Can you imagine a police informer for ever 6.5 persons in the country? All phones tapped. All packages/letters
from the "outside" world opened and usually kept (stolen). Can you imagine spending your life in a 6x6 cell in total
isolation. One young man (38y/o) lived for 9yrs, till his death, like that. Six medical students spent 3 to 11yrs in
prison just for applying for a VISA! And there is much much more in this book.

It's amazing what pure evil the East German and Soviet gov./ police did to there very own countrymen. I'll never
understand why and how people can be demonic. And talk about paranoid!

Excellent book well done. It jumps around a little but is easy to follow. The only boring section for me was "The
Stasi and Terrorism...

The East German security and intelligence service is known to the world as the MfS, or STASI. Since the collapse of the Berlin Wall, Western historians and scholars have bemoaned the lack of books, in English, on the subject. The delays in publishing have not been for lack of interest, but rather a lack of knowledgeable authors. John Koehler's, "STASI", is the missing book and provides an outstanding contribution to the history of espionage, the Cold War, and the German people.

For more than eight years Koehler conducted detailed interviews with the original participants; a feat unheard of ten years ago. The result is an unparalleled "insider's look" at the scope of STASI intelligence and security operations. Koehler's background as a reporter and intelligence professional provide him with both an understanding of espionage and the ability to tell a compelling and interesting story.

The STASI operated as the "little brother" to the much larger Soviet "Committee for State Security", or KGB. It earned the KGB's complete respect through the total repression of the East German people at home, and the skilled intelligence operations of the HVA (the Main Administration of Foreign Intelligence) outside it's borders.

New details are presented about the pervasive infiltration of HVA operatives into West Germany's government, military, and industrial complex. The revelations of these infiltration's are so sensitive they still destabilized German politics after a decade. Other details reveal operations targeted against US forces and NATO including: the first penetration of U.S. Army intelligence by an East German spy as well as an expose of Americans selling our most sensitive defense secrets to the communists. Where some intelligence writers approach their topic with limited details and knowledge, Koehler involves the reader with a mastery of intelligence "tradecraft" that would make Tom Clancy jealous. Why read fictional accounts of espionage when the "inside" events of the Cold War are infinitely more intricate and fascinating? Spy fiction novelists will be using Koehler's book as a source for story plots and technical details for years to come. No single book can ever tell the complete history of espionage in the Cold War. Koehler's "STASI" does a through job of defining one piece of the giant jig-saw puzzle on Cold War spy history. Combine it with David Murphy's "Battleground Berlin; CIA vs. KGB in the Cold War" (Yale University Press, 1997) to provide another piece of the puzzle that looks at the "frontlines" of the Cold War in Berlin from the perspective of the other two major players in the area, the CIA and KGB.

H Keith Melton Author of "The Ultimate Spy Book"; (Dorling Kindersley, 1996)

This excellent book goes well beyond standard scholarship on the history of post World War II Germany. Mr.Koehler's research and extensive interviews (where did he find these people?!) present East Germany in a fascinating perspective, presenting new information on the GDR's role in world terrorism and its subversive efforts in the Third World. Especially gratifying is the detailed examination of the circumstances surrounding East Germany's most prominent spy in Bonn, Guenter Guillaume, and his role in bringing down the chancellorship of Willy Brandt. Mr. Koehler's account of the Soviet role in establishing the Free Jurists in West Berlin presents information that, to the best of my knowledge, has never before been published.

Mr. Koehler's book is very well written. It is gripping from beginning to end and, in my view, is essential reading for anyone interested in modern German history.