Unknown photographers, undated, Pictures from the Secret STASI Archives
The Berlin-based photographer Simon Menner has dealt extensively with the subject of surveillance, and his research here has led him to conclude that there isn’t much available pictorial material showing the activity of surveillance from the perspective of those doing the surveillance rather than those under surveillance. Of course we are all familiar with the blurry images of surveillance cameras; but Menner suspected that there must be more. He was intrigued by the question of what the Orwellian ‘Big Brother’ sees when he has us under observation.
It is indeed astonishing that this field has not attracted more research. After all, the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) was home to the State Security Service (STASI)—one of the largest surveillance apparatuses in history. Relative to the size of the population, the East German STASI had far more agents than the KGB or the CIA. After the wall dividing Germany was torn down most of the archive materials were opened to the public, and although access to these documents is subject to certain limitations, the sheer scope of this access is unparalleled among all the countries of the former Eastern Bloc. Even in the West, nothing like this exists. So it was only natural that Simon Menner approached the authorities responsible for storing the STASI archives with his request to see more. The authorities proved to be both kind and helpful. Menner received permission to sift through the photos at the archive and to make several reproductions.
Perhaps the most disconcerting photos Menner found—when he began his research, he had no idea such things existed—were the photographs made by STASI spies photographing other spies. Among the allied powers there were small units who were allowed to move freely between East and West Germany: the Military Liaison Missions (MLM). Both sides to the East and West considered these ‘Missions’ an ideal opportunity to spy on each other. Whenever a unit of MLM soldiers travelled through East Germany, the STASI did their best to observe them. Each side was well aware of the fact that the other side knew what they were up to. And that’s exactly what we see in these photos: an endless circle of reciprocal awareness. In Simon Menner’s opinion, this is a prototypical image of the Cold War. And that is why the artist is currently investigating whether comparable photographs are extant in the archives of the Western allies. Exhibited together, they would reveal the closed circularity of these activities. (read more)
I apologize in advance for any historical inaccuracies or translation errors, as I am neither German nor do I speak the language, and would greatly appreciate anyone nice enough to correct me! ]]
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The curtain parted, the hand puppets appeared. The evil stepmother had been replaced by a loving mother who went into the forest to help her woodchopper husband; the children had followed to help them, and became lost. The chief villain now was the landlord, that vestige of capitalism; the meager sum he paid the kindly perasant family caused their hardship.
[…] Periodic refresher courses helped them sharpen performances and educate in a socialist sense. ‘For instance,’ Georg said, ‘here we show kindhearted, industrious parents, caution children to obey their parents, and illustrate how our children have a better life than in fairy tales. We also leave out things that are no longer valid. Hansel and Gretel no longer find pearls and precious stones in the witch’s house. Our children cannot understand this anymore — pearls and precious stones mean nothing to them. So we have them find a miracle pot, always filled with food.’
"+ “East Germany: The Struggle to Succeed” National Geographic, Sept. 1974 (via truthofmasks)
The socialist fraternal kiss or Brotherhood Kiss was a special form of greeting between the statesmen of the so-called Eastern Bloc. It consists of an embrace and a mutual kiss (or kisses) to cheeks or in rarer cases to the mouth.
With this a special connection between Socialist states was to be demonstrated. Both the embrace and the kiss were supposed to be the expression of happiness, fraternity and equality, and were otherwise a transformation of a known ritual and symbol of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The fraternal kiss became famous via Erich Honecker and Leonid Brezhnev, who were photographed exercising the ritual. The photograph became widespread and it was subsequently transformed into a graffiti painting on the Berlin Wall; see My God, Help Me to Survive This Deadly Love.
The origin of this ritual stems from the Eastern Orthodox Fraternal- or Easter Kiss, which through its entrechment in the rites of the Orthodox Church carried a substantial strength of expression and so found use in daily life.
As a symbol of equality, fraternity and solidarity, the socialist fraternal kiss was the expression of the pathos and enthusiasm of the emergent Workers’ movement between the middle and end of the 19th century. In the years after the October Revolution and the subsequent Communist International, a ritualisation of the so far spontaneous gist succeeded into an official greeting between Communist comrades. The symbolic reinforcement of the feeling of camaraderie also gained success through the fact that many Communists and Socialists had to make long, arduous and dangerous trips to then the isolated Bolshevik Russia. That way the much-experienced international Solidarity found expression in stormy embraces and kisses.
After the Soviet Union collapsed, the use such a greeting ritual declined.
