Latest news with #GDR
Express Tribune
05-08-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Eyes of the Stasi
"Comrades, we must know everything!": Erich Mielke's message was clear. As director of East Germany's Ministry for State Security (commonly known as the Stasi) from 1957 to 1989, he oversaw the systematic surveillance of its citizens. As per DW, Stasi informants could potentially be found anywhere, even among colleagues or friends. Their task was to detect people labeled as "harmful" to society. In the eyes of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) regime, this included anyone who criticised the system and cooperated with the so-called "class enemy." This reasoning legitimised the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, which the GDR called the "anti-fascist protection barrier" against the "imperialist" or "fascist" capitalists in the West. To the GDR, the enemy was everywhere. For the Stasi secret police, which was founded in 1950, anything could arouse suspicion: From a joke about the chairman of the State Council, to listening to non-conformist music, to receiving letters with stamps from the West, or asking for a visitor's permit to enter West Germany. As "the shield and sword of the party," the Stasi was in charge of maintaining the rule of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) by clamping down on any opposition. Stasi officials would spy on people by reading their mail, wiretapping their calls and illegally entering their apartments. They would intimidate people and spread rumours — that they were alcoholic, or gay, for instance — to discredit them. In an especially deceitful move, agents would sometimes even spread lies about someone working for the Stasi. Many GDR citizens were imprisoned after criticising the regime. Working for the Stasi Colloquially, the Stasi was known as "Die Firma" (The Company) or "Horch und Greif" ("Listen and Nab"). Around 90,000 people worked for the Stasi full-time, while 100,000-200,000 "informal collaborators" (depending on the source) worked as informants before November 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell. These unofficial informants would spy on their friends and family — either willingly, or because they themselves were put under pressure. But what made them work for the authoritarian regime? That depends, said historian Philipp Springer, whose book, Die Hauptamtlichen (Staffing the Stasi) was published in July in Germany. "One reason was the feeling of having power over your fellow citizens," Springer explained of motivations for joining the Stasi. "And then there were the promises made by the ministry, which would claim that the job was interesting and might even allow for deployments abroad. At the end of the day, it was a very secure job to have — especially for people struggling with their career prospects." Not so exciting When researching his book, the author rediscovered rare photographs of Stasi officials at work from the Stasi Records Archive. As spies and informants, Stasi employees were usually behind the camera, not in front. Looking at the photos, the promise of an exciting life as a secret service agent quickly fades. "There might have been a few aspects of a James Bond life if you were deployed abroad and were involved in espionage," said Springer. "[But] if you weren't directly involved in espionage, then most of it was a lot less exciting that you might imagine." That's also why the photos in the book seem somewhat dull and amateurish: a man standing at a copying machine, for instance, or another man sitting at his desk. A woman working in the kitchen, or sometimes, just a hand reaching for the index card box. "Of course, these are all pretty normal things to see and are not really exciting," said Springer. "But at the end of the day, all these Stasi employees helped to keep the state apparatus going. They were all part of the system and had been trained politically and ideologically they were defending the socialist GDR against the West." 'Tiny clog' The author tried to include the biographies of some subjects in the photos, including first lieutenant Elfi-Elke Mertens, whose father had already worked for the Stasi - as did her husband. Described as "ready for duty" and praised as "diligent and devoted," she promised to try to stop a relative from traveling to the West. "My husband and I will speak to her again, and should she not be ready to cancel her trip, we will cut all ties to her," Martens said at the time. A Corporal Sylke Kindler, also featured in the book, had proposed attaching a camera to the bottom of a shopping basket in order to secretly take photos. Major General Horst Böhm was so loyal to the regime that he even committed suicide after the dissolution of the GDR. "You often think: OK, they were just a tiny clog in this huge machine," said Springer. "But at the end of the day, they chose to invest a lot of time and energy to work for this authoritarian regime. And so they must also face the fact that there are files about them." Learning from the past It was finally over for the GDR intelligence service following the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification in 1990. On January 15, 1990, thousands of demonstrators stormed the Stasi headquarters. Almost 15,000 bags of destroyed Stasi documents were discovered, but authorities were able to preserve more than 111 kilometres of files, 41 million index cards and over 1.7 million photos collected over decades. Many East Germans submitted applications to view their personal files. Some discovered that information had been gathered by friends and even family. Still today, there are many requests for files from former GDR citizens, said Springer. "In my opinion, this matter should also be given greater attention on a political or national level, because injustice was committed here by an entire apparatus. It is important to keep the memory alive," he said. Future generations who "have a responsibility to safeguard our democratic system" need to understand what happened, he added.
