The second surveillance report in my file covers a three-day period, May 28 to June 1, 1978. The purpose of the 24-hour surveillance was twofold: to find out more about my contacts with writers and other persons and to see the places I was visiting frequently, the points of contact. The document has two parts, (A) the approved formal request to conduct the surveillance, which presents the rationale for it, then (B) the surveillance report itself.
(A)
Council of Ministers of the
German Democratic Republic
Ministry for State Security
Registry No. 1097/78W
Main Department VIII Division VIII
Main Department XX/7
District Administration
County Object Authority
Person in Charge Capt. Schiller
Berlin, 5/25/1978
Assignment Request – Surveillance
Code name: “Eagle”
[My real name appears beneath the code name, along with my date and place of birth, gender, marital status, home address, profession, etc.]
Home address
102 Berlin, Mollstrasse 4, Apartment III/4
Owner/Operator of which vehicles?
VW Beetle, B–SR 949
Where are these vehicles parked?
on the street in the vicinity of his living quarters
Detailed physical description
ca. 1.75 meters tall, slim, blond hair, thick, parted on left side, neck-length, mustache, face full, estimated age: 28 years old
Use of which routes in transit/travelling through-GÜST
[GÜST = Grenzübergangsstelle/border crossing point]
GÜST Friedrich-Zimmer-Strasse [Checkpoint Charlie]
[This is followed by a reference to the first surveillance that was carried out on December 13, 1977 by Main Department VIII/3/3, a note indicating that Main Department XX/7 will keep the record of this second surveillance, which is going to begin at my apartment: “commencement at living quarters,” and then there is a reference to my contact with Klaus Schlesinger and Ulrich Plenzdorf.]
Goal and Purpose of the Surveillance
The person is to be observed continuously from 05/28 until 06/01/78.
Where is the surveillance to take place?
Berlin, capital city of the GDR
Justification in concrete terms of the necessity and goal of the surveillance that is to be carried out. What specific information is going to be gathered through the surveillance?
contact persons and contact places of the person under surveillance
Entries only by Main Department VIII Division VIII
[This is followed by two more references to my contacts with Klaus Schlesinger and Ulrich Plenzdorf, but the context is unclear on my blurred photocopy of the file.]
Assignment request actualized by:
Main Department VIII/1 Major Saalfeld
When: 05/29-31/78
Contacts who have come into view:
Pitschmann, Siegfried [blacked out]. 1930, Rostock [blacked out]
(B)
VIII/1Berlin, June 1, 1978
sa-gü 1/398 /78
Saalfeld
75 372 64
XX/7
Director
Z i p s e r, Richardborn on: 01/23/1943
102 Shipherd CircleOberlin/Ohio (USA)
102 Berlin, Mollstr. 4
“Eagle”1097/78 W
05/29/7805/31/78
For 05/29/78 from 7:00 a.m. until 10:15 p.m.
At
7:00 a.m. the surveillance of “Eagle” was initiated at his living quarters located at Mollstr. 4.
9:15 a.m. “Eagle” left his apartment house and walked to his
automobile
Make: VW Beetle
Color: white
License plate no.:B – SR 949
and from Mollstr. drove in this vehicle through the auto-tunnel and via
Leipziger Str. to Bebelplatz, where he parked his car. After that “Eagle”
walked directly to
Hotel “Unter den Linden”
which he entered at
9:25 a.m. Inside the hotel he proceeded to the reception desk and asked something. He received a negative reply and then tried without success to place a phone call within the hotel. After exiting the telephone booth he briefly greeted a man who was in the middle of a group of persons. “Eagle” asked this person if they would be seeing each other later on upstairs. This male person quickly answered “yes” and they immediately parted company. This person was not observed any longer. “Eagle” subsequently sat down in the lobby and kept glancing at the elevators all the time.
9:35 a.m. a male person emerged from the elevator and looked around the foyer, searching for something. “Eagle” got up and quickly walked over to this person. They greeted each other eagerly with a handshake. The male person took a number of typewritten pages out of his jacket pocket and explained in words to this effect: “I cannot give you these pages here, not the way they are now written. Certain changes still have to be made. Unfortunately, I did not get to that earlier and also will not get to it in the near future, since I am leaving for the Soviet Union. The content will not be altered at all, but the form as well as some minor matters are in need of change.” At that point “Eagle” stated that he would be leaving the GDR on the 15th, whereupon the male person replied that they would be returning from the Soviet Union on the evening of the 16th. In addition, it could also be overheard that “Eagle” arranged to meet with the writer Pitschmann in the evening hours. Afterward the male person put the typed pages back into the pocket of his jacket and declared: “He will correct and finalize what he has written while in the Soviet Union.” The two of them then said goodbye and parted company.
