{{Short description|German writer and artist}} {{expand German|topic=bio|date=August 2022|Sascha Anderson}} '''Alexander "Sascha" Anderson''' (born 24 August 1953) is a German writer and artist who was an influential figure in the alternative scene in pre-unification East Berlin in the 1980s. Anderson was nicknamed "the culture minister" due to his role in organising cultural events and promoting young artists.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/11/12/film-n12.html|title="Anderson": Artists and the Stasi in Stalinist East Germany|last=Reinhardt|first=Bernd|website=www.wsws.org|language=en|access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref> In 1991, it was revealed that he had been an informal collaborator for the East German Stasi since 1975.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/filmkritik-anderson-schuld-oder-suehne/9455828.html|title=Schuld oder Sühne|newspaper=Der Tagesspiegel Online|date=9 February 2014 |language=de|access-date=2019-11-25|last1=Dotzauer |first1=Gregor }}</ref>
Anderson was born in Weimar in 1953 to a theatre director/actor father and architect mother. As an adult, he moved to Dresden where he trained as a typesetter and used his skills to print and disseminate political leaflets and poetry, for which he was imprisoned twice, in 1970 and 1972.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/wer-war-wer-in-der-ddr-%2363;-1424.html?ID=51|title=Biographische Datenbanken: Sascha Anderson|last=Kölling|first=Andreas|date=2009|website=Bundesunmittelbare Stiftung des Offentlichen rechts|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-11-25}}</ref> Anderson's first reports to the Stasi came after his prison sentences.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/ich-und-er/592082.html|title=Ich und Er|newspaper=Der Tagesspiegel Online|date=12 March 2005 |language=de|access-date=2019-11-28}}</ref> Anderson's code name was Fritz Müller<ref name=":4"/>
The East German secret police, known as the Stasi, had one of the most extensive and effective intelligence networks to have ever existed. By 1989, it was estimated there were at least 189000 informants in every sphere of East German society, and files on millions of citizens. By the late 1970s, the Stasi had moved from overt persecution to a programme of psychological harassment known as ''Zersetzung''. The goal was the "fragmentation, paralysis, disorganization, and isolation of the hostile and negative forces, in order to preventatively impede the hostile and negative activities" of political opponents.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ministry for Security of State |title=Dictionary of Political and Operational Work}}</ref>
== Move to Berlin == In the 1960s Prenzlauer Berg had become a home to East German artists, intellectuals and the gay community; in the 1970s and 80s, the district was known as a "legendary Bohemia" which attracted artists like Cornelia Schleime and poets Adolf Endler and Bert Papenfuß-Gorek.<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal|last=Hell|first=Julia|date=2002|editor-last=Anderson|editor-first=Sascha|editor2-last=Magenau|editor2-first=Jörg|editor3-last=Wolf|editor3-first=Christa|title=Loyal Dissidents and Stasi Poets: Sascha Anderson, Christa Wolf, and the Incomplete Project of GDR Research|journal=German Politics & Society|volume=20|issue=4 (65)|pages=82–118|doi=10.3167/104503002782385282|jstor=23740516|issn=1045-0300}}</ref>
In 1976 Wolf Biermann, a prominent singer-songwriter in the scene, had his citizenship revoked while on a tour of West Germany; another member, philosopher Rudolf Bahro, was arrested and imprisoned in 1977 after he admitted having written ''The Alternative'', a critique of East German socialism. These events triggered a wave of emigration in the counter-culture scene, and left what the ceramicist Wilfriede Maaß described as a "deep void".<ref name=":0" />
Anderson moved from Dresden to Berlin in 1981, and based himself in the Prenzlauer Berg district. He has been described by those who knew him as "fascinating", "charismatic" and "an idol"; he immersed himself in the East Berlin alternative scene, became a singer in a punk band, and quickly gained a reputation as an organiser of cultural events.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/der-dichter-sascha-anderson-die-sphinx-vom-prenzlauer-berg/23858780.html|title=Die Sphinx vom Prenzlauer Berg|newspaper=Der Tagesspiegel Online|date=12 January 2019 |language=de|access-date=2019-11-27|last1=Braun |first1=Michael }}</ref> He arranged for the screening of films and publication of books and magazines, and found spaces for artists to work, perform and exhibit.