Images from the secret Stasi archives

[rolly]

What do the watchers see?

Pretty much the first thing I was interested in seeing were images taken by STASI agents while searching through private apartments. These searches have been performed secretly, mostly while those living in the apartment were working. The first thing the agents did was to take Polaroid images of the whole apartment in order to put everything back into its original position after they performed the search. The picture that shows a unmade bed shows in fact a unmade bed before it is searched through.

Many of these images might appear absurd or even funny. But it is very important to understand the intention behind them. It was a extremely repressive system that caused terror through its secret service. There is also something in these images that really frightens me. Some of them are very open for interpretation. Take the coffee maker for instance. It is a West German product and therefore it could be seen as a sign for contacts to western agents or it could be seen as a gift by relatives in the west. The difference was merely a decade spent in jail or not. I believe it shows somewhat the general limitations of surveillance.

Simon Menner: Images from the secret Stasi Archives
Many more at Simonmenner.com

I found the destroyed images particularly fascinating, seemingly innocuous photos that someone thought important enough to tear up to keep from Western eyes just before the wall came down. They're all creepy as fuck though.

[piccini9]

A party member's summer house.

[piccini9]

A party member's summer house.




There's snow on the ground.

[Zim]

Hunter Stasi Thompson?