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The Grey Men: Pursuing the Stasi into the Present
The untold story of what the Stasi did next
‘Fascinating and powerful.’ Sunday Times
What do you do with a hundred thousand idle spies?
By 1990 the Berlin Wall had fallen and the East German state security service folded. For forty years, they had amassed more than a billion pages in manila files detailing the lives of their citizens. Almost a hundred thousand Stasi employees, many of them experienced officers with access to highly personal information, found themselves unemployed overnight.
This is the story of what they did next.
Former FBI agent Ralph Hope uses present-day sources and access to Stasi records to track and expose ex-officers working everywhere from the Russian energy sector to the police and even the government department tasked with prosecuting Stasi crimes. He examines why the key players have never been called to account and, in doing so, asks if we have really learned from the past at all. He highlights a man who continued to fight the Stasi for thirty years after the Wall fell, and reveals a truth that many today don’t want spoken.
The Grey Men comes as an urgent warning from the past at a time when governments the world over are building an unprecedented network of surveillance over their citizens. Ultimately, this is a book about the present.
‘Fascinating and powerful.’ Sunday Times
What do you do with a hundred thousand idle spies?
By 1990 the Berlin Wall had fallen and the East German state security service folded. For forty years, they had amassed more than a billion pages in manila files detailing the lives of their citizens. Almost a hundred thousand Stasi employees, many of them experienced officers with access to highly personal information, found themselves unemployed overnight.
This is the story of what they did next.
Former FBI agent Ralph Hope uses present-day sources and access to Stasi records to track and expose ex-officers working everywhere from the Russian energy sector to the police and even the government department tasked with prosecuting Stasi crimes. He examines why the key players have never been called to account and, in doing so, asks if we have really learned from the past at all. He highlights a man who continued to fight the Stasi for thirty years after the Wall fell, and reveals a truth that many today don’t want spoken.
The Grey Men comes as an urgent warning from the past at a time when governments the world over are building an unprecedented network of surveillance over their citizens. Ultimately, this is a book about the present.
336 pages, Paperback
Published February 7, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
April 23, 2021
I've been sitting on this review for months now, thinking how I should approach it.
We're diving into politics here - not that strange, as it's a book about ex-Stasi officers trying to disappear into post-DDR society, but I specifically mean my personal politics, the perceived politics of the book and of its author, former FBI agent Ralph Hope.
It all starts with mr. Hope's introduction to the book, where he makes it clear that he hasn't written this book pretending to be a historian. On one hand, good to be clear about this, on the other hand, it made me gently question all I read after it.
If someone is a historian, this doesn't automatically mean that they won't make mistakes, but it does mean it is easier for me as reader to accept what he or she writes as being truthful.
The book explores the many ex-Stasi who still hold positions of power in post-Cold War Germany, high up in the business world, and sometimes actively being politicians. I completely agree with mr. Hope that these people should be removed from these positions, and if at all possible, be prosecuted for their roles in the Stasi. Also mentioned are the European Union's hefty privacy laws that basically protect former Stasi officers from being 'outed' as such. There exist lists of officers on the internet, but they are hidden, as they basically are illegal. These privacy laws should of course be amended.
The book is well written, mr. Hope knows how to tell an anecdote, and he gets to speak to a lot of interesting subjects (not enough, I feel, but I'll come back to that). There's a chapter about an ex-Stasi chemist who created a 'poisoner's bible', a huge book filled with all the substances people could be killed with. Supposedly there are three copies in existence, one still in the Stasi archives (no one is allowed to read it ever again, btw), another one copy supposedly found its way to Russia.
Lots of interesting stories, showing the terrifying power of the Stasi during the Cold War. Where I start to question mr. Hope's motivations, is that he seems to have a real problem with antifa. Antifa crops up again and again in the book, and it becomes clear mr. Hope sees them as an organised group, that are largely occupied with rioting and appeasing extreme leftwing criminals like ex-Stasi officers. Even worse, they are supposedly the new fascists - one of the dumbest myths some people on the right still can't accept are nonsense.
Repeatedly, mr. Hope states that young people on the left are enamoured with communism (which some are), and that a lot of them know little of the horrors of East Germany, and even would like a return to a Stasi-controlled communist state.
And I just found myself thinking, ..really? These people exist..? And then I find myself wondering why mr. Hope didn't find some of these people, and talked to them, asked them how they came to think like this. Because he isn't presenting the book as a historical work, I just find myself wondering how much of this is true, or motivated by an unreasonable fear of the left.
The book seems to be meant as a warning, but I can't shake the feeling that the book is biased, and I just don't think it is convincing as such.
(Thanks to Oneworld Publications for providing me with an ARC through Edelweiss)
Merged review:
I've been sitting on this review for months now, thinking how I should approach it.
We're diving into politics here - not that strange, as it's a book about ex-Stasi officers trying to disappear into post-DDR society, but I specifically mean my personal politics, the perceived politics of the book and of its author, former FBI agent Ralph Hope.
It all starts with mr. Hope's introduction to the book, where he makes it clear that he hasn't written this book pretending to be a historian. On one hand, good to be clear about this, on the other hand, it made me gently question all I read after it.
If someone is a historian, this doesn't automatically mean that they won't make mistakes, but it does mean it is easier for me as reader to accept what he or she writes as being truthful.
The book explores the many ex-Stasi who still hold positions of power in post-Cold War Germany, high up in the business world, and sometimes actively being politicians. I completely agree with mr. Hope that these people should be removed from these positions, and if at all possible, be prosecuted for their roles in the Stasi. Also mentioned are the European Union's hefty privacy laws that basically protect former Stasi officers from being 'outed' as such. There exist lists of officers on the internet, but they are hidden, as they basically are illegal. These privacy laws should of course be amended.
