stasi fear their suffering will be negated.
ABC Australia - Ref. 3312
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[@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.

[@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

[@simongills2051]

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.

[@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?

[@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.

[@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.

[@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.

[@wvangus82]

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

[@janningschrotter323]

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.

[@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

[@tubbalcain]

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

[@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

[@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

[@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.

[@bollockowithalob]

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

[@patkearney9320]

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

[@johnisme]

Stasiland is a wonderful read! Everyone should read it.

[@larrymcjones]

Read it a year or two ago. Really interesting.

[@flowersofthefield340]

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

[@Zlervo]

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

[@RenegadeSamurai]

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

[@strelacstrelac2650]

Why ?

[@pwthcim]

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

[@pressureworks]

for the stasi stooges, skip to 9:00.

[@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

[@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.

[@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.

[@metalguy098]

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

[@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

[@Gewehr_3]

Reminds me of a certain program and prision today.

[@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 😇

[@GrumpyScamp]

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

[@jeanforest8060]

Two wrongs don't make a right...

[@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

[@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

[@chrisbrown8640]

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

[@giovannibrunoro1055]

What is the music at about 11:20 - 11:40 ?

[@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.

[@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

[@aaronhrynyk]

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

[@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"?

[@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

[@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!

[@Robertsson]

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

[@HauntedXXXPancake]

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.

[@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

[@cardinalbree9365]

"Stasiland" is a pretty good book.

[@default123default2]

It's propaganda

[@cbcb40]

@@default123default2 what isn't?

[@burdenben]

What is a 'manically ordered' filing system ?

[@sammarley6908]

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]

-

[@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?

[@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

[@bentobarreirinhas5702]

How is it estimated that 1000 people died in that prison? Are there records?

[@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.

[@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

[@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.

[@SnarlingViciously]

It was from Foreign Correspondent on Australia's ABC.....

[@frankgordon8829]

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

[@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!

[@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

[@HauntedXXXPancake]

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

[@deoglemnaco7025]

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

[@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!

[@andypandy8569]

Thank you.

[@4henry4dc]

Ex Stasi keep his stasi jacked still in his home.He treaten me everyday. Jon Ritter

[@smophie6260]

Ask him how vladys going

[@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.

[@annalisa14]

How did the stasi develop ?

[@fifthbusiness1678]

A somewhat meandering video, and the title is extremely misleading as only one former Stasi agent tried (and failed) to defend his deeds. Still, a decent short documentary. If anyone is interested, I highly recommend the film ‘The Lives of Others’ from 2006, about the former GDR and the Stasi’s operations against a popular playwright. It’s a brilliant film; one of the best I’ve seen, period, in the past decade.

[@DrCruel]

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

[@shaiaheyes2c41]

On who? It was International)ewry that declared war on Germany and Europe in 1933, not to mentioned they staged the bloody genocidle Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917 when the Russian army was still fighting on the Eastern front of the International Bankers war called WWI.

[@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

[@CovenantOfLove]

thank you UnoRaza

[@davidfriedrich7435]

I agree with ELECTRICPORT ... They should deal with their own history more thoroughly and worry about their own problems... But The lives of others is a very good movie! However there was also life beyond Stasi... Nice Documentary Thumbs up

[@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.

[@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.

[@quintuplebanned4267]

The book is amazing.

[@jean6872]

*The former Stasi men are typical of a certain German we still see in Germany and Austria today. The video is confused because it conflates those who want the prison destroyed because it is like a haunting eyesore and those who want it destroyed because it is an embarrassment.*

[@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.

[@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

[@MikeyGregory]

This is amazing.

[@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.

[@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]

[

[@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)))

[@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

[@ishwarraj6433]

He told right how many people usa killed in Iraq, korea,vetnam more than 10 million people. 3.5 million to 5 million in vetnam. 3-4 million in Korean War by carpet bombing 1 million in Iraq. 0.5 -1million in Afghanistan.

[@valleypinesknighysfiretony2150]

amalek doing what they always done

[@valleypinesknighysfiretony2150]

Who says I'm a jew bitch my father worked for Bush Lil bitch

[@kingharryannis]

When the wall came down I know one chap who visited a few people in east germany to apply them some behavioural modification and facial enhancement.

[@mundlkalli4396]

Wish i could have joined him. To bad these two bastards are allready dead !!!!!!

[@kingharryannis]

@@mundlkalli4396 The chap was my driving instructor.He and a few friends in East Germany went to the East German border. Grab a border guard.Beat the crap out of him and forced the guard to take them across the border into West Germany. When the wall came down .he went back and beat the crap out of East German snitches, and Communist who had caused him trouble.Same will happen to contact tracers.

[@mundlkalli4396]

@@kingharryannis GOOD FOR HIM......AT LEAST HE GOT SOME CLOSURE AND REVENGE !!!!! AND ITS NOT REALLY REVENGE....THEY DESERVED IT !!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPLY

[@treerat7631]

The chief was put on trail but he got off because of health reason

[@MandyRRAh]

Strange question. Who was going to love that twisted little boy in the west? I suggest you read "Stasiland" by Anna Funder.

[@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.

[@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......

[@summer20105707]

@patsyd80 Poor people of Berlin? There were the outspoken people who expressed their concern for Berliners and then there were others with old grudges who couldn't give a damn.

[@pamelakilponen3682]

Go tour the Corner House in Riga Latvia for what they did there. Chilling.

[@TomG1990]

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

[@danhagerdanhager]

Why the music? ? ? Tip - documentaries don't need music.

[@josephharmon1286]

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

[@AaaBbb-hv4yg]

Did IBM help them too?

[@smophie6260]

Only the East German government

[@bigjeff7877]

no due process at all or constitutional rights in other countries

[@jayt7227]

Mmmmmmhm

[@flowersofthefield340]

It's OK their still as vile today

[@520_metal]

Solidarity with these comrades

[@declannewton2556]

"Solidarity" you say? Hope you have some "solidarity" whenever you see those Stasi pieces of shit scrubbing toilets because they're given peanuts now as "pension".

[@neilalbaugh4793]

Perhaps there should have been a "Nuremberg style" trial after the reunification.

[@andrewrobinson2565]

+1 good stuff....

[@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

[@lwt9132]

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

[@tuberebel8706]

Was it a project ??????

[@markfoley5595]

I lived in Berlin a few years during the Cold War and some years after and i know German's don't want to talk about it. The only time they're united is during football, otherwise they're not. The truth hurts!!!!