June 21: Lars Wien & Jonas Mueller-Töwe, Russia's Excellent Stasi Men
As published by t-Online on June 19, 2023
Russia's Excellent Stasi Men
By Lars Wien & Jonas Meuller-Towe, t-Online, 19 June 2023
The German head of an association of Russian security forces keeps in close contact with former Stasi employees. Medals are even awarded to each other. Is it more than an obscure tradition?
The most visible souvenir from Germany was bright blue and made of fabric: Oleg Eremenko brought a flag to Moscow in November 2022. It shows the emblem of the so-called "Officers of Russia", a 300,000-member Russian organization of military and security forces employees. Eremenko heads its German branch, and former members of the National People's Army (NVA) and the State Security (Stasi) of the GDR left good wishes for the Russian troops in eastern Ukraine on the flag. Other gifts to the "officers of Russia" were smaller but even stranger: medals from East German associations.
Posts on social media show that the "Officers of Russia" and associations of former Stasi officials honor each other's members. Among other things, the "Officers of Russia" honored former GDR top spies. Conversely, last year Eremenko presented medals from GDR supporters to the head of the officers' association in Moscow.
In times of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and Russia's claim to be a great power, which sees itself challenged by the West, this raises questions. For example: What is the connection between the German die-hards and the Russian imperialists? Just to maintain tradition or does it go beyond that?
The historian Hubertus Knabe, former director of the Stasi memorial in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, sees a new phenomenon in the cooperation with the "officers of Russia", as he told t-online: "The Ministry for State Security is almost like Putin's combat reserve in Germany."
In fact, there are indications. The connections between GDR supporters and the "officers of Russia" seem to be close. Last but not least, statements by Oleg Eremenko and postings in social networks suggest this.
In Moscow praise for German allies
As t-online reported, the Russian Eremenko, who was once an officer in the Russian military intelligence service GRU, holds a number of positions in Russian organizations in the EU, not just among the "officers". An association of former paratroopers and elite soldiers of the GDR, the Soviet Union and Russia shares his address. He also has ties to former Donbas militia leader Igor Girkin, his chief recruiter, and to the notorious Wagner mercenary group.
In Russia, Eremenko keeps reporting on his connections to former GDR structures: "We try to hold events together with former representatives of the GDR army," he said at an "Anti-Fascist Forum" in Moscow in 2022. "Despite their advanced age, these Germans ready to join the ranks and support the Russians." In March of this year he reiterated that: "There are many Germans who support us, officers from the former national army of the GDR, many from state structures, from the Stasi," he said in March. They are said to be almost ready to do anything the commander-in-chief says.
"Officer" medal for Rainer Rupp
Based on social media posts that have since been deleted, it can be understood that, among other things, that they awarded the former GDR top spy Rainer Rupp their medal "For Officer Honor". Rupp once spied for the GDR at NATO headquarters, brought secret documents to East Berlin and was convicted of treason for this. In some circles he is still highly praised today because he allegedly prevented a nuclear war with his information.
Rupp is not the only prominent bearer of the Russian medals.
Werner Großmann was also honored by the Russian Officers' Association shortly before he died in January 2022. Großmann was once the deputy minister for state security in the GDR and ultimately the last head of the main administration for reconnaissance, i.e. the foreign secret service of the GDR. He shares responsibility for the destruction of the files during the period of reunification.
Commemoration of Spy
Großmann's honor from Russia took place as part of a get-together for former Stasi people and communists: Every year on November 7, members of the "Society for Legal and Humanitarian Support" (GRH), the "Initiative Community for the Protection of the Social Rights of Former Members of Armed Forces and the Customs Administration of the GDR" (ISOR), the "Association for the Care of the Traditions of the NVA and the Border Troops of the GDR" (VTNVAGT) as well as the German Communist Party (KPD) and the German Communist Party (DKP). On the day they commemorate the communist Richard Sorge, a Soviet spy who warned the Soviet Union about Nazi Germany's attack. The highest distinction of the State Security was named after Sorge.
In front of the commemorative plaque for the spy, Werner Großmann and Rupp's command officer Karl Rehbaum received an honor and a certificate on this occasion in 2020. Rupp had been honored before.
But in addition to prominent heads of the former State Security, the "Officers of Russia" also honored fellow combatants who were apparently honored for recent activities: All are still active in clubs of former NVA and Stasi actors. At least three former members of the "Feliks E. Dzierzynski" guard regiment, the military arm of the MfS, received the metal.
Dzierzynski was the founder and head of the Bolshevik secret police Cheka. Tens of thousands fell victim to the "red terror" he organized in the early Soviet Union. According to Russian reports, his bust is on the desk of the founder of the "Officers of Russia", Anton Tsvetkov. His organization also wants a statue of Dzierzynski that was removed in 1991 in front of the KGB headquarters in Moscow to be put back up.
On the one hand, Thomas Schmidt was honored, who was presented as a colonel in the guard regiment, but according to other sources was a lieutenant colonel. Today he is the second chairman of the Paratroopers Traditional Association East (FTJO). The "Officers of Russia" praised him for his "enormous contribution to the combat brotherhood and friendship between our peoples". In January, he pleaded in a round of "officers" for the renaming of Volgograd to Stalingrad. There he said that Germany was an occupied and enslaved country for him and that he had to break with America in order to be able to live in peace.