The book is well written, mr. Hope knows how to tell an anecdote, and he gets to speak to a lot of interesting subjects (not enough, I feel, but I'll come back to that). There's a chapter about an ex-Stasi chemist who created a 'poisoner's bible', a huge book filled with all the substances people could be killed with. Supposedly there are three copies in existence, one still in the Stasi archives (no one is allowed to read it ever again, btw), another one copy supposedly found its way to Russia.
Lots of interesting stories, showing the terrifying power of the Stasi during the Cold War. Where I start to question mr. Hope's motivations, is that he seems to have a real problem with antifa. Antifa crops up again and again in the book, and it becomes clear mr. Hope sees them as an organised group, that are largely occupied with rioting and appeasing extreme leftwing criminals like ex-Stasi officers. Even worse, they are supposedly the new fascists - one of the dumbest myths some people on the right still can't accept are nonsense.
Repeatedly, mr. Hope states that young people on the left are enamoured with communism (which some are), and that a lot of them know little of the horrors of East Germany, and even would like a return to a Stasi-controlled communist state.
And I just found myself thinking, ..really? These people exist..? And then I find myself wondering why mr. Hope didn't find some of these people, and talked to them, asked them how they came to think like this. Because he isn't presenting the book as a historical work, I just find myself wondering how much of this is true, or motivated by an unreasonable fear of the left.
The book seems to be meant as a warning, but I can't shake the feeling that the book is biased, and I just don't think it is convincing as such.
(Thanks to Oneworld Publications for providing me with an ARC through Edelweiss)
We're diving into politics here - not that strange, as it's a book about ex-Stasi officers trying to disappear into post-DDR society, but I specifically mean my personal politics, the perceived politics of the book and of its author, former FBI agent Ralph Hope.
It all starts with mr. Hope's introduction to the book, where he makes it clear that he hasn't written this book pretending to be a historian. On one hand, good to be clear about this, on the other hand, it made me gently question all I read after it.
If someone is a historian, this doesn't automatically mean that they won't make mistakes, but it does mean it is easier for me as reader to accept what he or she writes as being truthful.
The book explores the many ex-Stasi who still hold positions of power in post-Cold War Germany, high up in the business world, and sometimes actively being politicians. I completely agree with mr. Hope that these people should be removed from these positions, and if at all possible, be prosecuted for their roles in the Stasi. Also mentioned are the European Union's hefty privacy laws that basically protect former Stasi officers from being 'outed' as such. There exist lists of officers on the internet, but they are hidden, as they basically are illegal. These privacy laws should of course be amended.
The book is well written, mr. Hope knows how to tell an anecdote, and he gets to speak to a lot of interesting subjects (not enough, I feel, but I'll come back to that). There's a chapter about an ex-Stasi chemist who created a 'poisoner's bible', a huge book filled with all the substances people could be killed with. Supposedly there are three copies in existence, one still in the Stasi archives (no one is allowed to read it ever again, btw), another one copy supposedly found its way to Russia.
Lots of interesting stories, showing the terrifying power of the Stasi during the Cold War. Where I start to question mr. Hope's motivations, is that he seems to have a real problem with antifa. Antifa crops up again and again in the book, and it becomes clear mr. Hope sees them as an organised group, that are largely occupied with rioting and appeasing extreme leftwing criminals like ex-Stasi officers. Even worse, they are supposedly the new fascists - one of the dumbest myths some people on the right still can't accept are nonsense.
Repeatedly, mr. Hope states that young people on the left are enamoured with communism (which some are), and that a lot of them know little of the horrors of East Germany, and even would like a return to a Stasi-controlled communist state.
And I just found myself thinking, ..really? These people exist..? And then I find myself wondering why mr. Hope didn't find some of these people, and talked to them, asked them how they came to think like this. Because he isn't presenting the book as a historical work, I just find myself wondering how much of this is true, or motivated by an unreasonable fear of the left.
The book seems to be meant as a warning, but I can't shake the feeling that the book is biased, and I just don't think it is convincing as such.
(Thanks to Oneworld Publications for providing me with an ARC through Edelweiss)
Merged review:
I've been sitting on this review for months now, thinking how I should approach it.
We're diving into politics here - not that strange, as it's a book about ex-Stasi officers trying to disappear into post-DDR society, but I specifically mean my personal politics, the perceived politics of the book and of its author, former FBI agent Ralph Hope.
It all starts with mr. Hope's introduction to the book, where he makes it clear that he hasn't written this book pretending to be a historian. On one hand, good to be clear about this, on the other hand, it made me gently question all I read after it.
If someone is a historian, this doesn't automatically mean that they won't make mistakes, but it does mean it is easier for me as reader to accept what he or she writes as being truthful.
The book explores the many ex-Stasi who still hold positions of power in post-Cold War Germany, high up in the business world, and sometimes actively being politicians. I completely agree with mr. Hope that these people should be removed from these positions, and if at all possible, be prosecuted for their roles in the Stasi. Also mentioned are the European Union's hefty privacy laws that basically protect former Stasi officers from being 'outed' as such. There exist lists of officers on the internet, but they are hidden, as they basically are illegal. These privacy laws should of course be amended.
The book is well written, mr. Hope knows how to tell an anecdote, and he gets to speak to a lot of interesting subjects (not enough, I feel, but I'll come back to that). There's a chapter about an ex-Stasi chemist who created a 'poisoner's bible', a huge book filled with all the substances people could be killed with. Supposedly there are three copies in existence, one still in the Stasi archives (no one is allowed to read it ever again, btw), another one copy supposedly found its way to Russia.
Lots of interesting stories, showing the terrifying power of the Stasi during the Cold War. Where I start to question mr. Hope's motivations, is that he seems to have a real problem with antifa. Antifa crops up again and again in the book, and it becomes clear mr. Hope sees them as an organised group, that are largely occupied with rioting and appeasing extreme leftwing criminals like ex-Stasi officers. Even worse, they are supposedly the new fascists - one of the dumbest myths some people on the right still can't accept are nonsense.
