About the book: The Ministry of State Security of the GDR had a special unit whose task was to use, if necessary, terrorist methods against target objects and important functionaries of the Federal Republic of Germany. At secret training bases, for almost thirty films, “Chekist operational groups” were systematically trained for “conducting special combat operations.” An intelligence network created specifically for this purpose carried out reconnaissance of the “operational area” (operational zone) from Kiel to Kempten, where, in the event of war, local “patriotic forces” were supposed to begin operating in support of the East German commandos. Judging by the corresponding secret orders of the Minister of State Security Erich Mielke, the range of planned actions extended from bombing objects to hostage-taking, and from poisoning drinking water sources to targeted killings. The study shows that these plans were included in the global concept of promoting Soviet interests in opposition to the West. The activity of the MGB on the “invisible front”, which continued until 1989, is confirmed by numerous documents published for the first time.

About the author: Thomas Auerbach, born in 1947 in Leipzig, deacon, theologian, social educator. In 1965, he rejected a recruitment offer from the MGB, which wanted to make him an agent among church youth. From 1970 to 1976 he was the leader of the city youth organization of the Lutheran Church in Jena. He was engaged in active human rights activities and was an open opponent of the “SED regime.” In 1976, he was arrested by the MGB and against him Will was expelled from the GDR to West Berlin. From 1978 to 1993, Auerbach worked as a youth leader, religion teacher, and assistant for adult political education at the All-German Institute in West Berlin; from 1993 to 2009, employee of the department of education and research under the Federal Commissioner for the Study of Archives of the Ministry of State Security of the GDR (the so-called “Office of Gauck”). Author of a number of books and articles, including those written in co-authorship, devoted to various aspects of the activities of the state security service of the former GDR. From the translator: A book by Thomas Auerbach, a long-term employee of the Federal Office for the Study of Archives of the Ministry of State Security of the GDR (official name - Office of the Federal Commissioner for document management of the state security service of the former German Democratic Republic, also traditionally known as the “Gauck Office” - after the name of its first leader Joachim Gauck, the current Federal President of Germany and, by the way, also a former Protestant pastor), is based on documents from these archives and is devoted to a topic practically unknown to the Russian-speaking reader - the division special purpose of the East German intelligence service, intended for conducting power reconnaissance and carrying out sabotage on the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany. We are much more familiar with other aspects of the activities of the famous Stasi - first of all, the surveillance of dissidents and ordinary citizens within the country shown in many German films, as well as, thanks to the memoirs of Markus Wolf, the intelligence intelligence that the East Germans conducted in the West Germany. Therefore, Auerbach's book fills this gap to a certain extent. “To a certain extent” - because, firstly, many documents about the activities of the unit have not been preserved, and secondly, because the author, although based on documents, sometimes adds excessive ideologization from himself to his story. It is clear that Auerbach, as a human rights activist and dissident priest expelled from the GDR, cannot have any sympathy for the Stasi and the “SED regime”. However, he too often presents the MGB special forces as some kind of unique monsters, supposedly preparing for something so terrible, about which the corresponding structures of the special forces of the armed forces and secret services of Western states had no idea, and also does not take into account the fact that all, without exception, intelligence agencies and The armed forces are preparing plans for all possible developments of the situation, including sometimes very aggressive plans, as well as the general historical context of the confrontation between two warring blocs in a divided Germany. After all, we should not forget that more than just one side is always involved in a conflict. Nevertheless, this book is carefully documented and provides a lot of interesting information; it is not for nothing that six editions have already been published from 1999 to 2013. The book is presented in a highly abbreviated form, the so-called. "digest translation". It omits documents that make up about half of the original edition. A list of these documents - for general presentation - is given at the end of the translation. Footnotes, which indicate sources, are also omitted (there are about 400 footnotes in the original edition). These sources are documents from the Stasi archives, indicated there under the corresponding archival numbers.