Suitable for today's 20th anniversary of the storming and occupation of the Stasi headquarters in Berlin today follows another interview with Harald Hauswald about his conflicts with the state security of East Germany.
Christopher Wilde: Hi Harald. After our last meeting I searched for the following picture in our database. I know that this picture was published in the book "Ost-Berlin".
© Harald Hauswald/OSTKREUZ
The picture shows a policeman during an identity check. Were you able to photograph this image openly or did you have to do it secretly, so that the official did not notice?
Harald Hauswald: Of course it was not open, I had to take off the prism of my Pentagon-Six camera, put the camera under my arm and shot backwards.
CW: The State Security of the GDR Stasi controlled you. About the book "Ost-Berlin" there was a special report with absurd comments. Were there any consequences when the book was published in West Germany?
HH: For me it was prohibited to print in the GDR.
CW: There were Stasi files not only about the "Ost-Berlin" book. When you applied the insight of the documents and read them for the first time, were there disappointing or unpleasant surprises?
HH: It was a bit hard to read that there were about 40 people who reported on me and some were quite busy there. The reports were sometimes so detailed that it could have brought me to prison for several years, but my acquaintance with Western journalists and the related Western public saved me from that.
CW: Thank you Harald.
