Stasi Fooled By MJ Double

Even the dreaded East German secret police, the Stasi, got caught up in the wave of Michael Jackson mania back in the late 1980's.

Last week, the Associated Press obtained a document from the archives of the Stasi dated June 18, 1988. The Stasi reported that it monitored Michael as he visited the Allied Checkpoint Charlie at the center of the divided city of Berlin. Michael was scheduled to perform in concert in West Berlin the following day, and the secret police were concerned this could cause problems in the East.

In the end, it wasn't actually Michael at all. The Stasi were photographing a double who was playing the part in an elaborate German television scheme to guage MJ hysteria in Berlin, according to the information received from Sat. 1 television on Thursday.

Spokesperson for Sat. 1, Diana Schardt, said that the television station was going over the Stasi surveillance pictures that were published by the AP and German newspapers last week. A cameraman pointed himself out in a picture and recounted the story of the MJ double to his co workers. They were able to put together the original footage and confirm it, she said.

''Back in 1988 a Sat.1-team took a Jacko stand-in on a tour through Berlin to get an idea what it's like to have a superstar in town,'' Schardt said in an e-mail. ''My colleagues told me that the Berliners really went crazy when they saw him.''
The Stasi regularly kept track of not only those they considered to be dissidents, but ordinary East German citizens, as well. They also placed thousands of agents as spys on leading Western officials and others.

In the Stasi report on "Michael," it was noted that at 2:52 p.m., three cars pulled up to the official checkpoint building, containing "many unknown male and female people."

In its report on Jackson -- actually the double -- it noted that at 2:52 p.m., three cars pulled up to the official checkpoint building, with ''many unknown male and female people.''

''Among the people was the USA rock singer Michael Jackson,'' the report said. ''Accompanying him at all times was a female person, about 25 years old, 165 centimeters tall, with a slim build.'' It gave no other indication of the woman's identity.
The report went on to say that there were two film teams, noting that one of the camera's said "Sat.1" and that they began filming "Michael" at 2:55 p.m. By 2:58, the charade was complete. Most of the entourage got back into the cars and left. "The cross-border was not hindered." the report concluded.

Source: MJFC / NYtimes.com