Overview
- The Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv in Frankfurt (Oder) has launched an outdoor exhibition focused on surveillance in East German football stadiums.
- Organizers say the Stasi infiltrated crowds by posing as sports reporters and used hidden buttonhole cameras to photograph suspected supporters inside and outside grounds.
- Security services regarded stadium scenes as fertile ground for criticism of the SED, civil disobedience, and displays of sympathy for West German clubs.
- Fan practices deemed incompatible with the socialist order included blowing horns, using Western fan gear, displaying critical banners, and chanting against the state or party.
- Supporters linked to Western clubs were labeled as “rowdies, fanatics or troublemakers,” and those associated with them risked criminal prosecution, even as stands served many as a social refuge.