THE STORY – “The Spies Among Us” is a rare look into the inner workings of a data-driven surveillance state run by one of the most feared secret police forces the world has ever known – East Germany’s Stasi. A personal investigation into family secrets by Peter Keup, a Stasi victim-turned-historian, takes a turn when he contacts the men who ran the system. These are the first conversations of their kind between Stasi officers and a victim. Through these meetings, a terrifying mosaic is built of the lengths people go to maintain power in a dictatorship, as well as the indomitable human spirit that seeks truth and self-determination.
THE CAST – Peter Keup, Heinz Engelhardt, Jochem Girke, Bernd Roth, Harald Korff, Roland Keup, Uta Keup, Susanne Schädlich, Uwe Wons & Michael Schindler
THE TEAM – Jamie Coughlin Silverman & Gabriel Silverman (Directors/Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 94 Minutes
Much of the power of the new documentary, “The Spies Among Us,” which probes actions by the East German Stasi, is that it’s personal. For years, historian Peter Keup has been haunted by the fact that his brother informed on the family and even tipped the East German authorities of Peter’s plan to escape the East, resulting in his arrest and imprisonment for 10 months. All that Peter wants to know is, “Why did he do it?”
To aid in his search, filmmakers Jamie Coughlin Silverman and Gabriel Silverman chronicle his journey, which includes interviewing hundreds of victims of the Stasi (or, as it was more formally known, the Ministry of State Security), which served as a secret police force that created a surveillance state designed to root out political dissent against the ruling Communist regime before the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Stasi’s primary tool was the use of informants – East German citizens whom the Stasi blackmailed into cooperating in order to rat out anyone they believed to be disloyal to the Party. The use of informants was so widespread, in fact, that it was estimated that there was at least one in every four social groups. For Peter, that didn’t explain why his brother Ulrich chose to join their ranks.
The easiest way for him to find out, of course, would be to ask his brother, but Ulrich died in 1993 before Peter knew the truth. If Ulrich can no longer tell him why, Peter reasons the people who recruited him can. As Peter explores the many ways the Stasi used to coerce potential informants into cooperating, the directors begin to use Peter’s quest to expand the boundaries of their portrait that illustrates the many destructive policies of the Stasi and how their attempts to quash the East German people’s yearning for freedom in the West broke the spirit of so many.
To their credit, the directors make sure that Peter is no mere interviewer but a man with complex motivations of his own. His backstory alone is rich. He’s a championship ballroom dancer who wanted to compete on the world stage, which the East German government refused to allow. He tried to escape via train but was caught, arrested, and sentenced to prison. He served 10 months, at which time he was bailed out by West Germany, where Peter finally settled and opened up a successful dance studio. But all that changed when he learned of his brother’s betrayal.
To Peter’s surprise, most of the Stasi leaders willing to speak with him were frank and open about their participation. Major General Heinz Englehardt, the last surviving leader of the Stasi, however, accepts no blame and has no regrets. He admits his methods may have been excessive, but he doesn’t consider himself a perpetrator because he never faced trial. He reveals the scope of the surveillance methods that the Stasi used, from entering apartments, monitoring suspects’ mail, and installing bugs in their homes. Tellingly, the headgear that Englehardt chooses to wear on camera is revealing of his attitude: a knit cap that reads “Whatever.”
Other Stasi members, however, are more forthcoming. Psychologist Dr. Jochen Girke, who taught the various techniques used to turn someone into an informant, does have regrets and is still trying to come to grips with his own participation. To bring the point home, Peter takes him to the Stasi prison to see how the methods he taught were used. In one of the film’s most moving moments, Dr. Girke, finally seeing just how his methods were used for torture, acknowledges that he failed.
Ex-Stasi Major Bernd Roth offers Peter the greatest clarity. Agreeing to read through the Stasi’s file on Ulrich, Roth bluntly explains to Peter just how low-level an informant his brother was, even going so far as to consider Ulrich “completely disposable.” Then, however, Roth discovers a passage about Ulrich that comes as a shock to both men and one that sends Peter (and the film) in another entirely different direction.
The level of historical information that “The Spies Among Us” presents is impressive. Still, it wouldn’t be nearly as impactful if we didn’t identify with Peter so strongly and understand the importance that unlocking a family secret means to him. Throughout the film, he admits how nervous he gets before stepping into the same room with someone so responsible for repressing his family and his nation. It finally takes the love and support from one man – Peter’s husband, Harald Korff – to make him realize that the once-fearsome figures he meets have no power over him now.
The documentary moves swiftly thanks to crack editing by Gernot Grassl, crisp cinematography provided by co-director Gabriel Silverman, and Marcus Nigsch’s urgent musical score. If Peter’s journey shows us anything, it’s that learning the truth behind a hurtful action – even betrayal by one’s own family – can lead to understanding and even forgiveness. But within that truth lies an all-too-relevant reminder of just how easy it is for vulnerable people to be cowed into giving up their power to an oppressive force. It’s a warning that “The Spies Among Us” lays out to chilling effect.