[This was prose writer Siegfried Pitschmann, who had come to Berlin to attend the 8th GDR Writers Congress. We had arranged to meet in the lobby of his hotel that morning, so he could give me the revised copy of the interview we had tape recorded in Rostock in June 1976.]
9:40 a.m.“Eagle” left the hotel and headed in the direction of the Brandenburg Gate. The male person also left the hotel; he was not under observation any longer.
“Eagle” proceeded until he reached Café “Unter den Linden” at the corner of Schadowstr., then turned around and walked back in the direction of Hotel “Unter den Linden.” Along the way he took a look at the places of interest to sightseers. He continued walking across Friedrichstr. / Französische Str. to the
Aufbau-Verlag [Aufbau Publishing House]
which he entered at
10:02 a.m. [Aufbau-Verlag was founded in Berlin in 1945 and became the biggest publisher in the GDR. It specialized in publishing socialist and Russian literature.]
10:30 a.m. he came back out of the building and walked to his automobile, which he then drove to the gas station on Holzmarktstr.
10:44 a.m. from here he drove via Alexanderstr. to his apartment house, where he parked his automobile in front of the building and entered it at
10:51 a.m.
12:12 p.m. “Eagle” emerged from the building again and climbed into his vehicle. He drove directly to
[blacked out]
where he entered an apartment house at
12:19 p.m. “Eagle” spent time on the 2nd floor, where
Endler [Adolf, GDR writer]
Erb [Elke, GDR writer]
G. Theuser
R. Freese
reside.
12:32 p.m. he came back out of the above-mentioned apartment house and drove directly to Spandauer St., where he parked his automobile and a short time later entered the bookstore
“Das Internationale Buch”
Here he visited the top floor and bought 8 books.
1:12 p.m. “Eagle” left “The International Book,” climbed into his automobile and drove via Unter den Linden boulevard to the
American Embassy
which he visited at
1:21 p.m. After a short while he left the embassy, climbed into his automobile and drove directly to the well-known place of refuge
Wilhelm-Pieck-Str. [blacked out]
[This was the Plenzdorfs’ apartment, which I visited frequently. Helga Plenzdorf had kindly given me a standing invitation to join their family for the main meal of the day,which always began at 1:30 p.m. Their home was indeed a “place of refuge.”]
which he entered at
1:30 p.m.
2:04 p.m. “Eagle” came out of the building and drove from here to
Wolliner Str. [blacked out]
where he arrived at
2:10 p.m. Shortly thereafter he entered the house.
2:15 p.m. he came out of the building, went over to his automobile and from it retrieved his knapsack. After that, he visited the apartment house again.
2:26 p.m. “Eagle” emerged from the place of contact, climbed into his vehicle and drove directly to his apartment building. Here he parked the automobile and removed some books, a cassette tape recorder, and his knapsack from the vehicle. Shortly thereafter he entered the apartment house.
2:42 p.m. he appeared again in front of the apartment building, looked around briefly as if searching for something, and then re-entered it.
4:01 p.m. “Eagle” left his apartment building and walked along Hans-Beimler-Str. in the direction of Alexanderplatz. “Eagle” crossed Hans-Beimler-Str. at the Haus des Reisens [House of Travel] and made his way through the pedestrian tunnel to
Hotel “Stadt Berlin”
which he entered at
4:08 p.m. He was carrying a white envelope that measured 10 x 20 cm. “Eagle” walked to the front desk and told a female employee: “I would like to drop off a letter for Mr. Czernitzky [Czechowski, Heinz, a prominent poet]. This gentleman comes from Halle and is participating in the Writers Congress.” Without hesitation the hotel staff person checked for that name on a list and put the letter in mailbox 27/23. After that “Eagle” left the hotel at
4:15 p.m. and went to the bookstore
“Das Gute Buch”
[The Good Book]
on the Alexanderplatz. Here he spent time primarily at book shelves displaying contemporary authors and was interested in GDR literature. He bought around 6 books, among others a two-volume set of Friedrich Wolf’s plays.
4:40 p.m. he came back out of the bookstore. “Eagle” then walked past the Haus des Lehrers [The Teacher’s House], through the pedestrian tunnel to Hans-Beimler-Str. and entered his apartment building at
4:47 p.m.
