All language subtitles for Karl Marx City 2016 WEBRip x264-RARBG

The film contains released
material from radio announcements-

monitoring and propaganda films

- produced by Stasi, the Ministry
of State Security in the DDR.

One, two, one, two...

This film was made by the
comrades in Section 8, Section 1-

-in the district of Karl-Marx-Stadt.

Number of observation days: 14.
Number of contributed employees: 8.

Number of cars with radio: 2.

Technology: 2 hidden
cameras, type of schwan 5-

- the filmed object "Husar"
and "Rolles" neighborhood.

An open camera...

DDR was history's most
monitored society.

To observe and control
17 million inhabitants-

- Security Services -
Stasi - 92,000 officials-

and 200 000 unofficial agents.

Everything that happened in public and private was
guarded in the dictatorship of the proletariat.

She was born in Karl-Marx-Stadt, where she
claims to have had a happy childhood.

She is 14 years old on her "Jugendweihe",
a kind of communist confirmation.

This is her twin brothers...
her mother... and daddy.

And this is Karl Marx, who wrote
the "Communist manifesto".

Karl Marx was never here,
but the town of Chemnitz-

- trained his name
after World War II.

The city became an industrial power-
center where the proletariat ruled.

In 1971, a Russian artist artist honored
the workers with 40 tons of bronze.

Then the wall fell, and the city
voted to retake the name Chemnitz.

In a few weeks, all traces of Karl
Marx and communism were erased.

But the head was too heavy so he
remained while the fight continued.

Karl-Marx-Stadt

The Germans call the time after the wall's
fall "Die Wende" - the turning point.

With her new freedom, she traveled as
far away as she could - to America.

There the horizon was infinite.
Her background was history.

And the wall is still
in Berlin than today.

But she felt missing - not after
the wall or party, but a feeling-

- a kind of home feeling. The East
German has a word for it: "Ostalgie".

A beautiful day, the authors say, it
should not only surround the world-

- but also the moon, the stars,
outer space, the universe...

In childhood, West was just a dream.

In East Germany they had no western
movies, only "Indian movies".

There the Indians were the heroes who
fought against the white oppressors.

In their backward world the horizon
was limited but the future sure.

Shortly after New Year, she
visited her American relatives.

They did as Americans do
when they are available.

Here we see a man ruined by the
untiring capitalism of the 1920s.

She called home to wish her
parents a happy new year.

Her brother answered and said she
had to come home right away.

When she asked why, he told him
that the father had killed himself.

He was 57 years old, happy married
and successful. But who was he?

15 YEARS SENIOR

In Germany, they have special words
for managing memories and forgetting.

One is something they
call memory culture-

- and the other is the process
of correcting the past.

When I was little, he told me
he was a cyclist of cycling.

"I was fastest in Saxony." But we
never saw photos of him on a bike.

Dad loved to drive a car and thought
he was the world's best driver.

It was a big deal when we got
our first car, a Skoda S100-

-in the color of Sahara Sand.

I do not know why they chose names
for the colors after exotic places-

no one in the East could go.
It was a special cruelty.

We came to Hungary once.

If anybody comes, we just say we're
making a family movie or so.

Dad loved to make the house perfect.

I do not think I'm doing this.
As a child, I had to do it for Dad.

I hated it and still hate it.

In 1999, her father took her own
extinction - similar to Karl-Marx-Stadt.

Just after New Year, he washed his
company car until it looked like new.

Then he secretly burned all
his papers and photographs.

All evidence of his existence was
burned up until only ash remained.

Then he went to his perfectly-kept
house and hung up in a tree.

He left only questions after himself.

Two days after his death, she went
home and found a letter from him.

He sent a letter to me-

But that was the only
thing he left behind.

He wrote no explanation to anyone -
not to my mother or my brothers.

I was the only one who got something.

"It's high time to leave
Germany forever!" Exclamation.

"Because you are so young - not
like me!" Exclamation point again.

"Many dear, dear greetings"...

"December 21, 1998."

He suggests how dissatisfied he was with
the situation in Germany at that time.

He also sent a postcard that I had
sent to him in the spring of 1990-

- after the first and last
free elections in the DDR.

This card has been in my
office for all years.

"Heartfelt greetings".

Who finishes his last letter
to his daughter in that way?

That's great.

And then he sends a postcard
saying "leave Germany, you too".

You do not take life away because
you are jealous in your country?

It is not so common with letters
from people who commit suicide.

