Patriarchy Within a Patriarchy: Women and the Stasi
Public debate in Germany, particularly in the western Germanmedia, grew heated in 1991 and 1992 over the role of intellectuals inEast German society and their collaboration with or resistance to theStasi. Sparks flew with particular intensity when Wolf Biermann,former East German dissident musician and poet, accused SaschaAnderson, erstwhile East German dissident poet, of being a Stasiinformant and an “asshole” (while there was some disagreementover the latter charge, the former, at least, turned out to be accurate).As the debate raged, some observers commented that it seemedmore a clash of male egos than a serious attempt to analyze the past.In a 1993 book on the dissident literary community, a West Germancommentator suggested the Stasi debate was a conflict among “threeegomaniacs … [Wolf] Biermann, [writer Lutz] Rathenow, [Sascha]Anderson.” East German author Gabriele Stötzer-Kachold hadmade a similar suggestion in 1992.