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.focus.de/wissen/mensch/geschichte/sascha-anderson-der-mann-der-seine-freunde-an-die-stasi-verriet_id_10171929.html|title=Der Mann, der seine Freunde an die Stasi verriet|website=FOCUS Online|language=de|access-date=2019-11-27}}</ref> For some time, he lived with Ekkehard and Wilfriede Maaß and their apartment and workshop became a meeting place for artists and bohemians.<ref name=":1" /> Ekkehard and Anderson held readings and exhibitions in their home, and it became a literary salon, attended by Heiner Müller, Christa Wolf, Volker Braun and Franz Fühmann. Allen Ginsberg and Yevgeny Yevtushenko also visited; it has been speculated that the well-known participants may have protected the gatherings from being persecuted by the Stasi.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/der-literarische-salon-in-prenzlauer-berg-dichtertreff-im-schatten-der-stasi/19633102.html|title=Dichtertreff im Schatten der Stasi|newspaper=Der Tagesspiegel Online|date=10 April 2017 |language=de|access-date=2019-11-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/hommage-an-wilfriede-maass-mit-keramik-gegen-das-ddr-system/10755420.html|title=Mit Keramik gegen das DDR-System|newspaper=Der Tagesspiegel Online|date=26 September 2014 |language=de|access-date=2019-11-28|last1=Rieger |first1=Birgit }}</ref>
In 1986, Anderson emigrated to West Germany, but continued organise cultural events in the East, and to report to the Stasi. While in West Berlin, he worked as a private secretary for A. R. Penck. Six months after he moved to the West, the Stasi opened a file on Anderson and may have been under surveillance even earlier.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lewis |first1=Alison |title=En-Gendering Remembrance: Memory, Gender and Informers for the Stasi |journal=New German Critique |year=2002 |issue=86 |pages=103–134 |doi=10.2307/3115203 |jstor=3115203 }}</ref>
In 1989, protests in East Germany culminated in the fall of the Berlin Wall. In a documentary in 2009, Anderson said, "It was incredibly exciting...it never crossed my mind that I was with the Stasi. I was there very quickly, standing on top of the wall. It was a beautiful feeling and I wanted to be part of it. I couldn’t stand by and watch it from afar."<ref name="sim" /> A friend recalls that Anderson swore at the sight of the open wall, although Anderson says he does not recall this.<ref name=":4"/>
== Exposure as an informant == In 1991, singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann was awarded the Georg Büchner Prize. During his acceptance speech, he made reference to a number of Stasi spies, including "the untalented babbler Sascha Arschloch [asshole]... who is still playing cool and hoping his files won't show up".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-21608775.html|title=AUTOREN: Alle meine Entchen|last=Broder|first=Henryk M.|date=2002-03-04|work=Spiegel Online|access-date=2019-11-25|volume=10}}</ref> The announcement caused immediate outcry amongst Anderson's friends and supporters; when asked by Schleime and Endler, he had repeatedly denied working as a spy.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-65640714.html|title=ZEITGEIST: Freunde von früher|last=Beyer|first=Susanne|date=2009-06-08|work=Spiegel Online|access-date=2019-11-25|volume=24}}</ref>
The information provided to the Stasi by Anderson included "accurate and detailed psychograms of all artist friends"<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/ausstellungen/prenzlauer-berg-wir-waren-viele/1636928.html|title=Wir waren viele|newspaper=Der Tagesspiegel Online|date=22 November 2009 |language=de|access-date=2019-11-28}}</ref> "No critical word, no rebellious eye, no precarious love had escaped" from the reports.<ref name=":4"/> He organised events, and then reported on them to the police. He also wrote about himself in his reports: in 1986, he wrote to the Stasi: "Sometimes I had the feeling that I am being paid to monitor myself". His reports were "precisely articulated and contained incriminating evidence against his fellow writers".<ref name="bleiker">{{cite journal |last1=Bleiker |first1=Roland |title=Stroll Through the Wall: Everyday Poetics of Cold War Politics |journal=Alternatives: Global, Local, Political |year=2000 |volume=25 |issue=3 |pages=391–408 |doi=10.1177/030437540002500313 |jstor=40644961 |s2cid=140963347 }}</ref>
In interviews, Anderson has given a number of reasons for becoming an informant. In 2009, speaking in a documentary he answered:
<blockquote> ''How did you decide to be a spy?''