The majority of those who
commit suicide write nothing.

So I was interested in the few cases-

- that people tried to explain
why they committed suicide.

Professor Udo Grashoff is a historian,
suicide expert in East Germany-

and author of a book
on suicide letter.

- And that
- It came with the letter, yes.

- It was just a photo.
- Yes, but it's an open door.

It's a metaphor to
leave something.

He is planning to leave the country.
- Yes it's possible.

I think that's the link
between the postcard...

and what he wrote here.

Maybe that was just
to say goodbye.

It's a love letter.

And the last words:
"many cordial dear greetings"...

Not just "dear greetings". Four
words to say "I love you".

It may be the message of the letter.

It is contradictory, as we all are.
And the story is contradictory.

As a historian, I know that you always
have to be skeptical about their sources.

One has to doubt
everything to begin with.

Be on guard, suspicious of all.
Take no risks.

You are dealing with more than one
tourist landscape - German history.

It's not good.

Chapter for chapter in this book was
not written by a single "Führer".

They were written by the German people.

Chapter One:

LIFE IN GDR WITHIN HER MOR

This is her mother.
She recently celebrated her 75th birthday.

She can not throw anything.
Her life is like a shop window.

But some things are hidden in boxes.

Some things I remember with joy. There
are also happy and nice memories.

There are terrible experiences
that I'm not talking about.

And I refuse it today too.

- Where is engagement?
- No, it was the night before the wedding.

Then you were 25 years old.

Dad. Look.

I was at that time...
I think I was a candidate then.

They had taken me to the
party at some point.

"Candidate" in the party was called.

I did not agree with conviction.
I was not a convinced citizen.

I was simply scared.
If I did not agree I was afraid-

- that I might not be able to study
or that something would happen.

I was so unfaithful then and
thought everyone wanted me well.

Only later, it turned out that
everyone did not want me at all.

Sorry, I'll see who it can be.

It is difficult for those who have
grown up in a democracy to imagine.

One can not choose to be born in
the GDR or in the United States.

You are born in a certain place.

Dr Douglas Selvage is a well-known
expert on Cold War and the DDR.

One usually tries to make the best of their
lives under the conditions prevailing.

It can explain why so
many were involved.

One adapted, simply.

We had children and always tried
to get out as much as we could.

We made contacts to gain
access to certain things-

as it was lacking.

It was not good, we all knew.
Nobody liked it right away.

But that did not mean that for that
matter we would overthrow the regime.

Everyone wants and can not be heroes.

Especially not if it means judging
their family to a terrible fate.

No, I do not agree.
It was not that bad.

I know, and it upsets me all the more -

When I hear stories and people
who pronounce themselves-

in a way that reduces this
country to oppression and Stasi.

Stasi existed. We all knew that.

But by the way...
was not it so close to us-

-we felt pressured

We lived our little life, one can say.

Friendship, friendship, friendship...

What matters to humans is that
it's good to win over evil.

Open the door, open the door...

WELCOME TO VÄSTBERLIN!

"The limit is open. It can not be true.
It's not possible!"

"Yes."
The next day it was still so.

Dear viewers, do not be
confused by the traffic light.

It is as Minister Dickel has said:
The border is open and remains open.

All the time is crossed
by more and more people-

From West to East, as before, and
from today, even from East to West.

I no longer remember why we
did not go straight away.

Everyone went away and picked up their
"welcome money" and were in the West.

Not us. We were careful first.

If time is enough, we will
also go to a car coming here-

-IB 67-76.

- How did the border crossing go?
- Problemfri. I am surprised.

Everything went as bad as
we wanted for a long time.

And here comes a Barkas...

One or two weeks later we went away
and fetched our welcome money.

And then... You are in some way
guided by many material things.

We stood in front of a cheese shop.
A cheese shop!

Then we became unemployed, both of them.

He became... At his company
they would not have left him.

So he sold the watch bracelet, and
I sold newspapers. It was special!

It was a teaching time
for both of us, I think.

It is difficult.

To suddenly... That this
life, which was used to

- suddenly just ended

And that what over the years
had gained knowledge and...

and in career...
did not matter anymore.

It's worse for some than others.

I think I adapted to the
new life quite well.

I thought it was fun
doing something new.

Now I can not help anymore.

It is said that all families have secrets.
Here is their:

1990, when the parents
rebuilt their lives-

- The father received an anonymous letter, where
he was accused of interfering with Stasi.

Next to "Nazi" is the worst
accusation an East German can have.

