Sascha Anderson

Alexander "Sascha" Anderson (born 24 August 1953) is a German writer and artist who was an influential figure in the alternative scene in pre-unification East Berlin in the 1980s.

Anderson was nicknamed "the culture minister" due to his role in organising cultural events and promoting young artists.

Anderson was born in Weimar in 1953 to a theatre director/actor father and architect mother.

In the 1960s Prenzlauer Berg had become a home to East German artists, intellectuals and the gay community; in the 1970s and 80s, the district was known as a "legendary Bohemia" which attracted artists like Cornelia Schleime and poets Adolf Endler and Bert Papenfuß-Gorek.

As an adult, he moved to Dresden where he trained as a typesetter and used his skills to print and disseminate political leaflets and poetry, for which he was imprisoned twice, in 1970 and 1972.

Anderson's first reports to the Stasi came after his prison sentences.

Anderson's code name was Fritz Müller

The East German secret police, known as the Stasi, had one of the most extensive and effective intelligence networks to have ever existed.

By the late 1970s, the Stasi had moved from overt persecution to a programme of psychological harassment known as Zersetzung.

The goal was the "fragmentation, paralysis, disorganization, and isolation of the hostile and negative forces, in order to preventatively impede the hostile and negative activities" of political opponents.

In 1976 Wolf Biermann, a prominent singer-songwriter in the scene, had his citizenship revoked while on a tour of West Germany; another member, philosopher Rudolf Bahro, was arrested and imprisoned in 1977 after he admitted having written The Alternative, a critique of East German socialism.

These events triggered a wave of emigration in the counter-culture scene, and left what the ceramicist Wilfriede Maaß described as a "deep void".

Anderson moved from Dresden to Berlin in 1981, and based himself in the Prenzlauer Berg district.

He has been described by those who knew him as "fascinating", "charismatic" and "an idol"; he immersed himself in the East Berlin alternative scene, became a singer in a punk band, and quickly gained a reputation as an organiser of cultural events.

He arranged for the screening of films and publication of books and magazines, and found spaces for artists to work, perform and exhibit.

For some time, he lived with Ekkehard and Wilfriede Maaß and their apartment and workshop became a meeting place for artists and bohemians.

Ekkehard and Anderson held readings and exhibitions in their home, and it became a literary salon, attended by Heiner Müller, Christa Wolf, Volker Braun and Franz Fühmann.

Allen Ginsberg and Yevgeny Yevtushenko also visited; it has been speculated that the well-known participants may have protected the gatherings from being persecuted by the Stasi.

In 1986, Anderson emigrated to West Germany, but continued organise cultural events in the East, and to report to the Stasi.

While in West Berlin, he worked as a private secretary for A. R. Penck.

Six months after he moved to the West, the Stasi opened a file on Anderson and may have been under surveillance even earlier.

He also wrote about himself in his reports: in 1986, he wrote to the Stasi: "Sometimes I had the feeling that I am being paid to monitor myself".

His reports were "precisely articulated and contained incriminating evidence against his fellow writers".

In interviews, Anderson has given a number of reasons for becoming an informant.

By 1989, it was estimated there were at least 189000 informants in every sphere of East German society, and files on millions of citizens.

In 1989, protests in East Germany culminated in the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In 1991, it was revealed that he had been an informal collaborator for the East German Stasi since 1975.

In 1991, singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize.

During his acceptance speech, he made reference to a number of Stasi spies, including "the untalented babbler Sascha Arschloch [asshole]... who is still playing cool and hoping his files won't show up".

The announcement caused immediate outcry amongst Anderson's friends and supporters; when asked by Schleime and Endler, he had repeatedly denied working as a spy.

The information provided to the Stasi by Anderson included "accurate and detailed psychograms of all artist friends" "No critical word, no rebellious eye, no precarious love had escaped" from the reports.

He organised events, and then reported on them to the police.

In a documentary in 2009, Anderson said, "It was incredibly exciting...it never crossed my mind that I was with the Stasi. I was there very quickly, standing on top of the wall. It was a beautiful feeling and I wanted to be part of it. I couldn’t stand by and watch it from afar."

A friend recalls that Anderson swore at the sight of the open wall, although Anderson says he does not recall this.

In 2009, speaking in a documentary he answered:

How did you decide to be a spy?

In that situation someone comes and wants something from you and if you’re egotistical and altruistic enough then you say “Okay, let’s do it.

I’ll do what I can and you’ll do what you can”.

That’s fine.

I’m not the sort of person who makes decisions based on an idea, so if the Devil looks good, I might say to him: “How can I help you, dear Devil?”