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Helsingin Sanomat articles concerning Finland and the Stasi
Secret lives in the old East Germany Stasi archives shake Germany again
Stasi espionage in Finland Did I spy for someone beginning with S....?
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TV-programme
reveals: Finnish MP worked for East German intelligence during student
years
The espionage took place in the 1970s when Tiusanen studied medicine in East Germany. Tiusanen’s activities were reported on the investigative documentary programme MOT on YLE TV 1. The information was based on copies of Stasi documents which the journalists had received from the German Federal Commissioner investigating Stasi activities. Tiusanen began his medical studies at the University of Greifswald in 1970. According to the documents, he had been a Social Democrat when he came to East Germany, but during his years there he joined the Finnish Communist Party and its hard-line pro-Moscow minority faction. In the spring of 1974 Tiusanen was recruited as an unofficial spy for Stasi. The Stasi papers revealed that the recruitment was confirmed orally and with a handshake, because Tiusanen did not want to sign a written agreement. He chose his own code name: "Max". The first contact between Tiusanen and Stasi took place in the spring of 1973. According to the documents Tiusanen had repeatedly expressed "interest in cooperation" with the East German Ministry of State Security. of the association of Finnish students studying in the GDR, and had also served as vice chairman of foreign students in Greifswald. His mission was to report on the foreign students studying in the GDR. Tiusanen worked as a recruited spy until the summer of 1975, when he concluded his studies. He had monthly meetings with his Stasi contact at a safe house. MOT had copies of about 90 reports that he had written. According to the Stasi papers, "Max" was a trustworthy and honest informer. According to one of the Stasi documents which was not dated, he provided "valuable information on Palestinian students, on love relationships between foreign and GDR citizens, on the political and ideological situation of foreign students, and on his Finnish compatriots". A final Stasi report on the activities of Pentti Tiusanen, from April 1977, states that "Max" specialised in Finnish and Palestinian students, and that he also gave "incriminating statements on individuals". MOT also has a copy of a report which Tiusanen made about his German girl friend at the time. In the report, he described her as a model citizen of the GDR. According to the final assessment, Stasi recommended that when he returned to Finland, Tiusanen’s services could be used by another "friendly organisation for purposes of cooperation". According to the interpretation put forward by MOT, this meant the Soviet KGB. This never came to be after Tiusanen started becoming active in Finnish politics. Pentti Tiusanen, a surgeon by profession, was elected to Parliament in 1995. himself said that his starting point was "the common good, and the promotion of the cause". He felt that his relationship with Stasi was unofficial and said that he did not even see himself as an "unofficial assistant" as the official term goes. Tiusanen admits that he had been childish, and that his reporting on the human relationships of his fellow students had been "stupid and wrong". Seppo Tiitinen, the Secretary General of the Finnish Parliament told Helsingin Sanomat on Monday that Parliament could react to the Tiusanen case only if he were convicted in court of wrongdoing or if the espionage activity had taken place while he was a Member of Parliament. Tiitinen notes that the GDR no longer exists, and he sees the fact that Tiusanen never signed a formal agreement with Stasi as a mitigating circumstance. Tiitinen himself previously served as the head of SUPO, Finland’s Security Police. Ralf Sund, the Party Secretary of the Left Alliance commented on Tiusanen’s activities on the YLE television news broadcast that came immediately after the MOT programme was aired. Sund said that the activities were "disgusting and reprehensible". |
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