East German Stasi secret police collected "smells" of political dissidents [View All]

http://www.cia.gov/csi/studies/vol47no4/article09.html

<snip>At the Runde Ecke , the former Stasi headquarters in Leipzig, Funder found an exhibit of "smell jars" that once contained samples of human odors collected by the Stasi from citizens' clothes--often underwear--or other items that came in contact with the skin. The theory was that Stasi dogs could be trained to sniff the contents of the jars and then track a suspect. Samples from all political dissidents were collected, though the jars are now empty.

Funder heard of a woman named Miriam who had once tried to escape over the Wall and had been caught. She tracked her down and learned her story of two years in prison, brutal treatment, and the subsequent loss of her husband. Funder made other contacts by putting an ad in a Potsdam paper: "Australian seeks Stasi men, view {to} conversation, discretion guaranteed." She included her phone number and received many calls. One was from a former Stasi guard, another a teacher of " Spezialdisziplin , the science of recruiting informers. He showed her a counterintelligence study and tried to convince her that socialism would return someday. Frau Paul told the story of her baby who was in a West German hospital when the Wall went up and how she was kept from him until it came down again.

One senses that the stories are typical and not the product of Funder's imagination. There are no sources cited, though the museums that were helpful to her are still there. This is a disturbing yet valuable book about ordinary life in an extraordinary authoritarian state.