§219

Stasi prison April 25, 1985

Surprise: Bully Schubert is back.
Baby Schubert is also in the room.
Shall I greet them with “Schubert twins?”

The mood in the room and Bully Schubert scare me too much.

In this copy of the interrogation protocoll the Stasi recorded my responses to questions related to the anticipated §214 charge: 'Threatening state authority.'

They start immediately.
The 3-pager manifesto is on the table.
Bully Schubert reads aloud:

“From the moment when you read this document I won’t move, I won’t eat and I won’t say a word.”
Followed by a whole array of questions from any angle.

“Explain yourself.”
“What did you expect?"
“Why are you threatening?”

Today they're digging.
They are digging deep.
I believe today is the day.

This first staccato of questions simply secures the §214 charge.
That’s what I signed up for: I deliberately threatened THE state authority.
Fair enough, that’s my pathway to freedom, that’s what I wanted all along.

After lunch time (alone back in the cell, Dirk is also "in session” again) - the real deal:
“Tell us about the additional copies of this document.”
-Silence

“You are writing that the document is made available to others in non-socialist foreign countries.
Elaborate defendant!”
- Silence

I can play this for a while.
Bully Schubert is calm.
Maybe too calm.

I know where this is going now.
They want to add the §219 charge.
‘Unauthorized collaboration with a foreign power.'

This will determine whether they’ll hand me a 2 or 5 year sentence - or more.
For the rest of the session I remain silent.
Bully Schubert leaves and comes.

They must consult their line of command.
This is very exhausting.
I remain silent.

Also with Dirk back in the cell.
From this point forward I have one focus:
Keep the sentence as low as possible but keep the pressure on to release me to the West.

Whenever this might happen.

*Testimony -> Start. This blog entry is part of a linear narrated testimony of the contemporary witness Jens Thieme who was imprisoned 1985-1986 as a political prisoner in various GDR prisons by the GDR Ministry of State Security. Stasi prison, Stasi jail, Stasi detention.