As of: March 15, 2024, 1:01 p.m
By: Peter Schiebel
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Looking into the Stasi files about the Tutzing Evangelical Academy: Speaker Willi Stör (center) with the chairwoman of the academy's circle of friends, Brigitte Grande, and academy director Udo Hahn.
© Andrea Jaksch
The Tutzing Evangelical Academy was targeted by the state security forces of the former GDR for more than 30 years.
In more than 400 pages of files, the academy is sometimes referred to as an “enemy organization,” but there are also plenty of trivialities.
The former study director Willi Stöhr (72) presented an insight into the documents for the first time on Wednesday.
Tutzing - The long arm of the state security of the former GDR reached as far as Lake Starnberg.
A dossier that the Stasi created about the Political Club of the Evangelical Academy in Tutzing dates back to 1957: 49 pages long, including a four-page list of participants, observations, reproductions of conversations, assessments and even a handwritten floor plan of Tutzing Castle that was accurately drawn with a ruler , the headquarters of the academy.
With this dossier, Willi Stöhr began his hour-long lecture “Under observation – academy work in the eyes of the Stasi” in the academy’s music hall on Wednesday evening.
The 72-year-old retired pastor was director of studies at the Evangelical Academy in Tutzing from 1983 to 1991 and now lives in the community again.
At the time, he maintained regular contact with official representatives of the Soviet Union and the GDR, but also with church members and later civil rights activists such as the prominent pastor Friedrich Schorlemmer from Wittenberg.
Encouraged by a meeting with former Federal President Joachim Gauck, Stör applied for access to Stasi files - in 2019, initially into his own ("But there are only index cards, the materials are probably impossible to find"), and in 2022 into those of the Evangelical Academy in Tutzing.
What he found there on more than 400 pages offers a very special insight into German-German history and into the fear that the GDR had of the church.
Political club under surveillance
Initially, the Stasi assessed the Evangelical Academies, which also existed in the GDR, as an “enemy organization,” as can be read on a worn piece of paper, handwritten and underlined in blue.
In the 1950s, there was study material for aspiring Stasi officers about “the anti-state activities of the Vatican and the anti-people elements of the Catholic and Protestant Church against the camp of socialism,” Stöhr quoted from a relevant file.
When the Academy's Political Club met in Tutzing from July 9th to 19th, 1957, during the era of founding director Gerhard Hildmann, “there must have been someone there who looked at this in detail,” said Stöhr, referring to the dossier.
There are records of, among other things, discussions about reunification, Soviet policy during the Khrushchev era and Judaism in Germany.
The structure of the academy is also examined by the spies.
Stasi files in the Federal Archives in Leipzig.
© Hendrik Schmidt
What is noteworthy is the Stasi's assessment that Evangelical Academies “falsely gave the impression of a free and scientific place of work”.
The academies are not an “honest scientific institution for researching the truth, but rather a rat-catcher with which the church puts on the mantle of science without having the prerequisites for it,” Stöhr quoted from the dossier and reported that SED hawks saw the “aggression on felt slippers”.
Stasi sees NATO at work in the academy
From the GDR's perspective, the academies had completely different intentions.
“The leading people of the church, who are under the influence of NATO policy and actively support it, particularly use the Evangelical Academies to achieve their goals,” Stöhr quoted from another paper, which ended on page 21 means: “This short presentation shows how dangerous the Evangelical Academies in the German Democratic Republic and in particular those in West Germany are, but on the other hand it becomes clear how difficult and difficult it is to contain or even prevent their work.”
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Persecution at every turn
Willi Stöhr placed a second focus on the 1980s, when there were numerous contacts from the Protestant Church in the West with the peace movement in the GDR.
In 1986, a group from Tutzingen undertook a trip to the GDR under the title “In the footsteps of Theodor Fontane – Hike through the Mark Brandenburg,” which the 72-year-old rated as follows: “In my opinion, it was a classic cultural trip.” The Stasi obviously saw that different.
In any case, the group was watched by informers at every turn.
“The activities were described in detail,” said Stöhr.
An “observation report” was sent to no less than 19 state authorities in the GDR, starting with “Comrade Lieutenant General Neiber”, as deputy minister of state security until the collapse of the GDR, essentially Erich Mielke's right-hand man.
Despite the numerous black and white photos, there is nothing really illuminating in it, but there are a lot of trivialities listed.
Another document states: “There were no operationally relevant incidents during the stay in the Seelow and Strausberg districts.
No contact attempts were identified.
The tour group appeared as a unit during the stay and there were no isolations from individual participants.”
The Evangelical Academy is at home in Tutzinger Castle.
© Ursula Düren
The conference “40 years after the end of the war – end of hostility?” in May 1985 was also under surveillance by the Stasi.
The spies reported to East Berlin of a “matter-of-fact atmosphere and sought solidarity with progressive groups from the Federal Republic of Germany.”
Until the end of the 1970s, the West was still perceived as an enemy and adversary, said Stöhr about the changed perception and strategy of the GDR.
The last entry is largely empty
The last entry is from September 1989, a few weeks before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The “Tutzinger Peace Days” dealt with the topic of arms exports and included Erich Hocke, associate professor and dean at the Friedrich Engels Military Academy in Dresden.
“There is only a single piece of paper that only has the topic on it, but no more notes,” says Stöhr.
The high-ranking officer may have already been aware that the GDR was coming to an end, he speculated
For him it is important to be aware of the strengths of democracy, but at the same time to recognize its dangers.
“Democracies are open to everyone – democrats, non-political people, normal citizens, free spirits, know-it-alls, enemies of democracy,” he emphasized.
But freedom and democracy could be undermined using democratic means, as the National Socialists were able to do at the time.
Academy boss speaks of a great moment
For academy director Udo Hahn, the evening was “a great moment”.
Stöhr managed to draw a wide range.
Hahn said that he himself was also targeted by the Stasi because of his close contacts with the Saxon regional church.
An officer on duty disguised as a Protestant pastor was apparently targeting him.
“My name appears as an operational target in the future.” As we all know, things shouldn’t get that far again.