Repeatedly, mr. Hope states that young people on the left are enamoured with communism (which some are), and that a lot of them know little of the horrors of East Germany, and even would like a return to a Stasi-controlled communist state.
And I just found myself thinking, ..really? These people exist..? And then I find myself wondering why mr. Hope didn't find some of these people, and talked to them, asked them how they came to think like this. Because he isn't presenting the book as a historical work, I just find myself wondering how much of this is true, or motivated by an unreasonable fear of the left.
The book seems to be meant as a warning, but I can't shake the feeling that the book is biased, and I just don't think it is convincing as such.
(Thanks to Oneworld Publications for providing me with an ARC through Edelweiss)
June 1, 2021
This was simply fascinating. Living in (West) Berlin for (6) 8 years, even with all the security briefings and warnings about the Stasi, I had no clue as to the depths to which their operatives descended to do their bidding. Reads like a novel, but carries all the putrescence of a 40-year-old state system that began decaying the moment it was born.
June 10, 2022
“What happened to the Stasi agents after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989?”
If you are familiar with the work of Anna Funder Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, you must have known how the communist dictatorship was sustained for 40 years through the help of the Stasi — Ministerium für Staatsicherheit (Ministry for State Security), an organisation which conducted massive surveillance throughout the GDR by employing 91,000 full-time employees and hundreds of thousands of IM — Inoffizielle Mitarbeiter (unofficial collaborator) as well as foreign intelligence through its agency HvA (Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung). In Anna Funder’s book, we could read the personal stories of people she interviewed about their experiences becoming the victims of the Stasi and several other former Stasi officers who are still proud of their surveillance methods. In a rather similar tone to Anna Funder, Ralph Hope brings out the knowledge he has obtained both during his time serving as an FBI agent and through his private investigation of the Stasi activities in a unified Germany.
Unlike other former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Germany dealt with its communist past differently. Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED), the Marxist-Leninist party which governed the GDR was not outlawed after the country’s demise. Instead, it was renamed the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and then merged with several other left-wing political parties in Germany to form Die Linke (The Left), which is currently one of the most prominent political parties in Germany besides the Christian Democratic Union and Social Democrats. Many of the formers SED officials and Stasi officers became members of The Left and are still politically active in today’s Germany. They campaigned for their ideas and stroke for historical revisionism of the GDR communist dictatorship, something which becomes the central concern of this book. Interestingly, the way the European privacy law (GDPR) protected our former Stasi agents from getting exposed publicly makes me question the rightfulness of enacting this law with regard to this unique circumstance.
The centrally-planned economic model of the GDR was hardly sustainable to ensure the state could run effectively. Hard currency was brought into the GDR through various means, sometimes unethical. In today’s North Korea, there is still the infamous Room 39 which brings between $500 million and $1 billion per year to the country through illegal activities such as counterfeiting $100 bills, selling drugs, and conducting international insurance fraud in many parts of the world. In the GDR, there existed a secret commercial entreprise under the Stasi called Kommerzielle Koordinierung or KoKo. KoKo under the leadership of Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski brought foreign currencies to the GDR by providing illegal arms to insurgencies in Iran, selling the blood of GDR citizens to Western countries plagued by HIV, selling antiques to the West after procuring them from GDR citizens’ houses forcefully, “selling” East German political prisoners to West Germany, and other more illicit means. Many of this money somehow went missing along with “the grey men” themselves after German reunification, and it was getting harder to track them as more years passed.
The former Stasi agents also actively campaigned for the revisionism of the GDR history and ensured that the history of the GDR dictatorship was treated differently from the Nazi dictatorship which is widely condemned after World War II. The methods include putting up political and direct pressure on the running of the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial which used to be the complex housing thousands of Stasi prisoners. It does not stop at that, they also influenced the production of the 2006 film The Lives of Others which depicts a sympathizing Stasi agent who is troubled by how his actions influenced his victims, something that Ralph Hope argues have undermined the effects of GDR dictatorship in its citizens.
However, it remains confusing to me to what extent the Stasi really influenced the daily life in the former GDR. Some of the East Germans interviewed by Mary Fulbrook in her book The People's State: East German Society from Hitler to Honecker described their lives before 1989 as ein ganz normales Leben — a perfectly normal life. To me, it seems like the Stasi conducted total surveillance, but it only affected negatively people who held the potential to threaten the security of the state. Among 17 million former East German citizens, only around 3 million attempted to check their Stasi files. The remaining files remained not accessed, as though many Germans wish to move on towards their futures without having to remember the red-stained communist past.
Ralph Hope’s research is highly intriguing, but it focuses too much on the Stasi’s legacies in the former GDR and unified Germany. Many missing details beg for a further question about how much truth is contained in this book. This is understandable given his background as a former FBI agent. After all, he provides a disclaimer that this work is not research in history as he was not trained as a historian. To me, it gives more of a similar vibe to read Anna Funder’s work. Anyone interested in the history of former East Germany will enjoy this book.
Thanks to Oneworld Publications for providing the electronic advance reading copy through NetGalley.
If you are familiar with the work of Anna Funder Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall, you must have known how the communist dictatorship was sustained for 40 years through the help of the Stasi — Ministerium für Staatsicherheit (Ministry for State Security), an organisation which conducted massive surveillance throughout the GDR by employing 91,000 full-time employees and hundreds of thousands of IM — Inoffizielle Mitarbeiter (unofficial collaborator) as well as foreign intelligence through its agency HvA (Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung). In Anna Funder’s book, we could read the personal stories of people she interviewed about their experiences becoming the victims of the Stasi and several other former Stasi officers who are still proud of their surveillance methods. In a rather similar tone to Anna Funder, Ralph Hope brings out the knowledge he has obtained both during his time serving as an FBI agent and through his private investigation of the Stasi activities in a unified Germany.
