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Co-operation between the GDR Ministry for State Security (MfS) and the Polish Ministry of the Interior (MSW)

Dictatorship Research / Research field
Rule and Society / Research focus  (Project completed)
Prof. Dr. Tytus Jaskułowski / Coordination

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The relations between the Ministry for State Security and the Polish Ministry of the Interior were among the most difficult within the Warsaw Pact. Despite the many formal declarations of friendship, also stipulated by treaty, the two secret services never trusted one another.

In his work, based on extensive research in Polish and German archives, Dr.TytusJaskulowski has explored the different dimensions of those relationships. In particular, the study presents the image of a never-existing friendship and questions the operational and analytical capabilities of the Stasi in Poland. At the same time, Jaskulowski examines for the first time the activities of Polish intelligence in the GDR.

The Polish version of the study, entitled A Friendship that Never Existed.The Ministry for State Security and the Polish Ministry of the Interior 1974-1990 (published by the University of Warsaw) received the 2014 award for best historical book in Poland, sponsored by the Institute of National Remembrance and by the public radio and television networks in Poland.

Based on the unpublished German version of the aforementioned monograph, the post-doctoral dissertation is under preparation at Chemnitz Technical University and should be completed by the summer semester of 2018.