Saga - 2008, Page 113

Abstract
b i rg i r guðmunds son and markus meckl
WEARING SUMMER SHOES IN DECEMBER
Iceland in the East German secret police records (Stasi)
The Stasi, or secret police of the German Democratic Republic, was an important
pillar of the totalitarian state constructed by East German communists. Through
its personnel, the Stasi compiled an enormous databank of documents and
reports which formed the basis of Stasi social power. Most of this collection is
still extant today, preserved in a special Stasi archive, Bundesbeauftragte für die
Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der ehemaligen Deutschen Demokratischen
Republik. This article examines and analyses those archive documents which
involve Iceland or Icelanders. There are some 250 such documents, and they can
be divided into four categories.
First, there are documents evaluating the political situation in Iceland. These
reports were not compiled by the Stasi itself, but by embassy employees or,
before the embassy was established, by employees of the East German commerce
bureau in Reykjavík.
The second category consists of documents relating to an Icelandic student
who worked as an informant for the Stasi in the early 1960s under the alias
„Karlson“. This refers to the economist Guðmundur Ágústsson, who was then
pursuing studies in East Berlin.
Documents in the third category relate to Ingvar Helgason, an Icelandic
importer of Wartburg automobiles. The Stasi apparently found cause to monitor
the circumstances and activities of this salesman for East German cars.
The fourth category includes various documents connected to official busi-
ness of the Icelandic authorities and government, ranging from the presentation
of credentials by a diplomat, to a state visit to West Germany by the Icelandic
President.
Analysis of the Stasi documents reveals that relative to the archive’s overall
scale, Iceland lay on the margins of Stasi interest. The documents show very well
the virtual reality created by the secret police within the framework of totalitari-
an society. While the documents are therefore suspect, they remain as important
historical evidence on the status and role of Iceland with respect to the GDR.
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