"Have your Stasi services been corrected" -

- "Or have you been
at this time?"

"We are still investigating the matter.
The administrators."

I almost forgot it.

I think your father
was very bad at him.

Maybe it had to
do with thinking-

- that he could be a declarant,
or rather he was accused of it.

It is an accusation, and
it hurt him deeply.

He tried... strange enough... never-

Read this Stasi Act
or get to know it.

Not at all.

Did he ever mention that he
was considering suicide?

He had tried already before.

In the spring of 1991 her father cooled a
fist of tablets and drove into a tree.

He certainly did not want anyone to know.
Only Mr. Teubig knew.

No one else knew.

- Wis Mr. Teubig?
- Yes.

- But not we?
- No.

He had been out with the car.
Could not hide it from me.

You were not at home so we
could keep it secret to you.

We visited him at the hospital
and got the explanation-

He had a heart problem, fainted at
the wheel and drove into a tree.

Your mother's reaction is...
understandable or...

It gives me a clue about
your parents' relationship.

Your mother tried to smooth.
That's what mothers often do.

They must keep the family in balance.

I do not know how it was before.
There might be other issues.

If I had known the letters-

- and if I had known about his self-
assassination attempt, I had asked questions.

But I did not know anything about this.

I would never have thought the thought
of asking dad if he was an agent.

Why would I suspect it?

Who was he? Did he work for Stasi,
officially or unofficially?

Was he an agent - another man
than the father she knew?

Was he ashamed, or was he afraid
that the truth would come?

Who wrote the letters and why?

at 08.07...

In a movie, a Stasi expert would have
been able to identify the typewriter-

-and lead her to the guilty one.

Where is the graphologist?

It would be a domestic travel
typewriter, intended for export

- most likely a Kolibri.
Black writing had facilitated.

The movie "The life of others"
had great significance-

When it came to making Stasi
well known throughout the world.

Hubertus Knabe is director of the
prison museum Hohenschönhausen.

But the movie was full of errors. I had
long discussions with the director.

He wanted to make the movie here, but
I did not give permission for it-

Because the story was so weird.

No Stasi agent helped his victims
in such a way as in the movie.

Henckel von Donnersmarck
said it is so important-

- to show people that there
is something good in evil.

And he mentioned Spielberg's
film "Schindler's list" -

But I said, "The big difference is
that Schindler really existed."

"Your Mr. Wiesler did not. We
have not had a similar case."

It was too dangerous for everyone
in this device to help a victim-

-for they supervised each other.

Stasi was no fiction.

If you want to describe what actually
happened, one must stick to facts-

- and the best way I think is to portray
the story in the original rooms-

- and in the original environment, for
here is the architecture of the era

- like witness.

Although this was a
criminal regime-

- which oppressed many people
and destroyed their lives-

It was not as obviously
criminal as the Nazi regime.

Therefore, we have no photos of great
heights with dead human bodies.

We only have these empty spaces.

In this room there is
no typical furniture.

It was the interrogator's table-

- and a special cupboard where
all the files were stored.

And one of the doors is missing.
Most often they had double doors-

so that no sound from the
hearing room would be heard.

- Thanks.
- Varsågod.

What have the comrades in Leipzig said?

If you were in such a
room you felt lost.

The feeling of being
completely powerless-

-and to be perfectly terrified-

- for they can do what they want with
one, is hard to describe to others.

How do you explain how fear feels?
One must know it.

What is it?

Dogs!

There are dogs, of course.

- It sounds nasty...
- They may be hungry

It was a very sophisticated regime-

a modern type of dictatorship, just
like in George Orwell's novel "1984".

One was fully supervised and
controlled by the state-

in an invisible way.

Stasi was a system for monitoring-

- which did not follow people after
they had done anything seriously-

- they tried to develop a
preventive monitoring system.

Erich Mielke, State
Secretary of State, said:

"We must know who is who.
The important is who is who."

"We must know what people think, and
we must know it before they act."

As a result, one could
not trust anyone.

It is essential for man
to rely on others.

In order to survive,
people need to be trusted.

If that feeling is destroyed by the
state and people are different...

When I was a 19-year-old student, I
started smuggling books into the DDR.

I did it together with an East
German, very charismatic priest-

- with long beard and long
hair, and he said to me:

"We need these books.
We live on them."

I smuggled books of dissidents.

After the fall of the DDR, it became apparent
that he - my close friend - was the declarant.

