Hacking the Stasi Museum: Robbers Stole Communist-era Signs and Jewelry

The place where the East German police headquarters was located was breached only a few days after millions of euros worth of diamonds were stolen from the "Green Vault" in Dresden. The thieves broke through a window on the ground floor, with burglars using a nearby roof. They have not yet been caught

Hacking the Stasi Museum: Robbers Stole Communist-era Signs and Jewelry

Robbers stole communist-era medals and jewels preserved at the Stasi Museum in Berlin, housed in the former secret police headquarters of East Germany. This is just six days after millions of euros worth of diamonds were stolen from the Green Vault in Dresden.

Museum director Jorg Drieselman told the BBC that the items stolen in Berlin are worth "several thousand euros". Stasi had a huge network of spies and informers in the Communist East. "Eight or nine medals were stolen," Dreiselman said, but some of the medals were replicas, and "the physical damage done during the robbery is more than what was stolen."

Among the items stolen were the letter from Marx and Lenin. The jewelry taken was a pair of earrings, a pearl and gemstone ring, a gold wristwatch and a gold watch. The burglary was Saturday night, through a window on the ground floor, with burglars using a nearby roof. They have not yet been caught.

The Stasi Museum in Berlin, yesterday (Photo: AFP)

The Stasi Museum in Berlin, Germany, December 1, 2019 (Photo: AFP, GettyImages)

Part of the museum is the former office of secret police chief Erich Milke, who remains as found by protesters who stormed the building in January 1990 after the collapse of the communist regime after the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. Many expensive items confiscated from the regime were found there. The museum manager said most of these items were subsequently returned to their owners, but some of them were not claimed, so they were on display at the museum.

In some cases, the Stasi sold banned jewelry in the West to make foreign currencies. Dryselman said the burglary lasted only about fifteen minutes and that the guards were not in a permanent place throughout the night.

In the case of the more extensive investigation into the burglary in Dresden last week, police offered a € 500,000 prize for information that would lead to suspects or the finding of the stolen gems.

Breaking into the "Green Vault" museum in Germany: "The historic jewels will not return"