5:49 p.m. he left the apartment house again. He was carrying a light brown shoulder bag. “Eagle” climbed into his automobile and at
5:51 p.m. drove off in the direction of Leninplatz. He turned and reversed direction on Mollstr., drove via Hans-Beimler-Str. and Mühlendamm to Behrenstr., where he parked his car at
5:57 p.m. near the parking lot on the corner of Charlottenstr. “Eagle” got out of the car and at
6:00 p.m. entered the restaurant
“Lindencorso”.
A waitress in the restaurant seated him and gave him two menus. “Eagle” drank a beer and began reading a paperback book from the bb-Reihe [bb-Series]. He wrote something in a notebook with a green binding.
[Next is a report of my meeting in the restaurant Lindencorso with prose writer Fritz Rudolf Fries, who had come to Berlin to participate in the 8th GDR Writers Congress which was in session from May 29–31, 1978. At the time, I did not know that Fries was collaborating with the Stasi, but after having been warned by several writers I suspected that he might be. Following our meeting, he remained in the restaurant for 30 minutes, then he went outside to meet his Stasi-handler and drove off with him in a Wartburg.]
6:45 p.m. Fritz [Rudolf] Fries, a person known to the service unit that is intending to give him an assignment, entered the restaurant. For the remainder of the report he has been given the code name
“Falke” [“Falcon”]
“Eagle” motioned to him and greeted him with a handshake. Both of them sat down at the table, ate, drank, and conversed animatedly. It could be overheard that “Falcon” named some dates which “Eagle” noted down. The dates mentioned were 7/15-9/21 and 8/12. During the course of the conversation “Eagle” took a book with a gray cover and white border out of his knapsack and placed it in front of “Falcon,” who wrote something in it. [The book is Fries’s 1974 novel, “Das Luft-Schiff” (“The Airship”)]. Fries inscribed it as follows: “for Richard Zipser, from one continent to another—the flying author. Fritz Rudolf Fries, Berlin, May 78”.] After that “Eagle” returned the book to his knapsack. “Falcon” then handed “Eagle” a large manila envelope, from which “Eagle” removed a large portrait photo, a head-and-shoulders image of “Falcon.” “Eagle” put the photo back in the envelope and thanked “Falcon.”
7:58 p.m. “Eagle” said goodbye to “Falcon,” took his knapsack and the envelope, left “Lindencorso” and walked over to Hotel
“Unter den Linden”
which he entered at
7:59 p.m.
“Falcon” remained in the restaurant for another 30 minutes, purchased a bouquet of flowers, and then made his way to the parking lot at the corner of Charlottenstr./Behrenstr., where he seated himself beside a male person in the familiar vehicle
Make:Wartburg 353
Color:blue
License plate no.:EO 51 – 97
They drove off in the direction of Unter den Linden. The owner of the vehicle is known to the service unit intending to make an assignment.
In the lobby of Hotel “Unter den Linden” “Eagle” greeted a male person who spoke English. They conversed for a short while. This person was not observed further.
“Eagle” went to the reception desk, inquired about something and then entered the telephone booth for making calls within the hotel. A short time later “Eagle” joined a male person seated at a table in the lobby area. For the remainder of the report this person has been given the code name
“Habicht” [Hawk]
With “Hawk” we are talking about (probably, since the name could not be understood precisely):
Pitschmann, Siegfried
born on:[blacked out] 1930
resident:Rostock
[blacked out]
writer
residing from 5/28-5/31/78
in Hotel “Unter den Linden”
“Eagle” and “Hawk” conversed in a spirited manner. “Eagle” handed “Hawk” the envelope that was mentioned previously. Several times during the conversation “Eagle” leafed through the book referred to earlier from the bb-Series, while they were discussing it. “Hawk” wrote several sentences on the title page inside the book.
8:34 p.m. they shook hands and bade farewell to one another. “Eagle” said thank you to “Hawk” and left the hotel, walked to his automobile and at
8:37 p.m. drove via Friedrichstr., Leipziger Str., Karl-Marx-Allee to Schillingstr., and here he entered the apartment house located at
[blacked out]
He made his way to
Pohl/Plew
on the fourth floor.
9:08 p.m. “Eagle” left the apartment house, accompanied by a female person, and both of them climbed into his automobile. They drove via Alexanderstr. to his living quarters where he parked his vehicle and, together with the female person, entered his apartment building at
9:13 p.m.
Since “Eagle” and the female person did not reappear until
10:15 p.m., the surveillance was interrupted. In “Eagle’s” apartment only a dim light was visible.
For 5/30/78 from 7:00 a.m.– 1.00 a.m.