And several of my friends
worked for Stasi.

That was something I could
never imagine before.

I thought you could see if someone
worked for the intelligence service-

on the clothes

I asked the leader of the department
that took care of my case-

- How he could send
a declarant to me.

I lived in West Germany and would have
noticed that they were Stasi people.

Then he told me:

"We did not ship to you.
We used those around you."

There was a general rule that was
widely used in East Germany:

If three people sit together, at
least one of them is a registrar.

Can you imagine something
in the letters?

- Well...
- Yes, I could imagine that.

For dad, a lot of people helped-

- in difficult situations I think
that was not so easy in the DDR.

HER BABY

It was common for you to
be in the eighth grade-

picked out the longest boys.

They would be professional
soldiers - parachute hunters.

We became fire and flames
and thought it was awesome.

But when we told him
home, Mom and Dad said,

"It's not as amazing as they say.
It's stupid."

"Just a little low. You're just too young.
Get your education first."

"It'll be a while. If they ask you
again, you can answer about that."

Of course we did, and then...
came Frau Bombor-

school secretary and our teacher
in Russian and English.

She visited Dad at work.

- First she wrote a letter...
- to Erwin Scherzer, his boss.

And Erwin let her come

- and said: "Let the boys be.
They'll be something sensible."

Why did he do that, do you think?
- to make dad a favor

They were good friends,
Erwin Scherzer and dad.

It would be reasonable-

that dad can - must -
have had some sort of influence.

I'm not saying he worked for Stasi,
but it can not be ruled out.

It would not be amazing
if it were so.

"Application for information,
access to documents" -

- "as well as copies of documents"

- "from the security service
of the former GDR."

Yes, maybe it's really good-

- If we can look at this...
act, which surely exists.

Or some documents.
Maybe we'll find something.

Frankly, I'm a
little afraid of it.

If you would know that
someone you've trusted...

have done something... It's hard.

So I've thought it's better to stay out.
I do not have to know.

It's hard to live with such things.

You may find out things...

and maybe realize that you
have completely misjudged someone.

I would love to know
where it comes from.

STASI ARCHIVE IN BERLIN

This is the former Stasi
headquarters in Berlin.

After the fall of the wall, the house was
invaded by people who sought their acts.

Did they be watched or reported?

We are the people, we are the people!

The whole idea of Stasi was to have
knowledge and know more than everyone else.

For the first time, a security service's
archive was opened to the world.

You can not see any
act, how you want.

It's complicated. It was not intended
to be reviewed by anyone else.

So we are stuck in their system and
have to work with them and their works.

We had to decipher
their information.

And all the time, we have to decide
how much of the information you get.

What helps us understand?

And what can not you see? We must
protect the people in the documents.

You say that Stasi may have had a
decisive influence on your family-

and we'll help you with that.

We must be sure that you and your
father are the ones you say you are.

Otherwise, anyone can
access the information.

We have all measures to
protect people's privacy.

But Stasi did not work as Google-

- when you enter a name and
all information pops up

There are about 41 million registry-
briefly in about 4,000 different subsystems

-ordered by topic, sometimes a street.

There is post control.

This is a fraction of a short-
system that contains mail control.

In East Germany, Stasi could
confiscate one's mail at any time.

At the diet offices they had secret rooms,
where they opened the letters with steam-

-read the letters and
sometimes photographed them.

I'll show you an envelope.
Envelopes look like little houses.

This is a ton of letters that
they saved on microfiche.

And the person got the letter
without knowing anything.

It has been used as evidence
in political litigation-

- or to have a huge
database of handwritten.

This registry covers two districts in
Berlin, but not the entire alphabet.

It is a total of 111 kilometers.

These 41 million registry cards are included
in 111 kilometers of archival material.

Information about a person can be
found in many different places...

The technique is a double-edged sword. What
should you do with all the information?

Finally, you have so much information
tion that you can not use it.

Then you might think that you look at
specific parts of the information-

- if a certain person begins
to engage in resistance

and so you have collected information
for years in a huge database.

You can go there and find out more about
the person and break it psychologically.

I guess that would be an advantage.

But if you really can handle all this
information is another question.

How can you interpret and analyze
everything, and how can you be sure?

I have no idea how Stasi would
have used, for example, Facebook.

They certainly had seen the possibilities.

She was hoping for a quick
response, but thousands want veta-

and even if her father has a Stasi-
Act it may take years to find everything.

Truth is always the answer to questions.