In that situation someone comes and wants something from you and if you’re egotistical and altruistic enough then you say “Okay, let’s do it. I’ll do what I can and you’ll do what you can”. That’s fine. I’m not the sort of person who makes decisions based on an idea, so if the Devil looks good, I might say to him: “How can I help you, dear Devil?”
I sensed they wanted something from me. Someone is taking you seriously and listening to you. So I offered myself up. Every gap in the conversation was a chance for me to say: “I am the right man for you”
''Were you a good spy?''
[laughs]In the place that I was, I was the top informer. I had the feeling that I wasn’t just an ordinary spy. Of course, I told them everything.<ref name="sim">{{cite AV media|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nx0y6|title=The Secret Life of the Berlin Wall|date=2009-11-07|people=Sim, Kevin (director)|first=|type=|language=English|publisher=Diver Productions, BBC|trans-title=|location=|time=|access-date=2019-11-26|archive-url=|archive-date=|format=|id=|isbn=|oclc=|quote=|medium=Documentary}}</ref></blockquote>
He has commented that he wanted to be recruited as a "top spy" by the KGB and was surprised that he was not approached by them, and has described his relationship with Stasi officers as a father-son one.<ref name=":5" /> In another interview, he said "To me it's all the same...To me it meant nothing ... I had no moral problems.<ref name="bleiker"/> In 2019, he told another interviewer his motive was antifascism.<ref name=":1" />
Before he was revealed as an informant, Anderson had received a number of prizes for his literary works including a residency at the Villa Massimo. Afterwards, he was ostracised by the literary community, and was described as "for a time... one of the most reviled men in Germany."<ref name="sim" /> When he took up the year-long Villa Massimo residency in 1993, other recipients refused to stay in the accommodation with him, and he ended up moving out of the villa for his stay in Rome.<ref name=":4"/> When Annekatrin Hendel's documentary ''Anderson – Anatomie des Verrats'' [Anderson – Anatomy of Betrayal] was released in 2014, there were protests at screenings.<ref name=":1" />
In 1995 he faced charges relating to his work as an informant. He was acquitted, but received a fine.<ref name=":4" /> Since the dissolution of the Stasi in 1990, the Stasi Records Agency has worked to reassemble and organise the records held by the secret police and citizens have the right to request to see their own records. These documents have also been used to identify Stasi agents and informants. In 1999, Anderson's informant file was published
He has faced criticism for refusing to apologise or admit guilt for his actions; several critics have remarked that his published works seem to excuse or gloss over his collaboration. The literary scholar Peter Boethig named Anderson as one of the six most active informers of the literary salons held at the Maaß apartment.<ref name=":3" />
Since the mid 1990s, he has lived in Frankfurt with the writer and artist Alissa Walser.<ref name=":1" /> where he has worked as a freelance typesetter and organised events for an investment bank.
== Writing == Anderson has published a number of books of poetry and an autobiographical novel. He is considered one of the most important poets of the German Democratic Republic,<ref name=":4" /> but many of his works have not been reprinted due to the controversy surrounding him.
His novel, published in 2002, was largely unsuccessful despite being launched in a series of well-attended promotional events. Many reviews were "dismissive and openly sarcastic" of the book.
He has since written under a pseudonym at the request of publishers, as they did not wish to be associated with his name.<ref name=":4" />
A review of works re-evaluating GDR culture said that Anderson "incarnates everything abject about the East and its literary culture" and that Anderson has become "the projection of all of the small acts of betrayal and cowardice and accommodation that were required in the east".
