Computerization and Knowledge Production in East and West German Security Authorities, 1960-1990
Final Report Abstract
The research project 'Computerisation and Knowledge Production in East and West German Security Agencies, 1960-1990' examined how the introduction of computer technology affected the working methods, organisation and knowledge processing of police and intelligence services in the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany. The aim of the project was to find out what changes were triggered by the use of electronic data processing (EDP) in these agencies. The focus was not only on technical innovations, but above all on their impact on internal power structures, knowledge hierarchies and work processes. A key finding is that digitisation on both sides of the Wall was driven primarily by practical challenges - in particular, the overwhelming amount of rapidly growing information ('information overload') and the need to efficiently record and monitor travellers and other people under surveillance. The answer was to introduce machine-readable files and database systems, but their implementation often ran up against technical and organisational limitations. Resistance often came from within the organisations themselves - for example, from evaluation units who saw the standardisation of data as a threat to their complex work. The project also shows that digitisation did not automatically lead to the modernisation of structures. Although new IT departments were created, it proved difficult to build up technical expertise, not least because of security concerns about external staff. The authorities invested in training their own IT specialists, but at the same time worked with companies such as Siemens and IBM - even the MfS obtained Western computer technology through clandestine channels and had it maintained and programmed by West German employees. It is also remarkable how similar the developments in East and West were in many respects. Both sides relied on centralised information processing, fought against centrifugal tendencies and technical obstacles, and tried to adapt their organisations to the new possibilities. In the Federal Republic, however, the growing debate about data protection from the mid-1970s onwards led to greater regulation of IT use - in contrast to the GDR, where technical feasibility was the main priority. From today's perspective, the project is highly relevant because it sheds light on the historical roots of today's digital security infrastructures. It shows how closely state control and information technology have been intertwined for decades - and how issues that concern us today in relation to data protection, surveillance and IT competence in public authorities were addressed in the past. The research thus provides an important historical perspective on current debates about the handling of sensitive data in security agencies.
Publications
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Südfrüchte im Stahlnetz. Der polizeiliche Zugriff auf nichtpolizeiliche Datenspeicher in der Bundesrepublik, 1967-1989, in: Frank Bösch (Hg.): Wege in die digitale Gesellschaft
Computernutzung in der Bundesrepublik 1955–1990, Göttingen 2018, S. 39-63
Bergien, Rüdiger
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Vortrag Kraftfahrzeugdaten als „Lebensfrage“. Von der Motorisierung der Gesellschaft zur Digitalisierung der Inneren Sicherheit, gehalten auf dem Workshop „Zeitgeschichte der Sicherheit, Politikfelder, Akteure und Handlungslogiken im geteilten Deutschland“, 10.9.2018
Rüdiger Bergien
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Programmieren mit dem Klassenfeind. Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 67(1), 1-30.
Bergien, Rüdiger
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Vortrag. “Scientification, Data Processing and Information Transfer in Secret Services”, gehalten auf der Tagung “The Knowledge of Intelligence: Scientification, Data Processing and Information Transfer in Secret Services, 1945– 1990, 28./29.6.2019, ZZF in Potsdam
Rüdiger Bergien & Debora Gerstenberger
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Vortrag “Counter Intelligence und Computer. Die EDV-Einführung in westdeutschen Nachrichtendiensten als transatlantischer Wissenstransfer“, gehalten auf dem Workshop Technikwissen und Wissenstechniken im deutschen Militär seit 1890, 15./16.4.2021
Rüdiger Bergien
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Intelligence Agencies, Technology and Knowledge Production. Routledge.
Bergien, Rüdiger; Gerstenberger, Debora & Goschler, Constantin
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Programming with the Class Enemy: The Stasi, Siemens, and IT Knowledge Transfer during the Cold War. German Yearbook of Contemporary History, 6(1), 52-84.
Bergien, Rüdiger & Crowe, Sinéad
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Software für Pullach. Technikwissen Und Wissenstechnik, 243–264.
Bergien, Rüdiger