There are two kinds of
truth in the Stasi acts:

One who answers Stasis questions and one
that is created by my own questions.

Stasis question was "who is the enemy?"
and "how can we prove it?".

But you and I have other questions.

In the documents we find
empirical material-

-which helps us find our answers.

It's the value of Stasi-aktern for me.
I do not care about Stasis questions.

One can find his own truth.

Tucked away on the fourth floor,
far from the map and subsystem

Does she find another kind of
secret story - a conspiracy world-

- this has been invisible
to her in all these years

One Soviet, one Polish, two Czech-
Slovak and an agent from the DDR-

- Returning home via Glienicker
Brücke, to his relatives, his peers-

- and its thing - the struggle for
the socialist ideals and for peace.

The release of these agents from
four socialist states took place...

In addition to fixed cataloging,
annotation and thief-

- The Stasi people are also
outstanding cameramen.

Here they learn how to handle hidden
cameras in public places without notice.

They smacked on their target boards.

They learned to focus.

In a crowd they could easily shoot
a walking man from the hip-

- or constantly follow a bike.

As a graduate, they promised to live in
the shadows and spread into the DDR-

- with they were assigned
conspirative objects.

No part of society
escaped their eyes.

Here the routines are
observed at a factory.

Each input and output is filmed.

Sitting with the men behind the
curtains is an exercise in patience.

Day after day, week after week, the
camera is directed to the same location.

- What is it?
- Shit too...

We are against dark background.
Nobody sees us. Do not be so anxious.

Come on, look now.

What time is it? Look at the clock?
Ten past nine?

He looks like a real capitalist.

Yes, a fat entrepreneur.

Stasi accidentally caught
an ignorant reality-

- a kind of documentary
truth, a routine epic

in a country promising
to be like the last day.

Watching, Waiting...

Checkout is empty.

The cash register is full.

The same couple go on the same street.

Looking at the oppressor's eyes, every
act and gesture gets a new meaning.

What have they discovered?

Why do not they take it?

A man approaches.
Where does he come from? What does he want?

Why did he take the knife?

Everyone is suspicious. The enemy is all.

Here you will see the contact "Rolle".

This was filmed with a Pentaflex 16-

-from a hidden place

The distance between the camera and "Rolle"
was about 70 meters.

Karl-Marx-Stadt

THE COMPANY'S HOUSE

Where is everyone?

It's a ghost town-

- fast between an abandoned
past and an indefinite future.

Her father worked here at Heckert-
the combination as chief assistant.

Karl-Marx-Stadt was known for the
manufacture of precision tools.

Thousands worked in such factories.

After the fall of the wall, the factories
were bought by the highest bidder-

- with promise of a new
future that never came.

A quarter of the residents moved.

All neighborhoods are deserted
and should be demolished.

The suicide rate among middle-aged
men was as high as 1991.

In 2006 Chemnitz had the lowest
registered birth rate in the world.

Her family's first home was
in this concrete complex.

For the kids it was paradise.

She remembers how her brothers tested
the heavens by throwing rubble-

-and passers-by.

In each building there was a manager
who kept an eye on the tenants.

Liberated from the nostalgia's grip, she
begins to see her former life as it were.

As a little, she loved watching
the parades with her father.

She sat on his shoulders
to see everything.

Later, when the first marchs were
mandatory, she waved mechanically-

aware that citizens' enthusiasm
was measured and recorded.

The important thing was to be seen.

The parole reminds them that the
workers are history victories.

Every year a fairground came to the city.

The lights, the music, the rides...
There was a small free zone.

They felt free and invisible, but even
here their actions were observed.

STASI ARCHIVE IN CHEMNITZ

Stasis structures should be depicted

Among other things, the meetings between
the declarants, the unofficial agents-

and Stasis officers took place.

In the city area we were able to
transfer data from a card register.

The individual apartments, provided
was often held by private individuals...

for registrars so that
they could gather information.

They usually got a little money for it.

They must fill the refrigerator so that
there is something to eat and drink.

We have illustrated this
to show the spread.

The green fields are
Stasis large plants.

In 1989 there were about 12,000
unofficial agents in the district-

- of all categories, in addition to
more than 3,500 permanent employees

- of 22 district offices and very
many departments in the city area.

We stayed here.

So the house looked like this.
It meant everything to my parents.

They basically put their
time on doing fine.

It was a haven.

We are going to look for the garden.
In the middle there was a huge chestnut.

It may have survived. We'll see...

