Theaterstück: Monika Haeger - Inside Stasi

On Sunday, October 4, 2026, the Stadthaus will transform into a stage. The extraordinary play Monika Haeger – Inside Stasi by author Nicole Heinrich will be presented. The performance draws on authentic material—specifically, the perpetrator’s knowledge of an unofficial Stasi collaborator whose success was built on betrayal, fraud, and lies. Members of the public are cordially invited to attend.

The Stadthaus stage will be transformed into the office of Stasi chief Erich Mielke, where actress Anja Kimmelmann will step into the role of Monika Haeger.

In this one-woman play, the eponymous protagonist declares, "If you stand on the right side, then everything is justified"—viewing this as legitimization for even immoral actions. What fills her with pride—her zealous service to a cause she deemed righteous—plunges others into misery. Through the recollections of former Stasi agent Monika Haeger (1945–2006), the play recounts the history of the GDR and exposes the injustices of the SED regime. Raised in state care, Haeger was indoctrinated into the socialist ideology. As a loyal citizen, she spied on civil rights activist Bärbel Bohley and her group on behalf of the GDR—actions that had dramatic consequences.

The monologue delivered by Haeger (portrayed by Anja Kimmelmann) is interspersed with recorded interviews featuring victims of the SED dictatorship. They recount experiences of slander, mock executions, and brutality in the Hoheneck women's prison, the Torgau youth workhouse, and special camps. The voices of relatives of those who died at the Berlin Wall are also heard, and the popular uprising of 1953 is addressed.