The Ministry of State Security - everyday life for an agency
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Ministry of State Security - everyday life for an agency |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 2002 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 0 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Christian Klemke, Jan N. Lorenzen |
| script | Christian Klemke, Jan N. Lorenzen |
| production | Wolfgang Katzke, e-Motion Picture Baden-Baden / Ludwigsburg in cooperation with the MDR u. a. |
| music | Bernd Schmidt, Jens Zahorszky |
| camera | Peter Badel |
| cut | Angela Wendt |
| occupation | |
| |
The Ministry for State Security - Everyday Life in an Authority is a documentary film that uses interviews with former employees of the Ministry for State Security to reveal their image of man and their self-image. In addition, some methods of intelligence activity and repression by the MfS are presented.
content
The interviewees report on their respective activities in the MfS. This shows how information about suspects is collected, for example, and how neighbors and relatives are either interviewed or recruited for unofficial cooperation . Or how prisoners are sometimes made submissive to spy work before they are released, in which gratitude is demanded of them or convenience is promised.
The perpetrator's point of view and their own moral evaluation of what happened is relativized by clever assembly techniques. For example, everyday prison life in an investigation center, which was characterized by solitary confinement and degrading treatments such as addressing with a prison number or nonsensical obligations such as the correct arrangement of the toothbrush, is shown visually. This effect is reinforced by the acoustic representation of historical speeches by staff of the Stasi in such a prison from the off.
In a statement by the authors on the problem of the perpetrator's perspective on this film, they write: “To an extent that we had not dared to hope for at the beginning, these employees have used the working methods of the State Security up to psychological tricks during interrogations and in conducting Disclosed to unofficial employees - albeit without admitting any moral guilt. From our point of view, the film does not need any 'counterbalance through victim statements'. On the contrary: if we were to concentrate on the internal view of the MfS, we would not be able to give sufficient importance to the legitimate emotions of the victims and their individual fates. And the superficial use of the fate of victims as a counterbalance only in the sense of political correctness seems to us inappropriate, even immoral. "
Interviewed persons
Kurt Zeiseweis was an operational employee and management officer for unofficial employees in Dept. XX of the Berlin district administration.
Siegfried Rataizick was head of Dept. XIV responsible for pre-trial detention and the penal system.
Among other things, Gerhard Niebling was an interrogator in the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen remand prison and was ultimately responsible for handling the release of prisoners.
Gerhard Neiber was Erich Mielke's deputy .
Wolfgang Schwanitz was also most recently Erich Mielke's deputy and head of the operational-technical sector of the MfS.
Horst Männchen was head of Dept. III responsible for radio defense and radio reconnaissance.
Willi Opitz was rector of the Law School of the MfS in Potsdam-Eiche. Before that he had various operational activities in the MfS.
Wolfgang Schmidt was active in the central evaluation and information group.
Günter Möller was head of the management and training department.
Web links
- The Ministry of State Security - everyday an authority in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Ministry for State Security - Everyday life of an authority in the online film database
- Press archive of the current publisher on the film
- Program information from ARD