By Carl H. Larsen
No sooner had I arrived in Rostock, Germany, than I landed in jail.
That may be a strange place to start an exploration of a prosperous and pleasing city that was once part of the formidable Hanseatic League. The league, dubbed the first European Union, was a trading partnership that wove together cities on the Baltic Sea in the late Middle Ages.
But I first needed to see for myself something in this city of 200,000 that I had read about for years — something that presented a tangible expression of a totalitarian government that for years had an all-powerful role over the daily lives of its East German citizens.
My jail, you see, was the regional pretrial prison used by the East German Ministry for State Security until the fall of the communist state in late 1989 and the reunification of East and West Germany. Here was the home for Rostock and the surrounding area of the feared and notorious Stasi, the not-so-secret East German secret police.
The prison is in the middle of the city yet is hard to find. From the outside it looks like an unremarkable office block; from the inside it's a fortress with windowless cells and rows of heavy iron doors that make a jarring, clanking sound when opened. Today it is a museum, one of several in the former East Germany that now document the abuses of the Communist regime.
Its reason for existence was simple: "The main task of the secret police was to keep dissenters under surveillance and to persecute them." The Stasi had "almost unlimited official and unofficial powers. Imprisonment was a severe form of repressing 'deviants,'" said the English guidebook. "From 1960 to 1989, around 4,800 male and female detainees suffered here."
It didn't take much to be a political prisoner or "enemy of the state." To engage in subversive activities could be as simple as telling a political joke, receiving publications from the West or making requests to emigrate to prosperous West Germany. "Wears Western clothes." "Likes punk music." That could be enough to get you into trouble. Stasi agents came in all stripes. One photo in the museum shows an undercover Stasi agent with an Elvis look — dressed in a leather jacket and thumbing a ride along an autobahn.
In all, the Stasi imprisoned approximately 200,000 in its years of stifling the political aspirations of East German citizens. To do this, they had help — a lot of it.
East Germans were the most spied-upon people in the world, but it was neighbors and acquaintances who did much of the spying. The German magazine Der Spiegel speculated on the extent of this snitchery in 2015.
"Historians haven't yet been able to say for certain how many East German citizens offered their services as informants. The majority declined to do so. But it is a certainty that there were many more informants than the 180,000 (informants) maintained by the Stasi in the final years of East Germany's existence," the magazine reported in July.
To reward the citizen informers, the Stasi would hand out retainers in the form of small cash payments or presents. The pervasive system is depicted in the 2006 thriller "The Lives of Others." That year the German movie took home the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
The tour through the Stasi prison in Rostock is fascinating. Former prisoners relate their experiences while being held in the lockup, accused of maligning the state. Exhibits show the extent of Stasi activities: widespread postal surveillance and wiretapping, illegal searches based on whims and patrols along the waterfront to prevent citizens from fleeing to freedom across the Baltic to nearby Denmark or Sweden. One room shows the ingenious devices, such as a makeshift surfboard, that some East Germans used to seek their freedom.
Much of the punishment was psychological, especially through extended interrogations, uncertainty over daily schedules and a sense of despair and hopelessness. Prisoners exercised in a small courtyard called the "Tiger Cage." On a gangway overhead, a guard patrolled carrying a submachine gun
In the dank basement are four "dark cells." "They were used sometimes to coerce confessions — or to punish prisoners for violating the prison rules," said the guide. Former prisoners remember these cells as having no bed, no toilet and not even a bucket. Meals were served at the discretion of the guards.
A typical political prisoner would be held in the jail for six months and sometimes longer before his or her case moved up through a rigged judicial process.
Leaving the dark and dingy prison on a cloudless day, I needed to shake off some of the depression by taking a short train ride to Warnemunde, Rostock's beachfront resort on the Baltic Sea. The quaint seafront town is known to thousands of travelers.
Each year big cruise ships from Celebrity, Holland America and Cunard call here. Some passengers take a grueling day trip to Berlin, but those who stay in Rostock are rewarded with the city's charming architecture and rich seafaring history. In Warnemunde, passengers can stroll along the beach, the broadest in northern Germany, and try the freshly caught fish or search for souvenirs. A vintage lighthouse, visible throughout the town, makes getting around easy.
Standing out on the beachfront is the Neptun Hotel and Spa, built by the East German regime as a showplace for dignitaries and lucky guests whose stay had been blessed by the Communist Party apparatus. Totally remodeled and with an extensive spa, the hotel today offers sea-view rooms and an elegant restaurant. One thing has been left unchanged since the Communist era ended: A cafe remains decorated in the style of the Socialist days.
Rostock left me with great memories of a city as vibrant as an ocean beach, but there's one that rises to the top.
As I left the Stasi prison with my wife, we met a man who was excitedly showing his young grandson the small, windowless cell where he had been held. He clanked shut the cell's heavy metal door. It's a sound you never forget.
WHEN YOU GO
Historic Highlights of Germany: www.historicgermany.com
Germany Tourism information: www.germany.travel
Hotel Neptun and Spa: Overlooking the Baltic Sea in Warnemunde, this high-rise hotel was built as a showplace resort by the East German government. Totally remodeled, it is now a luxury hotel with an extensive spa that is steps from the beach. Each guest room has a sea view: www.hotel-neptun.de.
Motel One: With a trolley stop just outside, this economy hotel is a convenient location from which to explore Rostock and environs. The main tourist office and pedestrian shopping street, Kropeliner Strasse, are a short walk away: www.motel-one.com/en/hotels/rostock.
The Rostock Card is a great value that offers tourists free public transportation throughout the region by bus and train and admission to many museums and attractions. Included are free city tours, discounts on shopping and spa treatments. Available year-round at transit centers, tourism offices and many hotels.
Stasi Museum: Officially called the Documentation Center and Memorial, it is located in central Rostock at Hermannstrassse 34b. Entrance is free. Tours in English by advance reservation: www.bstu.de.
Tourism offices (Warnemunde, Rostock) offer the Rostock Card, guided tours of the city, including by bike, and information on lodging and attractions: www.rostock.de/en/tourist-board.html
Transportation: The beachfront town of Warnemunde, Germany's largest cruise-ship port, is a 25-minute ride away by train (free with the Rostock card). By air: Rostock is connected to major cities in Germany. By train, Berlin is two and half hours away, while the Frankfurt airport is a six-hour journey. Ferries offer frequent service to Denmark, Sweden and Finland. Train information: www.raileurope.com
Carl H. Larsen is a freelance writer. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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