Unlike other former communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Germany dealt with its communist past differently. Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED), the Marxist-Leninist party which governed the GDR was not outlawed after the country’s demise. Instead, it was renamed the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and then merged with several other left-wing political parties in Germany to form Die Linke (The Left), which is currently one of the most prominent political parties in Germany besides the Christian Democratic Union and Social Democrats. Many of the formers SED officials and Stasi officers became members of The Left and are still politically active in today’s Germany. They campaigned for their ideas and stroke for historical revisionism of the GDR communist dictatorship, something which becomes the central concern of this book. Interestingly, the way the European privacy law (GDPR) protected our former Stasi agents from getting exposed publicly makes me question the rightfulness of enacting this law with regard to this unique circumstance.
The centrally-planned economic model of the GDR was hardly sustainable to ensure the state could run effectively. Hard currency was brought into the GDR through various means, sometimes unethical. In today’s North Korea, there is still the infamous Room 39 which brings between $500 million and $1 billion per year to the country through illegal activities such as counterfeiting $100 bills, selling drugs, and conducting international insurance fraud in many parts of the world. In the GDR, there existed a secret commercial entreprise under the Stasi called Kommerzielle Koordinierung or KoKo. KoKo under the leadership of Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski brought foreign currencies to the GDR by providing illegal arms to insurgencies in Iran, selling the blood of GDR citizens to Western countries plagued by HIV, selling antiques to the West after procuring them from GDR citizens’ houses forcefully, “selling” East German political prisoners to West Germany, and other more illicit means. Many of this money somehow went missing along with “the grey men” themselves after German reunification, and it was getting harder to track them as more years passed.
The former Stasi agents also actively campaigned for the revisionism of the GDR history and ensured that the history of the GDR dictatorship was treated differently from the Nazi dictatorship which is widely condemned after World War II. The methods include putting up political and direct pressure on the running of the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial which used to be the complex housing thousands of Stasi prisoners. It does not stop at that, they also influenced the production of the 2006 film The Lives of Others which depicts a sympathizing Stasi agent who is troubled by how his actions influenced his victims, something that Ralph Hope argues have undermined the effects of GDR dictatorship in its citizens.
However, it remains confusing to me to what extent the Stasi really influenced the daily life in the former GDR. Some of the East Germans interviewed by Mary Fulbrook in her book The People's State: East German Society from Hitler to Honecker described their lives before 1989 as ein ganz normales Leben — a perfectly normal life. To me, it seems like the Stasi conducted total surveillance, but it only affected negatively people who held the potential to threaten the security of the state. Among 17 million former East German citizens, only around 3 million attempted to check their Stasi files. The remaining files remained not accessed, as though many Germans wish to move on towards their futures without having to remember the red-stained communist past.
Ralph Hope’s research is highly intriguing, but it focuses too much on the Stasi’s legacies in the former GDR and unified Germany. Many missing details beg for a further question about how much truth is contained in this book. This is understandable given his background as a former FBI agent. After all, he provides a disclaimer that this work is not research in history as he was not trained as a historian. To me, it gives more of a similar vibe to read Anna Funder’s work. Anyone interested in the history of former East Germany will enjoy this book.
Thanks to Oneworld Publications for providing the electronic advance reading copy through NetGalley.
September 13, 2021
A 3.5 for the historical detail, depth of study and anecdotes. However it is somewhat repetitive and not a little paranoid, giving the impression we are a helpless mass subject to the machinations of an evil network operating below the surface wanting to take over the world and most people don't seem interested about that. What he doesn't seen to get is these "grey men" are people who adapt to ANY system and gain power and rise to the top. He is contradictory in that he keeps stating this group want a return to communism/socialism, whereas in reality they are highly adapted to capitalist life and are wealthy in all the usual ways. I think it is more about being protective about being exposed, avoiding embarrassment, publicity and not wanting their current wealth and power threatened. Unfortunately, Mr Hope, life DOES move on and people don't want their present contaminated by their past mistakes.
May 25, 2021
Frightening expose into what really happened in East Germany
Very interesting expose on what went on in East Germany after the wall went up and how the Stasi, like the KGB, continues to this day to influence German politics.
Very interesting expose on what went on in East Germany after the wall went up and how the Stasi, like the KGB, continues to this day to influence German politics.
July 30, 2022
Really interesting but marred by constant reminders of the author's political opinions. It weakened much of the main thrust of the argument, at least to me - the Stasi and what they did are horrifying. But hyperbole about 'OMG the YOUTH want rent subsidies and therefore they're going to bring the Stasi back' wasn't backed up by the rest of the book and got really irritating.
Also, the argument that Facebook will be the next Stasi and by definition left-wing is really weakened by Jan 6 and how much of that planning (and radicalization!) happened on social media (although the author might be one of those people that thinks Jan 6 was all antifa, based on how much he ranted about antifa?). If he had been able to keep political sides out of it and had argued that social media will lead to extremism, thought manipulation and polarization he would've been proven right over time instead.
I'm just not ready to listen to anyone, right or left, present their side as morally upright while pointing fingers at the other side for being morally bankrupt (which the author slid into too often). At this point they all suck and need to be quiet. I wanted to read about the Stasi without all of the political insertions - the facts would have stood for themselves quite well.
As a book about the Stasi, minus political opinions, I really liked it and it added things that my other reading about the Stasi did not provide.
Also, the argument that Facebook will be the next Stasi and by definition left-wing is really weakened by Jan 6 and how much of that planning (and radicalization!) happened on social media (although the author might be one of those people that thinks Jan 6 was all antifa, based on how much he ranted about antifa?). If he had been able to keep political sides out of it and had argued that social media will lead to extremism, thought manipulation and polarization he would've been proven right over time instead.
I'm just not ready to listen to anyone, right or left, present their side as morally upright while pointing fingers at the other side for being morally bankrupt (which the author slid into too often). At this point they all suck and need to be quiet. I wanted to read about the Stasi without all of the political insertions - the facts would have stood for themselves quite well.