Yahoo
01-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Silver North Resources raises $268,235 in private placement for Yukon exploration
Canadian miner Silver North Resources has closed its non-brokered private placement, raising C$370,050 ($268,235) for the exploration and development of its Yukon assets. The company issued 2.4 million units at C$0.15 each. Each unit consists of one common share and half of a common share purchase warrant of the company. Holders of the warrants will have the option to acquire one common share for a period of 48 months from the issuance date, at an exercise price of C$0.35 per share. In relation to this placement, finder's fees totalling C$10,404 in cash and 69,360 finder's warrants were allocated to qualified parties. Each finder's warrant permits the holder to purchase one common share at a price of $0.15 for two years following the closing date. All securities issued in this offering are subject to a hold period of four months from the closing date. The funds raised from the units will be used for general administrative costs and to advance the company's project pipeline. Silver North holds full ownership of the Haldane Silver Project, situated adjacent to Hecla Mining's Keno Hill Mine project in the Keno Hill District of Yukon. Additionally, the company has operates the Tim Silver Project, currently under option to Coeur Mining, in the Silvertip/Midway District across British Columbia and Yukon, as well as the GDR project in the same district. Silver North is also looking to expand its portfolio by acquiring more silver properties in advantageous regions. Furthermore, the company's flow-through unit offering, announced in June 2025, has been fully subscribed, raising C$2.1m through the sale of units at C$0.21 each. The offering, expected to close by mid-August, includes one common share and a half warrant per unit, qualifying as "flow-through shares" under the Canadian Income Tax Act. "Silver North Resources raises $268,235 in private placement for Yukon exploration" was originally created and published by Mining Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
DW
01-08-2025
- Politics
- DW
Stasi: How the GDR kept its citizens under surveillance – DW – 08/01/2025
Life as an intelligence service agent à la James Bond? Not for those who worked for the GDR's Ministry for State Security. A new book reveals the mundane lives of Stasi agents. "Comrades, we must know everything!" Erich Mielke's message was clear. As director of East Germany's Ministry for State Security (commonly known as the Stasi) from 1957 to 1989, he oversaw the systematic surveillance of its citizens. Stasi informants could potentially be found anywhere, even among colleagues or friends. Their task was to detect people labeled as "harmful" to society. In the eyes of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) regime, this included anyone who criticized the system and cooperated with the so-called "class enemy." This reasoning legitimized the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, which the GDR called the "anti-fascist protection barrier" against the "imperialist" or "fascist" capitalists in the West. To the GDR, the enemy was everywhere. For the Stasi secret police, which was founded in 1950, anything could arouse suspicion: From a joke about the Chairman of the State Council, to listening to non-conformist music, to receiving letters with stamps from the West, or asking for a visitor's permit to enter West Germany. As "the shield and sword of the party," the Stasi was in charge of maintaining the rule of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) by clamping down on any opposition. Stasi officials would spy on people by reading their mail, wiretapping their calls and entering their apartments illegally. They would intimidate people and spread rumors — that they were alcoholic, or gay, for instance — to discredit them. In an especially deceitful move, agents would sometimes even spread lies about someone working for the Stasi. Many GDR citizens were imprisoned after criticizing the regime. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Colloquially, the Stasi was known as "Die Firma" (The Company) or "Horch und Greif" (Listen and Nab). Around 90,000 people worked for the Stasi full-time, while 100,000-200,000 "informal collaborators" (depending on the source) worked as informants before November 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell. These unofficial informants would spy on their friends and family — either willingly, or because they themselves were put under pressure. But what made them work for the authoritarian regime? That depends, said historian Philipp Springer, whose book, "Die Hauptamtlichen" (Staffing the Stasi), was published this week in Germany. "One reason was to the feeling of having power over your fellow citizens," Springer explained of motivations for joining the Stasi. "And then there were the promises made by the ministry, which would claim that the job was interesting and might even allow for deployments abroad. At the end of the day, it was a very secure job to have — especially for people struggling with their career prospects." When researching his book, the author re-discovered rare photographs of Stasi officials at work from the Stasi Records Archive. As spies and informants, Stasi employees were usually behind the camera, not in front. Looking at the photos, the promise of an exciting life as a secret service agent quickly fades. "There might have been a few aspects of a James Bond life if you were deployed abroad and were involved in espionage," said Springer. "[But] if you weren't directly involved in espionage, then most of it was a lot less exciting that you might imagine." Which is also why the photos in the book seem somewhat dull and amateurish: A man standing at a copying machine, for instance, or another man sitting at his desk. A woman working in the kitchen, or sometimes, just a hand reaching for the index card box. "Of course, these are all pretty normal things to see and not really exciting," Springer reiterates. "But at the end of the day, all these Stasi employees helped to keep the state apparatus going. They were all part of the system and had been trained politically and ideologically … they were defending the socialist GDR against the West." The author tried to include the biographies of some subjects in the photos, including first lieutenant Elfi-Elke Martens, whose father had already worked for the Stasi — as did her husband. Described as "ready for duty" and praised as "diligent and devoted," she promised to try to stop a relative from traveling to the West. "My husband and I will speak to hear again, and should she not be ready to cancel her trip, we will cut all ties to her," Martens said. A corporal Sylke Kindler, also featured in the book, had proposed attaching a camera to the bottom of a shopping basket in order secretly take photos. Major general Horst Böhm was so loyal to the regime that he even committed suicide after the dissolution of the GDR. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video "You often think: OK, they were just a tiny clog in this huge machine," Spinger said of GDR citizens who is now outing 35 years after the regime fell. "But at the end of the day … they chose to invest a lot of time and energy to work for this authoritarian regime. And so they must also face the fact that there are files about them." It was finally over for the GDR intelligence service following the fall of the Wall and German reunification. On January 15, 1990, thousands of demonstrators stormed the Stasi headquarters. Almost 15,000 bags of destroyed Stasi documents were discovered, but authorities were able to preserve more than 111 kilometers of files, 41 million index cards and over 1.7 million photos collected over decades. Many East Germans submitted applications to view their personal files. Some discovered that information had been gathered by friends and even family. Still today, there are many requests for files from former GDR citizens, says Springer. "In my opinion this matter should also be given greater attention on a political or national level, because injustice was committed here by an entire apparatus. It is important to keep the memory alive," he said. Future generations who "have a responsibility to safeguard our democratic system" need to understand what happened, he added. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
LeMonde
30-07-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
'I learned freedom at 34, and it was a revelation': Katja Lange-Müller, an eastern wind blows through West Berlin
She is not a woman who can be fooled. Katja Lange-Müller knows both sides of Berlin: the East, where she was born in 1951, and the West, where she sought refuge in 1984. She lives in Wedding, a neighborhood in the German capital that is still working class but is undergoing gentrification. There, you come across elderly women smoking as they walk down the street, plastic bags in hand. Lange-Müller also smokes, in the living room of her unpretentious apartment. Her voice is gravelly, her laughter loud, and she radiates the warmth typical of people from the former East Germany. She showed us her Stasi file – compiled by the political police of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) – which she obtained after the fall of the Wall in 1989. " Quatsch" ("nonsense"), " idiotisch" ("stupid"), she muttered as she leafed through the pages. On one sheet, photos of about 15 teenagers appeared. So young, they looked like children. "We had met up at an ice cream shop to trade Beatles records, and the Stasi agent wrote that we were plotting to cross over to the West." Lange-Müller recalled out that one in three residents worked for the Stasi, in some capacity. Her mother approved. Her name was Inge Lange (1927-2013). A staunch communist, she was among the very few women to have held top positions in the GDR. As soon as she could, Katja broke ties with her. Mother and daughter could never get along: one obsessed with her career, the other insolent. She was still in school when she received her first disciplinary warning, for making her classmates laugh by mimicking the high-pitched voice of Erich Honecker, the leader of the GDR from 1971 to 1989. Six months in Mongolia
News18
24-07-2025
- Business
- News18
Stocks To Watch: Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Nestle, IndusInd Bank, Natco Pharma, And Others
Last Updated: Stocks to watch: Shares of firms like Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Nestle, IndusInd Bank, Natco Pharma, and others will be in focus on Thursday's trade Stocks to watch on July 24, 2025: Indian markets closed higher in the previous session, rising over half a percent and offering a breather from recent declines. In today's trade, shares of Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Nestle, IndusInd Bank, and Inox Wind, among others, will be in focus amid a flurry of earnings announcements and key corporate developments. Bajaj Finance, Nestle, SBI Life, Adani Energy, Canara Bank, Motilal Oswal, and IEX are set to release their first-quarter results today, drawing investor attention. Infosys Infosys reported a net profit of Rs 6,921 crore for Q1FY26, an 8.7% year-on-year increase that beat market estimates. Revenue rose 7.5% YoY to Rs 42,279 crore, though operating margins declined to 20.8% from 21.1% a year ago. The company revised its FY26 revenue guidance upward to 1–3% in constant currency and noted that free cash flow dropped 17.7% YoY to Rs 7,533 crore but remained over 108% of net profit. IndusInd Bank IndusInd Bank's board approved fundraising of up to Rs 30,000 crore through a combination of debt and equity instruments, including Rs 20,000 crore via domestic or foreign debt securities and Rs 10,000 crore through QIP, ADR, or GDR routes. BEML BEML secured a Rs 293.82 crore order from the Ministry of Defence for High Mobility Vehicles (HMV) 6×6, used in military logistics and support. Oracle Financial Services Oracle Financial Services Software posted a 4% YoY rise in net profit to Rs 641.9 crore and a 6.4% growth in revenue to Rs 1,852 crore. Inox Wind Inox Wind received board approval for a Rs 1,249.33 crore rights issue, offering shares at Rs 120 apiece, with a rights entitlement ratio of 5:78 and July 29 as the record date. Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Dr. Reddy's Laboratories reported a marginal 1.26% rise in Q1 net profit to Rs 1,409.6 crore, with revenue up 11.4% to Rs 8,545.2 crore. Bajaj Housing Finance Meanwhile, Bajaj Housing Finance, a unit of Bajaj Finance, reported a 33.4% YoY increase in net interest income to Rs 887 crore and a 21% jump in net profit to Rs 583 crore, while maintaining strong asset quality with gross NPAs at 0.3% and net NPAs at 0.13%. view comments Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