The old manor house was already
there, and the road was very nice.

It was a two-lane road, with
pietelite "East traffic".

There lay my parents' house.

None of this was then.
The chestnut may be left behind.

Here is the happy family.

There was an entrance here opposite.

He drove down there, and at the
far end there was a big oak.

That was where he hung up.

East Germany fell in love with
the Soviet space program.

The only way out was upward.

She went to a Russian elite school,
named after the first woman in space.

There, the Russians taught them the
order of the socialist universe.

Jana was her best friend,
a true believer.

She believed in true
existential socialism.

Now she believes in the power of the trees.

One can test it by going to different
trees and listening inwards.

Or what comes from below?

Once upon a time I stood at a tree
that had grown twisted and twisted.

I thought "now I want to know" so
I was just sitting at the tribe-

and felt

And then I also knew that I
wanted to leave that place.

Then I understood why it grew so.

It can not go aside, so it has
to get away in other ways.

If it has a good place, it grows
upwards, otherwise it will grow aside.

Both of Jan's parents worked for Stasi.
They lived a secret life.

We stood on the side of the state.

The fact that there was a lot there
was not so clear in my family-

- as it may be in other families.
We were on another side.

Those affected by the work of the
intelligence service, for example-

Maybe felt different.

At home we did not talk about
work, at least not dad.

With mom it was a little different.
She was a nurse in outpatient care.

What did your father, in your opinion
then, do when you went to the fire?

He was... He was at work
and worked, simply.

He came home or was on duty.
It did not matter at all to us.

If anyone asked what they were working
with, I said they were in the military.

The children did not
know what we were doing.

It was a Christmas party
for the children with us-

and the general asked a few different
children: "What does your dad work for?"

When it was our son's trip, he said:
"Dad is metal worker."

"Very good."

Very few had even heard the name.

Only those who had been with us
to do, in one way or another.

To me was the matter of socialism...

something very big, with the
motto that there was no war anymore-

- that everyone was basically
equal and no one starved or so.

And then it was.

And it could only go forward
by building and building.

There was so much that was
destroyed after the war.

So I was very proud of it.

So when they asked if I wanted to be a
candidate in the party, I thought...

The first day in Karl-Marx-Stadt
in the district office-

I wrote a contract on two A4
pages about my obligations.

I did not talk to anyone about it-

- and commit me to serving
the party to my death.

So, in fact, I still can not
talk to anyone about it.

It was a lifetime contract.

I came to the so-called Title 8.

We made observations...

investigations about people...

- It was a lot of...
- Arresteringar.

Who were IM agents?

Those who were closest
to what interested us.

But as people? Did you search for
people with special characteristics?

No. We also acquired people
with "pressure", as we said.

We took advantage of whether they had done
anything stupid, been unfaithful or so.

We used it against
them and pushed them.

"If you do not cooperate with us,
you probably lose the job" -

- "or your wife."

It was called "Zersetzung",
degradation-

when they tried to
undermine a person's life.

They destroyed their lives until they
became mental... "kaputt" - cracked-

-and no longer resisted.

It could be done in many different ways-

- for example by spreading rumors that
someone was actually Stasi agent.

And they could go into someone's
apartment and move furniture every week

-bara to show "we were here".

And if they told their friends,
they would think they were crazy.

Yes, there was a small group-

- which did "conspiracy
house surveys".

We knew a suspect
person in the house-

so we have to crawl the
apartment without notice.

So they searched through the accommodation
and of course did not move anything.

Sometimes they set up hidden microphones.

It did a different department,
but they went in together.

When they entered, they took a
photo with a polaroid camera-

-I'm saying right now.

Then you had the photo at hand.

If someone picked up something and did
not remember how it had been done-

Did they see in the photo how it would be?

They used to be gloves.

And all suspiciously photographed.

Sometimes I sat in the stairs. "If
somebody should come, you must keep them."

"Find something, just."

Then fear was greater
than the motherland love.

It's not important for the movie,
but I had contact with Stasi once-

and it was quite
traumatic to me.

For those... They were
in our apartment in...

when my family was gone.
I came home.

And then I discovered
men in our apartment.

It was Stasi men who were looking
for something in our apartment.

And they took care of it because I
bothered them in their mission.

It changed my life.

I never went into a
room without a witness.

There you lifted a shirt or pecked
under the blanket. It was...

Most had a handwritten patch-

-with the television programs in the West.

But otherwise we never found anything.
It was pure stupidities.