As a book about the Stasi, minus political opinions, I really liked it and it added things that my other reading about the Stasi did not provide.
December 12, 2021
I was given this book after I lent a friend Stasiland. Both books have something in common, they tell a part of modern history but the authors are not historians and do not try to be. Anna Funders novel captures the strange discomfort and fear still felt in the early 90s in East Germany. Hope’s novel instilled in me a more enduring discomfort, or feeling of being unsettled about the future of our world. At times, the historian in me wanted him to prove his statements with evidence, however I feel he addresses the inability to do this consistently due to the live nature of his evidence and the real risk to lives. If this novel was out of left field and did not reflect themes being captured by historians, it may have felt less plausible. I felt that this novel captured the status quo of the push to renew communist ideals globally as best he could in the current environment whilst protecting lives. History will tell whether all of the information presented was correct, it may even be worse than Hope presents. This novel will probably form a primary source for future historians look back at this era with hindsight and hopefully freedom of speech/movement in tact.
August 22, 2022
A book that would have been much improved if the author had any knowledge of European liberal politics and wasn’t set on demonising anything left of the US republican party which would be unthinkably right wing in modern Europe.
April 3, 2023
This book actually started out quite well. It clearly had a main focus - the Stasi- and stuck to it while weaving in dialogue from the author's experiences. The small chapters which bounced from Stasi member to Stasi member was engaging and interesting.
I essentially skimmed a lot of the end because it was the author complaining about social media and how censorship was very prevalent which apparently connects to the Stasi. No need for Stasi identification checks, Facebook has already infiltrated your privacy! In another chapter he goes on about China and comes to the astounding revelation that Chinese communist goals are similar to those of the GDR and USSR. I know this book's whole gist is about the Stasi's aftermath in the present, but it mentioned every social media company and Chinese politics and a bunch of stuff about Russia, Lithuania, etc. These are kind of just thrown in at the end, and haphazardly related to the Stasi, which is essentially rendered again and again as the Messiah of the awfulness of communism in this book. Rather than actually providing more evidence rather than analysis, the author simply repeats how bad the Stasi is, which we can all infer ourselves.
I essentially skimmed a lot of the end because it was the author complaining about social media and how censorship was very prevalent which apparently connects to the Stasi. No need for Stasi identification checks, Facebook has already infiltrated your privacy! In another chapter he goes on about China and comes to the astounding revelation that Chinese communist goals are similar to those of the GDR and USSR. I know this book's whole gist is about the Stasi's aftermath in the present, but it mentioned every social media company and Chinese politics and a bunch of stuff about Russia, Lithuania, etc. These are kind of just thrown in at the end, and haphazardly related to the Stasi, which is essentially rendered again and again as the Messiah of the awfulness of communism in this book. Rather than actually providing more evidence rather than analysis, the author simply repeats how bad the Stasi is, which we can all infer ourselves.
October 25, 2022
I thought The Grey Men is well reseached. The book features a great deal of information I haven't seen before or read before about East Germany and the Stasi. I was taken aback by the account of the missing billions of dollars the GDR stole and acquired and the thought they may still be financing ex Stasi members.
The Grey Men includes a strong warning about the influence of the legacy of the Stasi and the East German state. I have seen many people on social media praising communism and Stalin. Very often the people with hammer and sickles symbols in their Twitter names were born in this century and don't know what living in East Germany or the USSR or one of the other Eastern Block countries was actually like. I lived in Poland in the 1980s and travelled in East Germany. I remember the shortages of foods and goods, the fear, the having to network with people who had access to rare items. I had to take on a second job babysitting in order to get toilet rolls. In 1989 I taught Russians who had just been allowed to leave the USSR. I heard first hand from them about the repression and persecution of Jews and how they struggled to be able to emigrate. The Grey Men's description of how Angela Davis was lionized by East Germany and the USSR is pertinent as I see continued controversy on Twitter and Facebook about Angela Davis and the adverse influence of her extreme views.
It's alarming that ex Stasi leaders are being invited to appear on panels at socialist events. I agree with Ralph Hope that many people now see capitalism as fascism and don't really understand that Left governments can abuse human rights and have committed massive human rights abuses in the past. I don't agree with Hope's view that socialism is doomed to fail. Communal groups have been successful for decades in Israel. The Kibbutz system was admired by the Left for many years. It's admirable to want affordable housing available to everyone, a free health system or university education available to gifted students from all backgrounds: the UK has the National Health Service and a welfare system that aims to support those in need. I can see Hope's concern that some people who praise East Germany or the USSR don't realise that while they offered free childcare, healthcare and free education the East Germans and Soviet citizens suffered from fear of arrest, were prevented from thinking freely, and faced possible torture and banishment to the gulags. Hope mentions briefly the support that East Gemany had from many in the West who believed in its ideals of peace and equality. I have come across some older people in the UK Labour Party who still praise Stalin: one insisted to me that East Germany was a wonderful country that wasn't allowed to flourish. I pointed out that Gorbachev on his visit to East Berlin in 1988 for the GDR's 40th anniversary celebrations criticised Erich Honecker for not listening to the crowds of people calling out to Gorbachev to help them with reforms and more freedom. It's important to remember the millions of people who underwent horrific suffering and important to remember that many are still struggling from the effects. People need to recognise the danger of extremism on the right and on the left. I'd like to see more awareness of how China and North Korea are using technology to oppress thousands.