7.00 a.m. the surveillance at “Eagle’s” apartment house resumed.
2:38 p.m. “Eagle” came out of his apartment building, walked to his automobile and drove off in the direction of Karl-Marx-Allee. He drove to Schillingstr. [blacked out], got out and made his way into the apartment house located at
Schillingstr. [blacked out]
2:42 p.m. “Eagle” reappeared, walked to his automobile and drove directly to the
American Embassy
on Neustädtische Kirchstr. Here he parked his vehicle and entered the embassy at
2:50 p.m.
3:32 p.m. “Eagle” emerged from the embassy and made his way to the bookstore on Unter den Linden boulevard
“Verlag für die Frau”
[Publishing House for Women]
which he entered at
3:34 p.m. There he purchased several pamphlets and took a look at some works of contemporary literature.
3:51 p.m. “Eagle” left the bookstore carrying a packet of books. He walked to his automobile, climbed in and—after making a U-turn—drove off at
3:54 p.m. in the direction of Alexanderplatz.
He drove via Unter den Linden boulevard and Karl-Liebknecht-Str. to Wilhelm-Pieck-Str., where he parked his vehicle near apartment house no. [blacked out]. “Eagle” then made his way to the apartment house located at
Wilhelm-Pieck-Str. [blacked out]
and entered it at
3:59 p.m.
4:19 p.m. “Eagle” came out of the building conversing with a male person (U. Plenzdorf) known to the service unit seeking to make an assignment. The male person stayed behind at the apartment house while “Eagle” went over to his automobile and drove off. He drove via Strassburgstr., Schönhauser Allee, Luxemburgstr., Karl-Marx-Allee, Warschauer Str., Kopernikusstr. to Gubener Str., parked his vehicle here at
4:32 p.m., got out and made his way to the apartment house at
[blacked out]
which he entered shortly thereafter.
(E. Panitz [prose writer] lives in this apartment house).
4:39 p.m. “Eagle” came back out of the house and drove on in his automobile in the direction of Treptow, via Stralauer Allee as well as Kynaststr. Here “Eagle” made a U-turn and then drove via Hauptstr., Schlicht-Allee, Hans-Loch-Str. to Fr.-Matt-Str. He stopped here, got out, and focused his attention on the tenant name plates at apartment house no.[blacked out] on
[blacked out]
and at the same time glanced at a slip of paper. A male person who was entering the house let “Eagle” come in with him. Living in this apartment house (apartment 9/3) are [prominent prose writer]
Irmtraud Morgner
and[blacked out].
These names are not listed outside by the doorbell.
4:55 p.m. “Eagle” came out of the apartment house, still holding the slip of paper, climbed into his automobile and drove directly to the neighborhood of Schöneweide, via Sterndamm to Lindenhorstweg, parked his vehicle and made his way at
5:22 p.m. to apartment house
[blacked out]
Living in this house are:
[six illegible surnames are listed]
5:48 p.m. “Eagle” left the apartment house, walked to his automobile and at
5:51 p.m. drove back via Sterndamm to Schneller Str., from there via Oberspree to Köpenick, Bahnhofstr., Mahlsdorfer Str., Hultschiner Damm through Alt-Mahlsdorf to Alt-Kaulsdorf and from there directly to Adolfstr. Here he parked his vehicle in front of residential house no. [blacked out] at
6:31 p.m. and entered the house
[blacked out]
Residing here are
W. and M. Moese [Willy and Maria]
7:00 p.m. an automobile drove onto the property at Adolfstr. [blacked out]
Make:Lada
Color:green
License plate no.:EO 40 – 87
7:28 p.m. “Eagle” came out of the house and drove his automobile onto the property. Then he re-entered the house mentioned above.
12:25 a.m. “Eagle” came out of the house. It could be overheard that he was conversing with someone.
12:31 a.m. “Eagle” drove via Strasse der Befreiung in the direction of Marzahn. He made a U-turn in front of the Friedrichsfelde East Railway Station and again drove in the direction of Biesdorf. [At that time, Biesdorf was a locality within the Berlin borough of Marzahn]. After ca. 300 meters he made another U-turn and then drove via Karl-Marx-Allee directly to his living quarters, where he parked his vehicle and while carrying a packet of books entered the apartment house at
12:56 a.m. Shortly thereafter the light was on in his apartment.
1:00 a.m. the surveillance was interrupted.
For 05/31/78 from 7:00 a.m. until 11:45 p.m.
7:00 a.m. the surveillance at “Eagle’s” apartment house resumed.
