The Stasi Poetry Circle (223)

Cold War Conversations - "vivid & compelling" The NY Times

Ian Sanders

History, Documentary, Society & Culture

4.8 • 865 Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2022

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1982 the East German Ministry for State Security is hunting for creative new weapons in the war against the class enemy – and their solution is stranger than fiction. Rather than guns, tanks, or bombs, the Stasi develop a programme to fight capitalism through rhyme and verse, winning the culture war through poetry – and the result is the most bizarre book club in history. I speak with Philip Oltermann the author of The Stasi Poetry Circle. Philip has used unseen archival material and exclusive interviews with surviving members to tell the incredible hidden story of a unique experiment: weaponising poetry for politics. Now if you think there is a vast army of research assistants, audio engineers and producers putting together this podcast you’d be wrong. This podcast relies on your support to enable me to continue to capture these incredible stories and make them available to everyone for free. If you’d like to help to preserve Cold War history and enable me to continue to produce this podcast you can via one off or monthly donations. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ for more details. Do join our facebook discussion group where the cold war conversation continues between episodes. Just search Cold War Conversations in Facebook. I am delighted to welcome Philip Oltermann to our Cold War conversation… Book giveaway and further information here. https://coldwarconversations.com/episode223/ 0:00 Introduction with Philip Oltermann 6:09 Discussion on GDR's policies towards arts and culture 13:22 The Stasi's involvement with writing circles and their shift in approach 21:01 Role of poetry and culture as a weapon in the Cold War 28:37 The story of Annegret Gollin and Stasi's fear of subversive literature 34:57 Stasi's recruitment process and the impact on Annegret Gollin. 39:03 Introduction to Alexander Ruika, a talented poet and spy 44:27 Discussion on the fear of nuclear war in the 1980s 49:39 Introduction to Uwe Berger, the teacher of the Stasi poetry circle 57:43 The decline of the GDR and impact on the writing circle 1:02:13 Book giveaway announcement 1:03:12 Acknowledgement of the podcast's patrons and promotion of the Facebook group 1:06:03 Closing remarks and promotion of the podcast's store Table of contents powered by PodcastAI✨ Radio GDR If you are interested in East Germany we can highly recommend our friends over at Radio GDR. Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Cold War Conversations, the home of real stories of the Cold War.
0:05.8	Starzy Poetry Circle, it sort of sounds a little bit like a joke.
0:08.6	It's a bit Montish-Pyton.
0:10.2	But I felt I wanted to sort of tell a story that brought out the comic
0:14.5	as well as the horrific aspect of that absurdity.
0:21.2	This is Cold War Conversations.
0:26.1	If you're new here, you've come to the right place to listen to first-hand Cold War
0:31.2	history accounts.
0:32.9	Do make sure you follow us in your podcast app so that you don't miss out on future episodes.
0:39.0	In 1982, the East German Ministry for State Security is hunting for creative new weapons
0:45.5	in the war against the class enemy. And their solution is stranger than fiction.
0:51.2	Rather than guns, tanks or bombs, the Starzi develop a program to fight capitalism
0:57.0	through rhyme and verse, winning the culture war through poetry, and the result is the most
1:02.7	bizarre book club in history. I speak with Philip Altman, the author of the Starzzi Poetry Circle.
1:10.3	Philip has used unseen archival material and exclusive interviews with surviving members
1:15.7	to tell the incredible hidden story of a unique experiment weaponising poetry for politics.
1:23.3	Now, if you think there's a vast army of research assistants, audio engineers and producers putting together this podcast, you'd be wrong.
1:32.0	The podcast relies on your support to enable me to continue to capture these incredible stories and make them available to everyone for free.
1:42.1	Hi, this is Trey from Berlin.
1:47.4	I decided to support Cold World Conversations with a monthly subscription for a couple of reasons.
1:50.4	I believe it's so important and interesting
1:52.2	to hear these stories from that period, good and bad.
	...

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