Courted in the East, spied on in the West: This is in the Stasi files of Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz
Created: 01/13/2022, 05:40 PM
By: Patrick Kuolt
The GDR State Security had the current Chancellor Olaf Scholz in its sights shortly after starting his political career with the SPD.
© John Macdougall / dpa
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was spied on by the GDR State Security during his time as a Juso functionary in the 1980s.
The Federal Archives have now given an insight into the files.
Berlin - Today's Chancellor Olaf Scholz * has been politically active as a member of the SPD since 1975 - and apparently attracted the attention of the GDR secret service early on.
As a former Juso functionary, Scholz was spied on by the State Security in the 1980s.
According to a report by
bild.de
, this emerges from the Stasi documents in the Federal Archives.
The surveillance therefore extended both to Scholz's trips to the GDR and to his political activities in Hamburg at the time.
Olaf Scholz: It's in the Chancellor's Stasi files
Scholz had traveled to the GDR several times in his function as deputy Juso chairman, including in May 1988, it was said. In return, the Stasi had instructed the border authorities to give the delegation preferential treatment - unusual, as people entering from the Federal Republic usually had to reckon with lengthy, often harassing controls.
"Issuing visas for Berlin, free of charge, exemption from minimum exchange, polite clearance, without customs control," said the report in a letter to the border guards at Berlin's Friedrichstrasse train station.
When Scholz traveled east, the SED regime rolled out the red carpet for him
On another trip in 1984, Scholz and other representatives of the SPD * youth organization were received by SED politburo member Egon Krenz.
The Stasi was interested in statements made by the current Chancellor at the time on peace policy and, in particular, on the stationing of nuclear missiles in the Federal Republic and the GDR.
In 1986 the Stasi recorded in a note about Scholz: "Belongs to the Stamokap - old political professional who has great influence in the organization."
The Marxist-oriented Stamokap group was then the name for the left wing of the SPD youth organization.
The abbreviation Stamokap stands for state monopoly capitalism - according to the corresponding Marxist-Leninist school of thought, this describes the final phase of capitalism.
Old political professional who has great influence in the organization.
Note from the GDR State Security about the then Juso functionary Olaf Scholz in 1986
Former SPD local politician as an informant in Hamburg
In Hamburg, Scholz was observed by the GDR foreign espionage, as
bild.de
reported further, citing the Stasi files.
Several Stasi agents had been assigned to him and the local lawyers, including a former SPD local politician.
According to information from
spiegel.de
, it was the spy "Kugel", the former SPD functionary Kurt Wand.
Wand was exposed and convicted as a Stasi spy in the 1990s.
Stasi forwarded information to the Russian secret service
In at least twelve reports in which Scholz was mentioned, it was about information about the Hamburg State Association of Jusos and the political discussions held there.
Some information was also passed on to the Soviet secret service KGB.
* Merkur.de
is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
