Original subtitles

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