The Establishment of the East German Ministry of State Security and its Cooperation with the Hungarian State Security Services 1945–1990

Abstract

Little is known to the public about the fact that in Hungary, before the change of regime (1990), the East German secret service also had – besides Soviet intelligence (KGB, GRU) – very significant operational capabilities. While the interests and activities of Soviet intelligence were primarily aimed at keeping Hungary a member of the Eastern Bloc, the priority of East German intelligence was to observe the West and East German families staying in our country and having meetings there, and to prevent them from escaping to the West. In my analysis I would like to briefly introduce the establishment of the East German state security service and the circumstances of its establishment. I would like to outline the legal means by which the two countries concerned have enabled a foreign secret service to carry out operational tasks not only with the knowledge but also with the active involvement of the Hungarian State Security Agency. Finally, I present the world political event that brought this cooperation to an end.