The Stasi Files: East Germany's Secret Operations Against Britain - Tapa dura

The definitive, revelatory account of the GDR's Cold War espionage activities against the UK: their goals, methods, sources -- and recruits. Before the collapse of Communist East Germany the country ran one of the most extensive intelligence networks in the world. Its secret service, the Stasi, consisted of as many as 150,000 agents by the time of its demise in 1990. Much more than a junior partner to the Soviet Union's KGB, the Stasi was in fact a highly professional and ruthless organisation which was dedicated to principles of conspiratorial aggressiveness and the protection of the Communist cause. Anthony Glees is one of the last researchers to gain access to the Stasi Archive in Berlin before it was closed. Drawing on documentary evidence in the files he presents a fascinating portrait of the Stasi's interest in, among other topics, the burgeoning CND movement in Britain and the Labour Party's prospects of holding office. Along the way he explains the elaborate structure of intelligence officers, agents and sources who together constituted the troops on the ground for the Stasi's campaign against the UK. Revelatory and controversial, THE STASI FILES is the most important book on espionage to appear since THE MITROKHIN ARCHIVE.

Anthony Glees is Reader in Politics and Director of European Studies at Brunel University. He is the author of two previous books: REINVENTING GERMANY (OUP, 1996) and THE SECRETS OF THE SERVICE (Cape, 1987).