Following the historical overview presented in the first part of last year’s book presentation on “Prostitution in the GDR,” historian Steffi Brüning will now focus, on Saturday, July 25, 2026, at the Federal Archives —the Stasi Records Archive in Schwerin—will examine the specific life stories and fates of women in the northern part of the GDR, drawing on selected biographies.
In this work, Brüning examines how the Ministry for State Security’s recruitment and intended “use” of prostitutes as unofficial collaborators worked in practice.
The Stasi deployed sexually promiscuous women and sex workers, among others, as “honey traps” to target individuals of “operational interest.” At the same time, however, they had to fear repression if they came to the attention of other state actors such as the police, the Internal Affairs departments, or actors in the healthcare system. Brüning describes the strategies these women developed to counter this in the authoritarian state of the GDR.
Date:
Saturday, July 25, 2026, 2:30 p.m.
Saturday at the Archive – featuring a lecture and discussion, archive tour, application assistance, and consultation
Speaker:
Dr. Steffi Brüning, historian, Rostock
Location:
Federal Archives – Stasi Records Archive Schwerin
Görslow, Resthof
19067 Leezen
Admission is free.
