Stasi Agents used Swiss Passports

For years, agents of East Germany’s State Security (Stasi) traveled abroad using forged Swiss passports and identities copied from real Swiss citizens. Internal Stasi orders reveal this practice, underscoring the vital importance of the intelligence gathered for the survival of East Germany.

In addition to numerous West German passports, the Stasi primarily used Swiss passports for their foreign agents. Professor Jochen Staadt from the SED State Research Association estimates that over a thousand Swiss passports were forged and used by the Stasi between 1949 and 1989.

“The fact that Swiss people were frequently traveling for business was well known and advantageous,” Staadt notes. Switzerland’s neutrality meant that neither the country nor its citizens were subject to particular suspicion, making the Swiss passport a valuable protective tool for agents.

Stasi records, including file "MFH 547," document internal orders for Swiss passports. In 1980, an order for 300 Swiss passports was submitted to the forgery workshop, accompanied by an internal directive: "For official travel purposes."

Agents traveling with Swiss passports were given new identities based on actual Swiss citizens. The Stasi spared no effort in this process, even altering agents’ appearances to match those of the Swiss individuals whose identities they assumed. To avoid any overlap in travel, the Stasi monitored the real Swiss citizens in Switzerland. According to Staadt’s research, Stasi operatives lived in Switzerland to carry out this surveillance.

For the East German regime, the work of these agents was crucial. The industrial and commercial secrets they obtained from the West advanced isolated industries and kept the struggling East German economy afloat, saving the regime millions in research costs.

On the other hand, the regime invested heavily in its forgery workshop. Staadt describes the personnel there as highly specialized, with access to all the scientific resources East Germany had to offer. “Unlike other sectors, there were no financial difficulties here; everything necessary for the task was provided.”

The last internal order for Swiss passports was dated September 28, 1989. However, this order was never fulfilled, as the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, just two months before the last valid Stasi agents’ Swiss passports would have expired.

Source: SRF

Tom Topol | Passport History Expert & Author.
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