In January of 1990, demonstrators stormed the headquarters of East Germany’s secret police, the Stasi. Breaking into the building, they recovered reams of documents detailing the agency’s extraordinary surveillance of citizens, though many had already been frantically shredded by Stasi officials. The new government declared that the sacked Stasi headquarters should be renovated as a memorial, and the center now known as the Stasi museum opened its doors not long after German reunification. In a fascinating photo essay, programmer Egor Egorov captures the spy technology preserved in the museum, from camera-filled watering cans to hastily smashed hidden microphones — all meant to be used alongside the Stasi’s meticulous disguises. A few of the many photographs have been reproduced below, all courtesy of Egorov.
Even the trees are watching: collecting the Stasi’s hidden cameras and secret radios
Captured relics of a dead surveillance state
is a senior tech and policy editor focused on online platforms and free expression. Adi has covered virtual and augmented reality, the history of computing, and more for The Verge since 2011.
1/6As protesters stormed the headquarters, Stasi workers attempted to destroy equipment like the cameras above.
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