== Works == * {{cite book | last1=Anderson | first1=Sascha | last2=Kerbach | first2=Ralf | title=Jeder Satellit hat einen Killersatelliten | publisher=Edition Qwert zui opü von Egmont Hesse | publication-place=Berlin | date=1998 | isbn=3-933149-08-8 | oclc=40364412 | language=de}} * {{cite book | last1=Anderson | first1=Sascha | last2=Kerbach | first2=Ralf | title=Totenreklame : eine Reise : Texte und Zeichnungen | publisher=Rotbuch | publication-place=Berlin | date=1983 | isbn=3-88022-273-8 | oclc=10118919 | language=de}} * {{cite book | last1=Anderson | first1=Sascha | last2=Schleime | first2=Cornelia | last3=Kerbach | first3=Ralf | last4=Wildenhain | first4=Michael | title=Waldmaschine | publisher=Rotbuch | publication-place=Berlin | date=1984 | isbn=3-88022-298-3 | oclc=12355231 | language=de}} * {{cite book | last=Anderson | first=Sascha | author2=Hessisches Landesmuseum | author3=Verein der Freunde und Förderer des Hessischen Landesmuseums in Darmstadt | title=Tiefe Blicke : Kunst der achtziger Jahre aus der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, der DDR, Österreich und der Schweiz | publisher=DuMont | publication-place=Köln | date=1985 | isbn=3-7701-1740-9 | oclc=13356906 | language=de}} * {{cite book | last1=Anderson | first1=Sascha | last2=Leiberg | first2=Helge | title=O.T. |publisher=Ed. Mariannenpresse | publication-place=Berlin | date=1985 | isbn=978-3-922510-27-7 | oclc=74773845}} * {{cite book | last1=Anderson | first1=Sascha | last2=Ch'a | first2=U-hŭi | title=Ich fühle mich in Grenzen wohl 15 dt. Sonette | publication-place=Berlin | date=1985 | isbn=978-3-922510-31-4 | oclc=311083939 | language=de}} * {{cite book | last1=Anderson | first1=Sascha | last2=Kerbach | first2=Ralf | title=Brunnen, randvoll | publisher=Rotbuch | publication-place=Berlin | date=1988 | isbn=3-88022-727-6 | oclc=19052043 | language=de}} * {{cite book | last1=Anderson | first1=Sascha | last2=Penck | first2=A. R. | title=Jewish Jetset | publisher=Galrev | publication-place=Berlin | date=1991 | isbn=3-910161-08-1 | oclc=24937459}} * {{cite book | last1=Anderson | first1=Sascha | last2=Penck | first2=A. R. | title=Rosa Indica vulgaris : Gedichte und ein Essay | publisher=Galrev | publication-place=Berlin | date=1994 | isbn=3-910161-58-8 | oclc=31609396 | language=de}} * {{cite book | last=Anderson | first=Sascha | title=Herbstzerreissen : Gedichte | publisher=Edition Qwert Zui Opü | publication-place=Berlin | date=1997 | isbn=3-910161-83-9 | oclc=39529371 | language=de}} * {{cite book | last=Anderson | first=Sascha | title=Sascha Anderson | publisher=DuMont | publication-place=Köln | date=2002 | isbn=3-8321-5904-5 | oclc=49286523 | language=de}} * {{cite book | last=Anderson | first=Sascha | title=Crime sites : nach Heraklit : Gedichte, 1998-2005 | publisher=Gutleut Verlag | publication-place=Frankfurt am Main | date=2006 | isbn=3-936826-61-7 | oclc=85691459 | language=de}} * {{cite book | last=Anderson | first=Sascha | title=Totenhaus : Novelle | publisher=Gutleut Verlag | publication-place=Frankfurt am Main | date=2006 | isbn=3-936826-60-9 | oclc=111294462 | language=de}} * {{cite book | last=Anderson | first=Sascha | title=Da ist ... 33 Gedichte über Kunst oder Leben | publication-place=Frankfurt, M | date=2008 | isbn=978-3-936826-45-6 | oclc=318218204 | language=de}} * {{cite book | last=Anderson | first=Sascha | title=So taucht Sprache ins Sprechen ein, um zu vergessen : Gedichte | publication-place=Frankfurt am Main | date=2019 | isbn=978-3-86337-176-0 | oclc=1098038955 | language=de}}
== Further reading == * {{cite web |last1=Hendel |first1=Annekatrin |author1-link=Annekatrin Hendel |title=Anderson - Anatomie des Verrats |trans-title=Anderson - Anatomy of Treason |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3484576/ |website=IMDb <!-- |access-date=5 January 2022 --> |date=2014}}, (documentary) [German] * ''DDR von unten''
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Sascha}} Category:1953 births Category:Living people Category:Writers from Weimar Category:Artists from Weimar Category:People from Bezirk Erfurt Category:East German poets Category:21st-century German novelists