Courted in the East, spied on in the West: That's what Chancellor Scholz says in the Stasi file
Created: 01/14/2022, 12:58 p.m
By: Patrick Kuolt
The GDR state security had the current Chancellor Olaf Scholz in their sights shortly after he began his political career with the SPD.
© John Macdougall/dpa
Chancellor Scholz was spied on by the GDR state security during his time as a Juso functionary in the 1980s.
The Federal Archives have now granted access to the files.
Berlin – Today's Chancellor Olaf Scholz* has been politically active as a member of the SPD since 1975 – and obviously attracted the attention of the GDR secret service early on.
As a former Juso functionary, Scholz was spied on by state security in the 1980s.
According to a report by
bild.de
, this emerges from Stasi documents in the Federal Archives.
The monitoring therefore extended both to Scholz's trips to the GDR and to his political activities in Hamburg at the time.
Olaf Scholz: That's in the Chancellor's Stasi file
Scholz had traveled to the GDR several times in his capacity as deputy Juso chairman, including in May 1988, it said.
The Stasi instructed the border authorities to give the delegation preferential treatment - unusual, because people arriving from Germany usually had to expect lengthy, often harassing checks.
"Issuing a visa for Berlin, free of charge, exemption from the minimum exchange, polite clearance, without customs control," the report said in a letter to the border guards at Berlin's Friedrichstrasse station.
Whenever Scholz traveled to the 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.
Among other things, 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 aroused the interest of the Stasi.
In 1986, the Stasi recorded a note about Scholz: "Belongs to the Stamokap - an 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 a spy in Hamburg
In Hamburg, Scholz was observed by the GDR foreign espionage, as reported by
bild.de
, citing the Stasi files.
Several Stasi agents were scheduled for him and the local Jusos, including a former SPD local politician.
According to
spiegel.de
, it was the spy "Kugel", the former SPD official Kurt Wand.
Wand was exposed and convicted as a Stasi spy in the 1990s.
Stasi forwarded information to Russian secret service
At least twelve reports in which Scholz was mentioned concerned information about the Hamburg Jusos regional association and the political discussions held there.
Some information was also passed on to the Soviet secret service KGB.
*Merkur.de
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