I recently read The File by Timothy Garton Ash, a British journalist who spent a fair amount of time in East Germany in the last decade of the DDR. After reunification he was able to obtain his Stasi file. He learned how the Stasi perceived him as a risk and began contacting those who snitched on him.
The stories of how some of the informants became informants are fascinating. One cooperated with the Stasi in order to obtain exit visas for official travel. Some were Ash's friends seeking to boost their careers, some were just pleased to do their part in furthering the cause of socialism.
Ash was never imprisoned or tortured and could leave whenever he pleased (though he was eventually barred from entering the DDR). He didn't really suffer at the hands of the Stasi but the book is a terrific look at the Stasi's surveillance and intimidation through the eyes of a single individual.
"he was able to obtain his Stasi file" sounds a bit like this was something special (I'm sorry if this is wrong, English is not my first language).
Just to clarify:
"Everyone has the right to inspect those documents that created the STASI about themselves. More than a half million people have made use of this option since 1992."[1]
That might just be poor wording on my part. Ash doesn't try to make it out as something exclusive, he devotes a significant portion of the book to Germany's efforts to bring the Stasi's work to light and the effects of that effort on German reunification.
The stories of how some of the informants became informants are fascinating. One cooperated with the Stasi in order to obtain exit visas for official travel. Some were Ash's friends seeking to boost their careers, some were just pleased to do their part in furthering the cause of socialism.
Ash was never imprisoned or tortured and could leave whenever he pleased (though he was eventually barred from entering the DDR). He didn't really suffer at the hands of the Stasi but the book is a terrific look at the Stasi's surveillance and intimidation through the eyes of a single individual.
http://www.amazon.com/The-File-A-Personal-History/dp/0679777...