In Schmidt's FTJO association, Wolfgang Schröder is the leader of the comradeship for the Berlin region , and presents himself as a former officer in the MfS regiment. Schröder is also the second chairman of "Desant," an association of former Soviet and Russian special forces under Eremenko's address. He, in turn, calls Schröder a friend, and they formed a team in a shooting competition between former special forces. Schmidt, Schröder, Schröder's wife and another member of the Traditional Association East received the award "For the honor of an officer".
Associations and participants are silent
None of those involved wanted to say what the awards were for. The associations did not react, Eremenko and Schmidt declined to comment. None of the associations provide information on who decided on awarding medals to the "officers of Russia".
From the point of view of the long-standing commander of the NVA paratroopers, former lieutenant colonel Klaus-Dieter Krug, these honors are "ridiculous nonsense". He said t-online: "It clearly has a political background." The "ahistorical" honors given to the "officers of Russia" and the Stasi alumni associations were based on the "Soviet model of awarding a medal for every occasion. Russians love it in particular, and we had taken part in the NVA."
Today, as the former head of the 40th Parachute Battalion and the 40th Air Assault Regiment that emerged from it, Krug belongs to the "Carl von Clausewitz" Comradeship Group, which is a member of what was once the West German Association of German Paratroopers. Krug has arrived in united Germany. He is responsible for the website nva-fallschirmjaeger.de, was a member of the ominous Fallschirmjägertraditionsverband Ost for just a few days and left after he was insulted there as a "traitor".
Expert: Traditional association taken over by Stasi cadres
Over time, the club has become a gathering place for "all sorts of specialists," says Krug. In 1990, tradition-conscious former paratroopers of the NVA founded it in enlisted ranks, but more and more former people from the former Ministry for State Security joined. "That was after they realized the club could be politically relevant." Now people are organized there "who live in a dream world of the last century".
Order of Stalin for German club chairmen
In the old Stasi structures, it is not just men of retirement age who are active: Liane Kilinc, who was born in 1972 and was still a minor when the Wall came down, is on the presidency of the East German Board of Trustees of Associations. The former GDR youth champion in track cycling grew up in a Stasi household. She runs an association called "Friedensbrücke-Kriegsopferhilfe eV", which is supported by organizations close to the Stasi, from Moscow because she feels threatened in Germany. The "Officer of Russia" Eremenko paid tribute to the club at the "Anti-Fascist Forum". It is primarily about humanitarian aid, especially for children in the Donbas. However, according to research by the left-wing newspaper Jungle World, it also finances the transport of war supplies to the Donbas. Kilinc is associated with the nationalist "Night Wolves" and posts in support of the Wagner mercenary group. The Russian Communist Party honored her with the "Order of Stalin".
The military historian Sönke Neitzel finds it "understandable that these people glorify the GDR and the Soviet Union". He told the NZZ that the Federal Republic had "not made any offer to bind them to the new state". Now they "hang around as free radicals". Historian Hubertus Knabe sees it as a "toxic mixture" when former Stasi employees and SED officials work together with Russian officers. "Here the glorification of the Soviet dictatorship is combined with current political references," said Knabe. These circles are particularly receptive to Putin's propaganda - even if his Russia no longer has anything to do with socialism.
120,000 euros from Germany for veterans
When looking for possible explanations for the honors from Russia, in the case of the traditional paratroopers with Schröder and Schmidt, you end up with a fundraising campaign: At the end of 2020, they launched a call for donations for Russian veterans and surviving concentration camp inmates from the "officers of Russia". supported and promoted. Rainer Rupp drew even more attention to the campaign with a post on the platform of conspiracy ideologist Ken Jebsen. Finally, around 120,000 euros flowed towards Russia "for those who fought against fascism and suffered from it," as it was said. Also for veterans "in fascist Ukraine and the Baltic States", as Eremenko explained, because there they were "not seen as heroes,
In Russia there was a lot of attention for the action, from the Federal Republic of Germany allegedly a tax saving: "We also issue a receipt for the donation for proof at the tax office," wrote Eremenko in an appeal by the "Officers of Russia", which the "Association to maintain the traditions of the NVA and the border troops of the GDR". Eremenko is "friend and partner". The money flowed through an account of the "Glinka Society" in the Russian House in Berlin, which presents itself as a cultural association.
"Every cent against the sinister policy towards Russia"
At a press conference to hand over the donations with the head of the "Officers of Russia" in Moscow in April 2021, Rupp and Schröder were connected. Joachim Bonatz, Vice-President of the East German Board of Trustees of Associations (OKV) and Vice-Chairman of ISOR, also had a say there. The OKV is an umbrella organization of various organizations in East Germany, which historian Hubertus Knabe describes as a "popular front against German unity". According to the "Officers" site, Bonatz complained that "all of the German taxpayers' money was unfortunately being transferred to Ukraine, where completely different victims and heroes were honored."
The contributions from Germany, however, were less about the veterans and concentration camp victims of 80 years ago. Rupp spoke of a "political action against the background of growing lies, disinformation and hate speech: We have made it clear that every cent (...) is a vote against the dark, provocative policy towards Russia and its President Vladimir Putin ." Rupp had wanted to avoid an impression that could also arise: that Russia cares too little about its heroes and therefore needs earlier Stasi cadres.