Mysterious accidents, alleged suicides or poison balls

Book presentation
In her new book, the GDR civil rights activist Freya Klier sheds light on this dark chapter of the GDR. The author Gunter Lange has worked through the tragic life story of Werner Teske, the last spy executed in the GDR.

Between the Surveillance State and »Going Dark«

Panel discussion
Communication services such as WhatsApp use tap-proof encryption. Intelligence services warn of the “going dark problem” with every new terrorist attack. What solutions are there for this dilemma between protected, private communication and the security interests of states?

Till death do us part!

Book presentation

Inside views of agent couples and their legends: Beatrice and Jeffrey Schevitz spied for the Stasi in West Germany, the Thiel couple were top agents of the KGB in the USA. Never before have agent couples given evidence of their active time.

Between the surveillance state and “going dark”

Series: The Future of Espionage

What solutions are there for the dilemma between secure, private communication and the security interests of states? In the context of increasing cyber attacks, not only data protection officers but also increasingly secret services argue against an intentional weakening of software and encryption.

A plane crash with consequences

Panel discussion

On April 6, 1966, a Soviet fighter plane crashed into Stoessensee in West Berlin. The British discovered explosive military secrets in the wreck. Fifty years later, the historian Bernd von Kostka evaluated blocked British secret service files – and published the whole case in the book “Capital of Spies”.

The secret workshops of the State Security

Panel discussion

The secret workshops of the Stasi – the “Operativ-Technische Sector (OTS)” – were responsible for the technical spy equipment. Special departments developed a gigantic bundle of equipment that also served to monitor their own people and often brought dissidents or critics of the regime to prison.