10:56 a.m. “Eagle” emerged from the building, walked over to his automobile, took a quick look inside and then returned to his apartment house.
2:01 p.m. “Eagle” did some shopping in his neighborhood (groceries, baked goods, and sweet goods) and again returned to his apartment house.
2:15 p.m. “Eagle” came out of the building, got into his automobile and drove directly to August-Bebel-Platz. Here he parked his vehicle in front of “St. Hedwig’s Cathedral” and walked to the
“Aufbau Publishing House”
which he entered at
2:22 p.m. An inspection of “Eagle’s” automobile revealed that there were items of clothing in it that “Eagle” had worn the previous day. In addition, there was an envelope on the passenger seat. There was handwriting on it that was not very legible. Only the following could be deciphered:
Richard . . .
. . . 988
. . . . . . 36830
2:50 p.m. “Eagle” emerged from the publishing house and walked back to his automobile, climbed in and drove off in the direction of Friedrichstr. He came to a stop at the corner of Behrenstr./Friedrichstr., got out and made his way to Hotel
“Unter den Linden”
“Eagle” was carrying a large envelope, ca. 10 x 20 cm in size, and his knapsack.
2:55 p.m. “Eagle” entered the above-mentioned hotel and proceeded to the reception desk. Here he asked a hotel staff person for an envelope in format A4 that had been set aside for him, which he then received. “Eagle” left the hotel and walked directly via Mittelstr. to the
American Embassy
which he entered at
3:00 p.m. He was carrying both envelopes and his knapsack with him. After about 5 minutes he came back out of the embassy building and made his way along Unter den Linden boulevard and Friedrichstr. to the automobile he had parked on Behrenstr. While on the way he removed some A4 sheets of paper from the A4 envelope and read them.
3:15 p.m. “Eagle” climbed into his automobile and drove directly to Leipziger Str., where he parked his vehicle a short distance away from the Gertraudenbrücke [Gertrude Bridge]. Then “Eagle” went into the apartment house located at
Leipziger Str. [blacked out]
He was carrying with him an A5 slip of paper.
3:50 p.m. “Eagle” came out of the apartment house, still carrying the slip of paper on his person, climbed into his automobile and drove via Mühlendamm, Stralauer Allee, Holzmarktstr., Lichtenberger Str., Rüdersdorfer Str. to Gubener Str. Here he made his way to a familiar apartment house located at
Gubener Str. [blacked out]
and entered it at
4:01 p.m. “Eagle” left this place of contact at
5:19 p.m., proceeded to his automobile, climbed in and drove via Singerstr. directly to Beimler-Str. and then on to Mollstr. Here he parked the automobile in front of his apartment house and entered it at
5:30 p.m. “Eagle” was carrying his knapsack, the two envelopes, and the slip of paper with him.
5:53 p.m. “Eagle” came back out of the apartment building, got into his automobile and drove via Mollstr., Wilhelm-Pieck-Str. to Chausseestr. and parked his vehicle in the parking lot located there. While carrying his knapsack he walked directly to the apartment house at
[blacked out]
which he entered at
6:04 p.m. Residing in this building is
Erk [probably Elke Erb, the poet]
11:32 p.m. “Eagle” appeared with his knapsack at his automobile and drove via Invalidenstr., Brunnenstr., Wilhelm-Pieck-Str. to his living quarters. Here he got out and at
11:40 p.m. entered the apartment building located at Mollstr. 4.
11:45 p.m. the surveillance was terminated.
Head of the DepartmentHead of the Unit
On behalf of
[signature][signature]
SchulzeSaalfeld
MajorMajor
[The following description of “Eagle” is attached to the surveillance report, along with a photo which was not sent to me.]
Description of Person
subject:“Eagle”
sex:male
age:ca. 27-32 years old
height:165–170 cm
build:slim
head shape:oval
position of head:erect
face/color:yellowish
forehead:medium-rise
back/axis:back straight, axis horizontal
chin:dimple in chin
hair:light brown, thick hair, normal haircut, wavy
eyes/color:light blue
eyebrows/form:arched, separated, bushy
lips:thin
gait/posture:bent forward slightly, casual, shoe tips point
outwards when walking
language:speaks German
clothing:light-colored velour pants and jacket, yellow
turtleneck shirt, black shoes, striped sweater
accessory item:shoulder bag – light brown with dark leather trim
distinguishing features:eyeglass wearer, eyeglasses with gold frame,
mustache, gold ring with dark-colored stone
on little finger of right hand
Remembering East Germany 