West work of the GDR

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The term Westarbeit denotes the activities of GDR organizations on the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany . The work in the West was directed against actual and supposed influences from the West on the society of the German Democratic Republic , which from the point of view of the SED and MfS were to be classified as subversive. The work in the West is to be seen as an expression of the constant fear of threats of the SED and Stasi functionaries from “the West”, combined with the resulting enemy image. From the perspective of the MfS, work in the West meant an important contribution to internal security and to securing the socialist system.

Western work of the MfS

The term Westarbeit means what the MfS called “operational work in and after the operational area”. The Ministry for State Security (MfS) and, in particular, the Intelligence Headquarters was primarily responsible for the extensive intelligence service “work in and after the operational area” . The "operational area" was mainly the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin, but it also included the states affiliated with NATO and the European Community. It is estimated that 20,000 to 30,000 West Germans worked for the MfS as unofficial employees , mainly to obtain information.

Politicization and ideologization of espionage

The MfS's work in the West was “never just ordinary espionage”, but went far beyond traditional espionage activities . The Western work aimed at influencing and destabilizing the Federal Republic of Germany:

“Active measures are aimed at using operational forces, means and methods - to expose, compromise or disorganize and decompose the enemy or individual hostile forces and institutions; - to spread progressive ideas and thoughts and to promote progressive groups and currents in the operating area. "

- MfS , HV A : 1. Commentary on guideline 2/19

The covert support of parties, media and individuals who did not openly propagate communism but took sides with the GDR played an essential role in this.

Western work of the SED and the Stasi

The work in the West was based on the current political goals of the SED . At first these were determined by the idea of ​​being able to carry socialism to West Germany. Later on it was mainly tasked with creating a more favorable political environment for the GDR.

The SED maintained close links with SPD officials , trade unions and other organizations. It influenced the West German student , trade union and peace movements . The SED staged discrediting campaigns against leading West German politicians ( Hans Globke , Heinrich Lübke , Eugen Gerstenmaier and Herbert Wehner ).

In order to discredit the Federal Republic, the Stasi sent anti-Semitic letters to Jews living in the West.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Herbstritt : German citizens in the service of GDR espionage. An analytical study. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2007, p. 99f.
  2. ↑ Roger Engelmann : On the "Western Work" of the State Security in the 1950s. In: Georg Herbstritt, Helmut Müller-Enbergs (Hrsg.): The face of the West to ... GDR espionage against the Federal Republic of Germany. Bremen 2003, pp. 143–152.
  3. ↑ a b Heike Amos: The West Work of the SED 1948 / 49–1961. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-05-003446-7 ( review ).
  4. ↑ perlentaucher.de , review by Joachim Nawrockis about: Hubertus Knabe: Die unterwanderte Republik. Stasi in the west.