The Grey Men includes a strong warning about the influence of the legacy of the Stasi and the East German state. I have seen many people on social media praising communism and Stalin. Very often the people with hammer and sickles symbols in their Twitter names were born in this century and don't know what living in East Germany or the USSR or one of the other Eastern Block countries was actually like. I lived in Poland in the 1980s and travelled in East Germany. I remember the shortages of foods and goods, the fear, the having to network with people who had access to rare items. I had to take on a second job babysitting in order to get toilet rolls. In 1989 I taught Russians who had just been allowed to leave the USSR. I heard first hand from them about the repression and persecution of Jews and how they struggled to be able to emigrate. The Grey Men's description of how Angela Davis was lionized by East Germany and the USSR is pertinent as I see continued controversy on Twitter and Facebook about Angela Davis and the adverse influence of her extreme views.
It's alarming that ex Stasi leaders are being invited to appear on panels at socialist events. I agree with Ralph Hope that many people now see capitalism as fascism and don't really understand that Left governments can abuse human rights and have committed massive human rights abuses in the past. I don't agree with Hope's view that socialism is doomed to fail. Communal groups have been successful for decades in Israel. The Kibbutz system was admired by the Left for many years. It's admirable to want affordable housing available to everyone, a free health system or university education available to gifted students from all backgrounds: the UK has the National Health Service and a welfare system that aims to support those in need. I can see Hope's concern that some people who praise East Germany or the USSR don't realise that while they offered free childcare, healthcare and free education the East Germans and Soviet citizens suffered from fear of arrest, were prevented from thinking freely, and faced possible torture and banishment to the gulags. Hope mentions briefly the support that East Gemany had from many in the West who believed in its ideals of peace and equality. I have come across some older people in the UK Labour Party who still praise Stalin: one insisted to me that East Germany was a wonderful country that wasn't allowed to flourish. I pointed out that Gorbachev on his visit to East Berlin in 1988 for the GDR's 40th anniversary celebrations criticised Erich Honecker for not listening to the crowds of people calling out to Gorbachev to help them with reforms and more freedom. It's important to remember the millions of people who underwent horrific suffering and important to remember that many are still struggling from the effects. People need to recognise the danger of extremism on the right and on the left. I'd like to see more awareness of how China and North Korea are using technology to oppress thousands.
August 11, 2022
If like me you wondered why Germany allowed itself to become hostage to the Russian Company Nordstream, then look no further. Ralph Hope, a one time FBI agent, tells how, in 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down, the terms of amalgamation of the GDR with free Germany were heavily influenced by Stasi - including a statute of limitations on crimes committed in the GDR of 5 years, and a stipulation that prosecutions would be under GDR law. 90,000 Stasi were given free reign (more or less) with very little scrutiny of their previous activities. A large number of Volkspolizeo (the police force of the GDR) were absorbed into the German police.
In 2005, Warnig was publicly identified in Germany as a former Stasi officer. But it didn't matter. By that time Putin had been Russian president for five years and was forming a company that would build a gas pipe line to Europe. To the former KGB officer that was useful for all sorts of reasons. The company, called at first North European Gas Pipeline Company, but shortened to Nord Stream AG, was incorporated in 2005 in Switzerland. Warnig would be perfect as CEO, everyone who mattered decided. The major shareholder was the other Russian energy giant, Gazprom.
As always, the now stocky Matthias Warnig got to work with his contacts. The fact that most now knew he had been a successful MfS officer, and was a close friend of the Russian president, only made things easier. But he knew that he also had a problem. Not surprisingly, intelligence agencies in Germany, most of Europe and the United States were all convinced it would be a security disaster if Russia had its hand on the valve that delivered energy to NATO countries. Practically, there were only two ways to run the pipeline to Europe. The first was down the center of the Baltic Sea, and turn west toward the German coast. The other was to run it through Ukraine. Putin didn't like sending it through Ukraine for some reason. That meant Warnig had to make some new friends.
The outgoing German chancellor, Gerhard Schroder, surprisingly approved the project to transit that country on his way out of office in 2005. He then surfaced with a new job with Nord Stream as chairman of the shareholder's committee.
.
.
The pipeline was opened amid great fanfare in 2011, leaving the owner of the gas - Gazprom - with its 400,000 employees and 17% of the worlds gas reserves - firmly in control of Europe's future. It would be most unfortunate now if energy-poor Europe offended the Russian state.
Ralph's style is a bit like what you would expect of an ex FBI man - it has some tendency to sometimes feel like random jottings, though his prose is easy to read and makes for a gripping anecdote. As someone tending to STEM subjects, a timeline and some bullet points would have made it easier for me to digest, but that is irrelevant really to the intense and hugely important lesson to be learned. How easily the state (through the Stasi) got family members and (ostensible) friends ratting on each other corrodes your faith in human nature. Not a regime that most people would want to live under, but how easily achieved!.
In 2005, Warnig was publicly identified in Germany as a former Stasi officer. But it didn't matter. By that time Putin had been Russian president for five years and was forming a company that would build a gas pipe line to Europe. To the former KGB officer that was useful for all sorts of reasons. The company, called at first North European Gas Pipeline Company, but shortened to Nord Stream AG, was incorporated in 2005 in Switzerland. Warnig would be perfect as CEO, everyone who mattered decided. The major shareholder was the other Russian energy giant, Gazprom.
As always, the now stocky Matthias Warnig got to work with his contacts. The fact that most now knew he had been a successful MfS officer, and was a close friend of the Russian president, only made things easier. But he knew that he also had a problem. Not surprisingly, intelligence agencies in Germany, most of Europe and the United States were all convinced it would be a security disaster if Russia had its hand on the valve that delivered energy to NATO countries. Practically, there were only two ways to run the pipeline to Europe. The first was down the center of the Baltic Sea, and turn west toward the German coast. The other was to run it through Ukraine. Putin didn't like sending it through Ukraine for some reason. That meant Warnig had to make some new friends.
The outgoing German chancellor, Gerhard Schroder, surprisingly approved the project to transit that country on his way out of office in 2005. He then surfaced with a new job with Nord Stream as chairman of the shareholder's committee.
.
.
