Spy vs. Spy: West German Counterintelligence and GDR Espionage

Please join us for the first lecture in our Spring 2024 series "Knowledge in the Shadows: Intelligence, Hidden Pasts, and Historians in the U.S. and Germany".

Michael Wala: Spy vs. Spy: West German Counterintelligence and GDR Espionage
To this day, the GDR agency responsible for espionage in the Federal Republic, the HVA, is widely considered one of the best foreign intelligence services of its time. Former employees carefully cultivate this image. So far, it has not been possible to thoroughly investigate this claim, since during the last months of the GDR’s existence they had been allowed to destroy almost all documentary sources. Because the West German agency responsible for counterintelligence, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, has been very reluctant to provide information about its activities, the narrative about the German-German spy war has remained a very one-sided story, in which, curiously enough, the losers dominate the discourse.

Complete and unrestricted access to the secret counterintelligence archives of the Bundesamt has now been granted for the first time. This allows to tell a different story, one that can reveal methods used to track down GDR spies, successes, and failures. The result is a counter-history that disenchants the myth of the supposedly “best” secret service.

Michael Wala, professor of North American History at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum, received his academic education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (M.A. History), at the Universität Hamburg (Dr. phil.), and at the Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (Dr. rer pol. habil.). He taught in Great Britain, in the United States, and he spent a year at Stanford University as Visiting Scholar. His research and teaching focuses, in addition to American History, on intelligence services. Most recent books include a biography of Otto John, the first president of the German domestic intelligence agency written with Benjamin Carter Hett (2019), and “The Stasi-Myth”, on West German counter intelligence and GDR espionage, published October 2023.

With the 2024 Spring Lecture Series at the German Historical Institute Washington, we cordially invite you on a journey through the captivating research field of “Intelligence History.” Featuring leading scholars in the field, our four lectures offer insights into the covert realm of classified information, clandestine knowledge, and power dynamics and the role they played in the history of the Americas and Germany in the Twentieth Century. To what extent have secret agencies and their practices of gathering information influenced international politics and the course of history? On the home front, how have the delicate relationships between secrecy and democracy evolved over time, evident in public debates and the treatment of individuals today known as “whistleblowers”? The lectures delve into these questions, shedding light on the intricate interplay between secrecy, democracy, and their impact on society. Furthermore, the lectures address the meta-level of research, highlighting the epistemological challenges faced by intelligence historians. How do scholars navigate inaccessible archives and information? What innovative perspectives, (digital) methods and data-driven approaches promise new insights into the world of secret services and declassified files? These inquiries form the cornerstone of our lectures, exploring new horizons in intelligence history.

Organized by Jana Keck and Carolin Liebisch-Gümüş (GHI Washington)
Cooperation Partners: International Intelligence History Association, Wilson Center, German Association for American Studies, and International Spy Museum

Please be aware that this event or conference, or a portion of it, could be live-streamed to registered participants watching remotely via ZOOM or a similar platform, or could be videorecorded for publication. By participating in-person, you understand that it is possible that you could be seen by registered participants watching the stream, that your comments may be seen/heard by participants watching the stream, and that a recording of the live stream could be made available on a video sharing service such Vimeo.

Organized by Jana Keck and Carolin Liebisch-Gümüş (GHI Washington)
Cooperation Partners: International Intelligence History Association, Wilson Center, German Association for American Studies, and International Spy Museum

Please be aware that this event or conference, or a portion of it, could be live-streamed to registered participants watching remotely via ZOOM or a similar platform, or could be videorecorded for publication. By participating in-person, you understand that it is possible that you could be seen by registered participants watching the stream, that your comments may be seen/heard by participants watching the stream, and that a recording of the live stream could be made available on a video sharing service such Vimeo.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

German Historical Institute, 1607 New Hampshire Ave NW, Washington, United States