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February 10, 2012
File reveals West Berlin locksmith copied police keys for Stasi
Published: 3 Feb 10 15:28 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20100203-25015.html
A West Berlin locksmith provided East Germany's feared security force the Stasi with keys to police stations and other important buildings on his side of the divided city for years, according to a file found by weekly newspaper Die Zeit.
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The man, whose code name was “IM Genua,” managed to copy "special security keys" for the West Berlin police that opened traffic light boxes, police call stations, and many stations in the city, the paper reported in an advance of its Thursday edition.
Agent IM Genua also handed over keys to the Hotel Savoy on Fasanenstraße, including the master key which opened the “main entrance, conference room, operations offices and all hotel rooms.”
During the course of his relationship with the Stasi, he also copied keys to vehicles, mailboxes and the television studio for West German broadcaster ARD.
After the reunification in 1990, the agent was discovered and sentenced to 18 months of probation, Die Zeit reported.
The Local (news@thelocal.de)
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Your comments about this article:
My name is Rudolph J. R. Wratten and I was born in Germany.
My real parents died at a young age and so I was put with relations and sent to the USA.
The adopted mother (not my choice) was a drug addict and would give the STASI everything they wanted in exchange for a fix.
When I would not go along with this she tried to turn me in, it failed so they deported her to the USA where she did much of the same, and was sent to jail for it.
Now that I know that I was adopted, do I have a choice?
I would like to know, am I a German?