13 May 2014
The photographer Simon Menner has delved into the archives of the Stasi and extracted from them hundreds of pictures documenting its activities. The result is the beautiful Top Secret. Images from the Stasi Archives, a visual record of the work of East Germany’s secret police during the Cold War years. One after the other, we are shown agents learning to put on false beards, dressing up as tourists to visit West Berlin or communicating with hand signals. There are chapters devoted to house searches, with a disquieting range of snapshots from the lives of others: violated intimacies, unmade beds, closets filled with perfumes and cigarettes, teenagers’ bedrooms, toys, well-stocked refrigerators, shopping lists, notes stuck onto boards and even pets. The volume is a precious historical document and a visual reflection on surveillance and its underlying mechanisms. Published by Hatje Cantz.
Close Combat. “From a manual for different close combat techniques.”
Transmitting Secret Signs. “Prospective agents were taught how to convey secret signs in this seminar. It is no longer known what the individual signs mean.”
Practicing the Application of Fake Beards.
Accolade of the Phone Surveillance Unit.
Costume Party. “These photographs were taken at a birthday party for a high-ranking functionary.”
From a Seminar for Disguises. “The picture shown here were taken during a seminar in which Stasi personnel were taught how to don a different disguises. The goal of the seminar was to enable Stasi agents to move about in society as inconspicuously as possible.”
From a Handbook of Different Disguises