The pipeline was opened amid great fanfare in 2011, leaving the owner of the gas - Gazprom - with its 400,000 employees and 17% of the worlds gas reserves - firmly in control of Europe's future. It would be most unfortunate now if energy-poor Europe offended the Russian state.
Ralph's style is a bit like what you would expect of an ex FBI man - it has some tendency to sometimes feel like random jottings, though his prose is easy to read and makes for a gripping anecdote. As someone tending to STEM subjects, a timeline and some bullet points would have made it easier for me to digest, but that is irrelevant really to the intense and hugely important lesson to be learned. How easily the state (through the Stasi) got family members and (ostensible) friends ratting on each other corrodes your faith in human nature. Not a regime that most people would want to live under, but how easily achieved!.
December 30, 2024
The book started well enough in the first 100 pages or so. However, when the author writes in his introduction that he is “not a historian”, it made me pause.
The anecdotes and fact-finding done by the author is clearly very thorough, but I found this book EXTREMELY repetitive and bizarrely structured.
My biggest objection to this book is how clearly the political stance of the author bleeds into what ought to have been a balanced and nuanced account of the Stasi and the future of Authoritarianism and Communism. I dislike extremist dictatorships and overreaching intelligence agencies as much as the next normal person. But when the author essentially begins to rant about young people today embracing dangerous “communist” ideas such as free healthcare, reduced rents and landlord regulation, I couldn’t help but audibly sigh. Is this American author so politically illiterate and out of touch with European socio-economic issues that he equates free healthcare with communism? If that’s the case, then this book isn’t worth my time.
I put the book down and stopped reading when the author went on a tired rant about how Facebook is the next incarnation of Stasi oppression and (bizarrely) about how GDPR laws shield the identities of communists hiding in plain sight.
Not once does he really engage anyone who opposes his very narrow worldview and this becomes very obvious when he begins talking about German politics, which he doesn’t seem (or want to) grasp the nuances of. At a base level, I agree with his argument - that former members of the Stasi should be barred from high positions in society. Great. But implying that their influence and sentiments live on today in US Antifa and online hate-speech laws is such a gargantuan jump in logic it’s almost laughable.
His constant comparisons between the Stasi and modern left-wing politics borders on conspiratorial towards the end. I would say stick to what you’re good at and write about history if he weren’t so poor at doing that in this book as well.
What I enjoyed most about in this book was the anecdotes about normal people’s experiences under Stasi rule in East Germany. If that’s what you’re interested in, read “Stasiland” by Anna Funder instead. It is far more engaging, interesting and nuanced than this work.
The anecdotes and fact-finding done by the author is clearly very thorough, but I found this book EXTREMELY repetitive and bizarrely structured.
My biggest objection to this book is how clearly the political stance of the author bleeds into what ought to have been a balanced and nuanced account of the Stasi and the future of Authoritarianism and Communism. I dislike extremist dictatorships and overreaching intelligence agencies as much as the next normal person. But when the author essentially begins to rant about young people today embracing dangerous “communist” ideas such as free healthcare, reduced rents and landlord regulation, I couldn’t help but audibly sigh. Is this American author so politically illiterate and out of touch with European socio-economic issues that he equates free healthcare with communism? If that’s the case, then this book isn’t worth my time.
I put the book down and stopped reading when the author went on a tired rant about how Facebook is the next incarnation of Stasi oppression and (bizarrely) about how GDPR laws shield the identities of communists hiding in plain sight.
Not once does he really engage anyone who opposes his very narrow worldview and this becomes very obvious when he begins talking about German politics, which he doesn’t seem (or want to) grasp the nuances of. At a base level, I agree with his argument - that former members of the Stasi should be barred from high positions in society. Great. But implying that their influence and sentiments live on today in US Antifa and online hate-speech laws is such a gargantuan jump in logic it’s almost laughable.
His constant comparisons between the Stasi and modern left-wing politics borders on conspiratorial towards the end. I would say stick to what you’re good at and write about history if he weren’t so poor at doing that in this book as well.
What I enjoyed most about in this book was the anecdotes about normal people’s experiences under Stasi rule in East Germany. If that’s what you’re interested in, read “Stasiland” by Anna Funder instead. It is far more engaging, interesting and nuanced than this work.
June 1, 2021
I was drawn to this for the simple reason, that I, like many others, wanted to know what happened after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which, if you can believe it, was the result of a slip of the tongue and a shrug of the shoulders.
Having read about the years of the dictatorship and other books wherein survivors tell their own personal stories, I was interested to hear how the 90000 odd members of the Stasi washed up. Curiously, that the fact that of the 90000 members, 182 were charges, 87 convicted and 1 sentenced to prison! Surely these stats were wrong! But no, having weathered the initial storm, the Stasi were still there, albeit under another name, another identity, working for another government, working for themselves, shielded by strict privacy laws which prevented the world from knowing who they actually were or are.
Hope, a former FBI agent, obviously had greater access to information and people than the average author, so the stories of survivors and the information garnered was eye-opening to say the least.
It is as we draw ever further away from post-war East Germany that Hope draws upon what he deems are the similarities between the Stasi and some of today's politically active groups, with what he terms the "decomposition of the individual" wherein social media now becomes the anonymous bogeyman to espouse ideas once shunned and to attack those who dare to speak out.
It is interesting reading for those interested.
Having read about the years of the dictatorship and other books wherein survivors tell their own personal stories, I was interested to hear how the 90000 odd members of the Stasi washed up. Curiously, that the fact that of the 90000 members, 182 were charges, 87 convicted and 1 sentenced to prison! Surely these stats were wrong! But no, having weathered the initial storm, the Stasi were still there, albeit under another name, another identity, working for another government, working for themselves, shielded by strict privacy laws which prevented the world from knowing who they actually were or are.
Hope, a former FBI agent, obviously had greater access to information and people than the average author, so the stories of survivors and the information garnered was eye-opening to say the least.
