ABSTRACT
The early spies in East Modlareuth primarily provided biographical snapshots of the village locals. As the regime continued, informants in East Modlareuth were able to move closer to providing a more detailed recount of community life, but the spies remained outsiders mistrusted as active Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED) members by villagers. As a result, the reports of the later, more adept spies were dominated by the problems created by the outsider, SED members themselves. East Modlareuthers emerged as a "guarded" lot against the state's Stasi snooping as they worked to maintain agency while the informants of the community ended up often reporting on each other. A strategy of remaining "guarded" constituted an attempt of the close-knit villagers maintains their agency. Highlighting villagers agency, this chapter argues that villagers operated in their world of increasing militarization by embracing practical accommodation. The first informant to spy on Modlareuthers was Hannelore Gelhaus. Gelhaus was a clear defender of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
