Are there any examples of East German wifes informing on their husbands for Stasi?

November 9, 2009 7:50 AM

In a critique of Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) Slavoj Žižek asserts that "in all known cases of a married couple where a spouse betrayed a partner, it was always a man who became an informant." Famously, Ulrich Mühe, star of Das Leben der Anderen, asserted that his ex-wife spied on him for Stasi, though both the ex-wife and her supposed Stasi superior denied this. Other than that case, are there any examples of East German wifes informing on their husbands for Stasi?
posted by Kattullus to society & culture (3 comments total)

The relevant bit from the Daily Telegraph article I linked to:

In a book accompanying the film, Mühe spoke about the sense of betrayal he felt when he found out about his former wife's alleged Stasi role.

But the affair took a bizarre turn after Jenny Gröllmann's real-life Stasi controller claimed that he had made up many of the details in the file and that the actress had not known that she was speaking to a Stasi agent.

After a highly public and acrimonious battle in the courts, Jenny Gröllmann, who died last August, won an injunction preventing the book's publication.

posted by Kattullus at 7:50 AM on November 9, 2009

Tangentially related, further reading on the subject. Stasiland by Anna Funder. Collection of true (?) short stories from behind the Berlin wall.
posted by greekphilosophy at 8:24 AM on November 9, 2009

It's been a while since I read it, but there were a number of examples of spousal betrayal in Markus Wolf's "Man Without a Face". It's also an intriguing read, generally.
posted by fake at 9:19 AM on November 9, 2009