It is as we draw ever further away from post-war East Germany that Hope draws upon what he deems are the similarities between the Stasi and some of today's politically active groups, with what he terms the "decomposition of the individual" wherein social media now becomes the anonymous bogeyman to espouse ideas once shunned and to attack those who dare to speak out.
It is interesting reading for those interested.
May 30, 2021
This book follows what happened next to Stasi officers from East Germany after the Berlin Wall came down and Germany was unified with this investigation being carried out by a former FBI agent who had served sime time in Europe. There are brief portraits of Stasi officers and how they managed to integrate back into society generally without any punishment for crimes they allegedly committed. It mentions how those imprisoned in East Germany have tried to bring Stasi officers to justice. It mentions how there are associations of former Stasi officers trying to stop this and presenting an alternative viewpoint on East Germany.
It was really interesting and used specific life stories to show how the Stasi maintained control. The book at points tries to make the point subtly I feel that all forms of socialism are wrong and countries such as America don't illegally spy on its citizens at all. Those sections where political opinion was given are not very convincing at all.
It was really interesting and used specific life stories to show how the Stasi maintained control. The book at points tries to make the point subtly I feel that all forms of socialism are wrong and countries such as America don't illegally spy on its citizens at all. Those sections where political opinion was given are not very convincing at all.
January 5, 2022
When the Soviet Union established the German Democratic Republic, which built a wall around East Berlin in 1961, it gave rise to the feared and hated German secret police, usually known simply as the Stasi. By the time the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, the Stasi had murdered, tortured, kidnapped, or driven to suicide approximately 300,000 of its own citizens. It had also built a spy network of thousands of faceless operatives, who were brutal in their efficiency, and who had compiled extensive files on people and organisations throughout Europe. It was far too vast and efficient a network to simply disappear. In this graphic and absorbing book, former FBI agent Hope, tracks the grey faceless men of the Stasi to positions of power, particularly in Russia today. Using personal interviews and research, Hope weaves the history or the Stasi throughout this frightening view of the future.
December 18, 2021
The East German Stasi may have lost the (Cold) War, but they are, in some ways, winning the peace. This is an account of efforts to hold the communists accountable for their crimes, and a caution against letting those crimes be repeated in more sophisticated ways in the future.
August 22, 2023
Tinfoil hats and a very slippery slope to the right-wing extremist justification. Some bits were interesting.
October 18, 2022
absolute garbage. starts off with a well researched background of communist germany, until the authors clear biases against leftism in general start to seep in and take control. there’s an extended and frankly insane section where the author just rants about google and facebook, and blames gen z for the “slide back into fascism” because of antifa.
the author, apparently a former fbi agent, somehow overcomes the colossal cognitive dissonance in claiming another intelligence agency has overreached and attempts to tie every bad thing to have ever happened to the stasi. using nothing more than his assumption that you also hate leftism he goes on a david icke level tour of “shit guys who work for the fbi hate” and brings it all back to the stasi.
borderline unreadable towards the end, this is a particularly grotesquely political interpreting of an interesting book idea. hopefully we can get someone to write it who didn’t become an fbi agent because he dreamt of working for huac
the author, apparently a former fbi agent, somehow overcomes the colossal cognitive dissonance in claiming another intelligence agency has overreached and attempts to tie every bad thing to have ever happened to the stasi. using nothing more than his assumption that you also hate leftism he goes on a david icke level tour of “shit guys who work for the fbi hate” and brings it all back to the stasi.
borderline unreadable towards the end, this is a particularly grotesquely political interpreting of an interesting book idea. hopefully we can get someone to write it who didn’t become an fbi agent because he dreamt of working for huac
January 11, 2023
I spent time in East Germany 1985 and 1989. Growing up in Sweden I joined SSU, the social democratic youth party as did most of my friends. After having done my national military service I left Sweden to see the world and I have seen the horrors and misery of communist countries including Russia and North Korea. I have seen our time's fascists Antifa terrorize people with opposing political views. Ralph Hope's thoughts about Facebook and present Europe mirrors mine. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with a interest in todays politics.
June 16, 2024
Every one needs to read this book!
An eyes opening book that shows just how pervasive the former East German intelligence service and government continue to be in the world today. It is very frightening to see how much influence they have not just in Germany but in others countries around the world erasing the truth about the terrors they imposed on the East German citizens.
An eyes opening book that shows just how pervasive the former East German intelligence service and government continue to be in the world today. It is very frightening to see how much influence they have not just in Germany but in others countries around the world erasing the truth about the terrors they imposed on the East German citizens.
August 27, 2024
This is scary reading. It will make you angry and hopefully hyperaware. These people are every bit as dangerous as the other dictatorship from the 30’s and 40’s that gets more press and attention. It angered me because we had just visited the Hohenshonhausen prison and Stasi headquarters while in Berlin.
November 24, 2025
Enlightening narrative on the communist dictatorship in Germany until the fall of the wall and had some interesting threads about (former) stasi activities since. Lost me a bit when the obvious and boring middle right politics of the FBI writer bled through, but good warning about limiting free speech / freedom generally
March 21, 2024
Good book. Good insight into the aftermath of stasi careers. Author seems a little paranoid and clearly with a axe to grind against the left. I get his arguments but he mentioned "left" far too often
April 15, 2022
This was initially fascinating but ultimately felt somewhat repetitive and the authors agenda was ultimately coming through too clearly so it felt a bit biased
May 27, 2023
What did I think? Another zero. A waste of time. Did not finish.
April 14, 2024
A chilling history
A history of Stasi, the East German internal security agency, the communist Gestapo. Scary, especially that its remnants still pervade the unified Germany.
A history of Stasi, the East German internal security agency, the communist Gestapo. Scary, especially that its remnants still pervade the unified Germany.
October 27, 2024
These guys were insane - esp Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski
January 10, 2025
Good history read that weirdly descends into an American attack of the left
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