The Ministry for State Security - Everyday life at a public authority backdrop image

The Ministry for State Security - Everyday life at a public authority

Documentary
7.5·2002·1h 30m

Former heads, senior officers and the rector of the MfS law school explain how the ministry functioned. The interviewees see themselves as legitimate ...

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Cast

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Kurt Zeiseweis

himself

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Gerhard Niebling

himself

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Karli Coburger

himself

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Gerhard Neiber

himself

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Horst Männchen

himself

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Willi Opitz

himself

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Wolfgang Schmidt

himself

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Günter Möller

himself

DIRECTOR

Christian Klemke

OVERVIEW

Former heads, senior officers and the rector of the MfS law school explain how the ministry functioned. The interviewees see themselves as legitimate actors with a clear mandate and political enemy image. They provide an insight into the techniques and routines of secret service work, psychological tricks during interrogations and the management of “unofficial collaborators”. What they all have in common is that they are not aware of any moral guilt. The directors contrast their footage of prisons and archives with the statements of former Stasi employees in an attempt to expose their evasions and efforts at suppression.