And suddenly I felt I
simply did not want more.

I was ashamed, honestly.

What did it earn?
It was the most fear behind.

They were afraid that everyone would
stick, especially highly educated people.

When I got into such an apartment...
I always went in last.

Some already had toothbrush,
toothpaste and washcloths in front of

-all they could need in prison.

They had been waiting to be picked up,
because then they would come to the West.

But everyone was not bought free.

The state itself was dealt
with criminally with people-

-for they sold their prisoners to the west.

They gathered here from the whole Republic.

Then they sat in until it was
clear they could come over.

Until the bus was full...
We even had a "West Bus".

On the other hand, they have to pay the
pay. That was the most important thing.

And until they were in prison.

The prisoners first came to a prison-

which was clearly visible in a
popular area among Stasi officers.

Prison lay on her way to school.

Her mother went to a
college around the corner.

Everyone saw it, but nobody knew-

despite the fact that windowless vans arrived
day and night with their human load.

The GDR sold 35,000 political
prisoners to West Germany-

- which paid an average of 100,000
D-marks for each prisoner.

Over three billion D-mark
was paid to the regime.

In the 1700's, the philosopher Jeremy
Bentham developed the surveillance system-

pan icon or "eye-catching eye".

The cells would be built around a tower-

- that the guard had a watch over
all cells from a single place.

In the prison, the factory, the school or
the rental house, you felt supervised-

-even when the tower was empty.

Surveillance was internalized and
the obedience came automatically.

In Karl-Marx-Stadt they did not see
prison because they lived in one.

They were not only monitored by the
device - they were the device.

It's a big taboo to talk about
ordinary people's participation.

We have victims and perpetrators-

- but you do not realize that the majority
of East Germans accepted the regime-

and cooperated in many respects.
One had to.

One compromised so much that one
really was part of the regime.

And the DDR could exist so long
for so many collaborative-

- and only very few
really refused.

Yes, you really had the feeling
that you could not do much.

The whole party was so dominant
and involved everywhere.

It was in companies and had
influence over everything.

You could not really do anything.

If you had said something about it,
you would have become the grip-

and had disappeared in any Stasi-
prison. There would be none.

So revolutionary we were not.
Therefore, we had to adapt.

The fear was just one side of the case.

It was a combination of obedience...

and scam.

It was both and, and all East
German knew and participated.

And this made the DDR so complicated.

It was not just fear or heroism.

There was something in between.

OCTOBER 1989

During the past day, approximately 750
DDR refugees have arrived at BRD.

Getting into Hungary is getting harder.

Czechoslovakia's border control is
said to be more difficult to pass.

For fear of being sent back...

Hungary... in most cases, people
usually crossed the border-

-and all came to the embassy in Prague.

In the end, there were no longer
so many people at the embassy.

Then they decided that those
who were at the embassy-

Would be carried by train
to be released in BRD.

They were then allowed to
travel through Dresden.

Prague, Dresden and
then the West.

In Dresden they had to stop,
and it became a mess.

Some wanted to jump on and
would of course go with.

CENTRAL STATION IN DRESDEN

She saw the state's security forces
fight against thousands of protesters-

-t would like to come on the train.

On the first two trains in Dresden-

-trap some co-workers.

Do you know how they came out?
They were gray like yeast in the face.

They had to collect passes.
They were afraid.

I asked them. "We were so scared.
We did not know what would happen."

It was the first big confrontation
the revolution in what became a revolution.

Article 27 of the
Constitution of the GDR...

36 days later it happened incredible:
The wall fell and the boundaries were open.

The next day was heard at
Stasis radio frequencies-

reports of how many East German passers
passed the former death strip.

At eleven: 59...

110 500 people...

and 4 180 cars.

This is an increase so far, since
midnight, with 426,800 people.

- 426 800?
- Personals, yes.

In the case of passenger cars...

Stasi began to destroy documents,
to preserve their secrets.

The message was: "We are moving towards the
end. Now we destroy all that can be destroyed."

And... But not...

IM agents, unofficial
employees' acts.

They should not be destroyed,
but lay in the safe.

Everything else tore apart - sticky
paper and anything that lay ahead.

And then everything shredded
and ended up in sacks.

We had a lot of garage.

There they put shatters and
shattered day and night.

They have thousands of bags of paper
bags that they now put together.

IN THE STASI ARCHIVE IN BERLIN

We do not let Stasi
decide what we are told.

We would not know what's in the
documents, but we put them together.

