God's Spies

The Stasi's Cold War Espionage Campaign Inside the Church

By: Elisabeth Braw

Narrated by: Liisa Ivary

The real-life cloak-and-dagger story of how East Germany’s notorious spy agency infiltrated churches here and abroad

East Germany only existed for a short 40 years, but in that time, the country’s secret police, the Stasi, developed a highly successful “church department” that - using persuasion rather than threats - managed to recruit an extraordinary stable of clergy spies. Pastors, professors, seminary students, and even bishops spied on colleagues, other Christians, and anyone else they could report about to their handlers in the Stasi.

Thanks to its pastor spies, the Church Department (official name: Department XX/4) knew exactly what was happening and being planned in the country’s predominantly Lutheran churches. Yet ultimately it failed in its mission: despite knowing virtually everything about East German Christians, the Stasi couldn’t prevent the church-led protests that erupted in 1989 and brought down the Berlin Wall.

©2019 Elisabeth Braw (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

Detail & research

Liked very much, clearly read, easy to understand. Excellent analysis of Stasi in the church in GDR

Transports and spellbinds you to another era

The storytelling and accurate detail of the many characters behind events that shaped Europe are truly masterful. It is difficult to not reflect on how fast ideologies and societies can change. This is a book that will be looked back on as an invaluable resource for future generations with its first hand accounts of a part of history that few expected would ever be revealed but is now more important than ever to not be forgotten as new systems of surveillance and censorship around the world are formed.

Wonderful history

I truly enjoyed this book. The writing was fast paced on a very interesting subject. I like that the author presented the facts and asked tough questions as well.

Excellent and frightening

The book expertly tells the devastating story of one of the world’s most ambitious spy operations. Through unique interviews and extensive access to archive materials Braw is able to reveal how and why Stasi’s church espionage happens. It also gives an inside on communist spy operations. Highly recommended!