DATE=7/14/99
TYPE=NEWS FEATURE
NUMBER=5-43877
TITLE=REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK / STASI
BYLINE=CANDACE WILLIAMS
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
CONTENT=
VOICED AT: 

INTRO:  IN THE 10 YEARS SINCE THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL, MANY 
RESIDENTS OF FORMERLY COMMUNIST EAST GERMANY HAVE DEMANDED TO SEE
FILES KEPT ON THEM BY THE NOTORIOUS FORMER SECRET POLICE NETWORK,
THE STASI. V-O-A  CANDACE WILLIAMS RECENTLY TOURED THE BERLIN 
HEADQUARTERS OF THE FORMER SPY OPERATION AND REPORTS THE STASI 
KEPT MORE THAN PAPER ON FILE.

TEXT:  WITH COMMUNISM'S COLLAPSE IN EAST GERMANY, IT IS DIFFICULT
FOR MANY YOUNG GERMANS TO IMAGINE LIFE IN A VIRTUAL POLICE STATE.
YET FOR CITIZENS FROM THE FORMER GERMAN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC, 
SURVEILLANCE BY THE STASI -- OR MINISTRY FOR STATE SECURITY -- 
WAS A FACT OF LIFE.  THE DREADED POLICE INFILTRATED EVERY ASPECT 
OF SOCIETY -- USING THEIR OWN AGENTS AND OTHER INFORMANTS TO SPY 
ON A POPULATION OF 16 MILLION.

WITH A GROUP OF OTHER U-S JOURNALISTS, I RECENTLY TOURED THE 
BERLIN HEADQUARTERS OF THE FORMER STASI. 

GERMAN PRESS SPOKESMAN JOHANN LEGNER ACCOMPANIED US.   HE TOOK US
TO ONE ROOM FILLED WITH BAGS OF DOCUMENTS THAT STASI EMPLOYEES 
HAD TORN TO PIECES, WHEN CITIZENS COMMITTEES RAIDED STASI OFFICES
THROUGHOUT EAST GERMANY IN LATE 1989. THE PROTESTS COINCIDED WITH
THE COLLAPSE OF THE BERLIN WALL.  PEOPLE WERE DEMANDING TO SEE 
INFORMATION ABOUT THE STASI AND WHO IT HAD SPIED ON.

MR. LEGNER SAYS AUTHORITIES HOPE TO PIECE TOGETHER THE TORN 
DOCUMENTS TO LEARN THEIR CONTENTS.  BUT HE ACKNOWLEDGES THE TASK 
IS DIFFICULT, GIVEN THE SHEER VOLUME OF PAPER.

                       //IST LEGNER ACT//

         IF YOU WOULD RECONSTRUCT THESE PAPERS, YOU WOULD HAVE AT
         LEAST 25-MILLION PAGES.  WE ARE GOING THROUGH A PROCESS 
         TO DO THIS BY MODERN TECHNOLOGY.

                     //END 1ST LEGNER ACT//

THE STASI FILES IN BERLIN INCLUDED NAMES AND INFORMATION ON 
FORMER AGENTS WHO OPERATED IN THE WEST DURING THE COLD WAR.  MR. 
LEGNER SAYS SOME OF THE DOCUMENTS ENDED UP IN THE POSSESSION OF 
THE U-S CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY, AND THAT GERMANY WANTS THEM 
BACK.  ACCORDING TO THE GERMAN PRESS, PRESIDENT CLINTON HAS 
PROMISED TO RETURN THE FILES.

DURING THE COLD WAR, THE STASI ALSO KEPT WHAT MR. LEGNER 
DESCRIBED AS "SMELL SAMPLES" OF PEOPLE -- CLOTH SAMPLES  
CONTAINING THE SCENT OF INDIVIDUALS THAT COULD BE USED FOR DOG 
TRACKING AND IDENTIFICATION PURPOSES.  WE FOUND THESE SAMPLES IN 
SEALED GLASS BOTTLES.

                       // 2ND LEGNER ACT//

         DURING AN INTERROGATION, FOR EXAMPLE, YOU HAD THE 
         OPPORTUNITY TO FORCE A PERSON TO GIVE YOU A SMELL 
         SAMPLE, JUST AS IF YOU CONTACT TEXTILES (TOUCH CLOTH) 
         WITH CERTAIN PARTS OF YOUR BODY, YOUR SMELL IS PRESERVED
         ...WE HAD SEVERAL HUNDRED OF THESE SMELL SAMPLES OF MORE
         OR LESS PROMINENT DISSIDENTS WHICH THEY PRESERVED. 

                     //END 2ND LEGNER ACT//

SPOKESMAN LEGNER SAYS THE STASI ALSO COLLECTED INFORMATION ON 
EAST GERMANS, BY INTERCEPTING MAIL AND EAVESDROPPING.

                       //3RD LEGNER ACT//

         WE HAVE HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS, I THINK, MILLIONS OF 
         LETTERS FOR EXAMPLE HERE. MANY OF THEM NEVER ARRIVED AT 
         THEIR DESTINATION WHICH THEY JUST COLLECTED BECAUSE IT 
         MAY BE USEFUL TO HAVE THESE LETTERS.  ALSO, THEY JUST 
         LISTENED FOR HOURS AND YEARS ON TELEPHONES.  CERTAIN 
         PEOPLE HAVE THOUSANDS OF PAGES OF THEIR OWN TELEPHONE 
         CONVERSATIONS STORED HERE. 

                     //END 3RD LEGNER ACT//

OUR TOUR ALSO TOOK US TO A ROOM CONTAINING MORE THAN 
TWO-AND-A-HALF MILLION INDEX CARDS, SIMILAR TO THOSE FOUND IN A 
LIBRARY.   THESE FILES CONTAINED INFORMATION ON SPY OPERATIONS 
AND CODE NAMES OF THE PEOPLE INVOLVED.

THE VISIT ENDED IN YET ANOTHER ROOM WITH SEPARATE FILES ON 
INFORMANTS AND THE PEOPLE THEY MONITORED. MR. LEGNER SAYS THE 
UNDERGROUND COLLABORATORS HAD TO PRODUCE A HANDWRITTEN DOCUMENT 
WHICH SAID HE OR SHE SPIED WILLINGLY FOR EAST GERMANY.

MR. LEGNER, A FORMER JOURNALIST, SAYS INFORMANTS ALSO SPIED ON 
HIM.  ONE OF THEM WAS SOMEONE HE CONSIDERED A FRIEND.  MR. LEGNER
SAYS THAT FRIENDSHIP IS NOW OVER.  (SIGNED)

NEB/CAW/RRM

14-Jul-99 3:33 PM EDT (1933 UTC)
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Source: Voice of America
.