How the singer came to be targeted by agents

Peter Kraus - How the singer came to be targeted by agents

Only a few German artists enjoyed huge success in both West Germany and the former GDR before reunification. One of them was the popular rock'n'roll musician and pop star Peter Kraus (84). As the historian Professor Michael Wala writes in his new book "Der Stasi-Mythos", one of his numerous German-German border crossings even led to him being observed by a surveillance team from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution in Munich. They thought he was an agent of the East.

How did this come about? In an interview with the "Bild" newspaper, Wala explains that it was a case of mistaken identity: "The border guard recognized Peter Kraus and greeted him. The surveillance team had misunderstood." The officer had previously grabbed his cap, which was interpreted as a secret sign.

An agent photographs Peter Kraus at the airport

An agent then walked close to Kraus and even took pictures of the musician with a camera hidden in a handbag. A short time later, however, the action was aborted and the photo no longer existed. This was a standard procedure: Young men traveling alone and with little luggage were frequently observed. The grip on the cap was the starting signal for the teams.

Peter Kraus himself is amused by the story in an interview with the "Bild" newspaper: "I find it very funny today that security staff thought I was a spy back then." If he had realized that he had been targeted by the agents, he would have greeted them back in a friendly manner.

In the GDR, he was even briefly detained by officials once. "I was driving my car from West Berlin on the transit route through the GDR to Munich," the artist recalls. However, his car broke down, which is why he had to leave the highway illegally: "The police took me away. Fortunately, I was allowed to leave after a few hours."