Stasi Decorations And Memorabilia Reference Book.

[desantnik]

The discussion of the circumstances and significance of preserving and writing about material objects of dictatorships long lost to history is only a brief introduction to a much larger topic. The DDR in particular has been gone for almost thirty years and yet interest in its brief history is high. Indeed, collectors who cannot afford to build up their treasure trove of Nazi and other WWII era objects have turned with increasing numbers to collecting DDR memorabilia. It is with gratitude and great respect to early researchers who began to collect, preserve, and write about DDR memorabilia that the younger generations of historians and collectors now have to rely on. Their reference books are the foundation for what the future will provide collectors and historians moving forward. One of these historical compendiums on a difficult to research topic is Ralph Pickard’s three volume set Stasi Decorations and Memorabilia.

Mr. Pickard’s three volume compendium is exceptional in a number of ways. First, this set is the most in-depth analysis to date on Stasi related memorabilia. It is comprehensive in both object description and historical background information while simultaneously nicely illustrated with high quality photographs that show even the most minute details. Second, Pickard’s work is unique in that it is in English. Most work expounded thus far can only be found in the German language and is not readily available to an international readership. Even with the research that exists only in German, as of this writing, Stasi Decorations and Memorabilia remains the most comprehensive analysis of Stasi related material culture. Lastly, Pickard’s volumes are not limited to medals with their accompanying award documents. He also investigates pins, coins, pay structures with documents, uniforms, and porcelain that was made for the MfS in an effort to round off the scope of material produced and awarded to members of the Stasi.

Volume I covers Stasi medals and award documents in great detail and he explores how many variations of each document for every medal awarded to Stasi members exist. It is so detailed that, for example, Mr. Pickard accurately and concisely describes the three document types of Merit Medals of the People’s Army and how many variations of each type are known to exist. He then follows this up with detailed images and descriptions of each document type and the variations that exist within each version. To further highlight this example, on page 75, Ralph states that the Merit Medal award documents had three types and that type one had three known versions, type two has eight, and type three has six known versions. In the subsequent pages, he then details each type and provides visual examples that show down to the color and font style the differences. This level of due diligence and exactitude is found throughout the entire set.

The subsequent two volumes focus less on military type medals like volume I did. Instead, they expand into civil and foreign awards given to MfS members and uniquely East German material that was awarded to officers and enlisted men and women. He shows the reader just how much other non-medal regalia was produced and distributed to those in the service and explains their uses and purpose. For example, he provides pay scales and structures and follows this up with original pay stubs issued to Stasi members in an effort to highlight how much Stasi members were paid and how bonuses were given out and for what specific purposes this was done. He also explores MfS affiliated organizations and how they interacted or were part of the overall MfS. He explores and explains the academies created by the state to train Stasi officers as well. The historical information he provides is then followed up with images of material related to what he expounded.

In his final volume, Mr. Pickard explores anti-fascism and the MfS, medals and decorations presented to East Germans from other socialist nations, East German support for other security services, notably the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, books associated with the MfS, retirement and reserve abbreviations used on Stasi award documents, special combat forces of the Stasi, as well as updates that did not make it into his first two volumes. Together, these three volumes cover a wide range of topics associated with the security service of the German Democratic Republic.

What sets Mr. Pickard’s work apart from other collector’s guides is that his is by far the most comprehensive and all-encompassing study of Stasi decorations out there. The level of detail is such that one could compare it to an investigator who has worked in and is familiar with intelligence community activities. Indeed, while Mr. Pickard was station in West Germany during the Cold War, he worked in both special operations and intelligence assignments. Ralph also put his volumes together using his own collection, which he built up at a time when most people were not yet thinking of seriously collecting and studying this material. This gave him exclusive access to material that is now extremely difficult to source.

Given the nature of collecting memorabilia, either as a museum or a private collector, finding reliable and comprehensive studies on collectibles is a daunting challenge for numerous reasons. Just to list a few, most research is based on what is at hand and if it is very difficult to find authentic pieces, less material is available to study. Second, most collecting hobbies are niche markets and thus, publishing books for collectors is another unique challenge. If the market is large enough, such as WWII memorabilia collecting, many books can be found on the subject, albeit at a higher cost than books that are not so specialized. In the case of DDR collecting, it is far more difficult to find reliable collector reference books because that market is still maturing and, for the United States, is quite under-developed in terms of what historical material can be provided along with material objects. Even though a large amount of DDR material has ended up in the US since the end of the Cold War, specialty items remain elusive and so does information about them. There are very few collector books available to American collectors because most of the ones that do exist are in German. Even German reference books have to be scouted and are usually difficult to acquire outside of Europe. For authors looking to publish what they have found, there remains the issue of finding a willing publisher who understands the importance of the work and is willing to invest in publishing it. As with WWII collector books, many are in limited supply and can be quite costly due to the small market share that would be interested in these books. With all of this in mind, it is a tremendous achievement that Mr. Pickard has done with his three volumes. He has produced everything one can expect from a seasoned historian in order to provide outstanding work. For all his efforts, the community of historians and those who study Cold War iconography now have available what some have called the Bible of Stasi memorabilia collecting. This is indeed quite an accurate assessment of his books.

Dr. Marc T. Voss
Founder/Executive Director, Regimes Museum
Adjunct Professor of Sociology & World Languages & Culture, Chapman University