We take care of these documents.
In 1990 there were 16,000 sacks here-

- and we have done so
for our last 25 years-

- in addition to the usual archival
work, reconstruct the content.

For example, we currently
have a bag that we analyze-

- there are many IM documents
- many personal documents.

This is the original document.

Somebody could read such an act
as otherwise had not existed-

and will know something about
his or her fate's descent-

- that he or she had
never been told.

Yes. Okay, good.

They found an act and paper and
a signature no-one can tell.

So they double-check with Chemnitz
to see if there can be anything.

And Chemnitz will return.

This may happen within a few days or in
November. Everyone is trying to squeeze.

We can only wait.

TWO DAYS SENARE

Bye!

So, he was no reporter.

Okay...

That was fine?

They had an act about him because he
was always critical of the system-

- at work...
She just did not want to tell me.

I am so happy.

HER FATHER'S LIFE

"Epperlein, Wolfgang..."

"Title 18... a person in the
underground political movement."

He was state-owned.

"Hostally negative opinions on
the party's economic strategy" -

- "and thus even with leading people
like comrade Honecker and Mittag..."

Between 1984 and 1989
her father was guarded.

An agent with code name Matia's report-
advised about his work and privacy.

"Matias in the workplace" -

- "to investigate Epperlein's
political and ideological attitude."

- How did it work?
- The employee...

as if so, your
father watched...

and put an agent on him...

He is interested in everything about him,
what he does in his spare time and so.

Then he leaves at Section
8, where I was also

- in an inquiry - application
for examination.

And department 8 has people...

usually working underground
and not official employees.

And...
we were also firmly engaged...

more or less volunteers
who lived nearby.

They were then questioned several times.

They may have been party
members, or what do I know...

And then compiled themselves...
investigation report...

and left to our staff
who filed it in his act.

"Her character is friendly. Epperlein
is nervous and constantly worried."

"It makes her react
impulsively and forced."

"Nothing negative about
her morale is known."

"She's got up with double work."

Thousands of surveys were conducted.

"I've known Epperlein for several years."

"I know him as a careful
person." Yes, "careful man".

"Therefore I had the impression" -

- "that Epperlein wanted
to provoke me and..."

would fool me to make negative
statements about comrade Honecker."

Which pig.

"The following person, registered as-
IM agent has been identified."

"Cover Name Matias..."
- "Scherzer, Erwin."

Erwin Scherzer...

It is...

It's hard.
I do not know why I'm crying.

It is so depressing-

- the human being...
who is daddy...

Dad trusted him. If he had any
problems, he turned to Erwin.

Like us and the army history.

They were good friends and...

Why do people do that?

It really hurts. It is...

I can not even feel hatred. I am...

Did he know his act?

Do we know that?
There is no nice thought.

If I knew that Dad knew it...
It's unbearable.

I wish he was here.

I did not realize how
emotionally this is until now.

And can you imagine how I had to
think if he had been an agent?

Right now, I just want to see my father-

Talk to him and apologize
for thinking so stupidly.

Therefore I cry. But it is so
much better to cry of missing-

- and because he was someone completely
different from I've been living all my life.

So that's fine.

She ends with more questions than answers.

Were the anonymous letters attached
to the agent or just random threats?

Did her father see her own Stasi act?

Did his friend's betrayal
contribute to his suicide?

The last report of her father
was filed in October 1989-

one month before the regime fell

What happened in Karl-Marx-Stadt
the last few weeks?

Driven by a nagging sense of something
familiar, a misplaced memory-

a gap between her own
memory and the story-

she is seeking relief in the acts.

Karl-Marx-Stadt, October 7, 1989.

It is the DDR's 40th anniversary.

Demonstrators gather at a theater.

A Soviet-built helicopter
hovered over the city.

Paramilitaries from the factories
gather to deter the protesters.

The state security forces stand up,
ready to break the demonstration.

Stasi is everywhere hidden in the mass,
with cameras aimed at the enemy.

They register the dissidents'
faces for future evidence.

A few weeks later, Stasi shredded
the pictures, but they survived.

That's me... and my dad.

She remembers what she knew all the time.

She was at the theater that
day, next to her father.

Of all that Stasi registered,
this moment is quite genuine.

The picture was taken as evidence.

In another version of the story
it had been used to them.

Instead, Stasi unconsciously caught
the father she had always known.

TO MY FAR

Translation: Karin Werge
Hjerpe www.btistudios.com