Smell Jars of the Stasi

For those who watched the excellent movie, 'The lives of Others', this smell jars will be familiar, yet their historic authenticity came to my knowlege only by reading this overwhelming information via kirchersociety After the fall of the Berlin Wall, many astounding revelations came to light about the Stasi, the East German secret police. One of the more bizarre activities the Stasi was found to have engaged in was the collection of Geruchsproben ( smell samples ) for the benefit of the East German smell hounds. he odors, collected during interrogations using a perforated metal “smell sample chair” or by breaking into people’s homes and stealing their dirty underwear, were stored in small glass jars. Many of the remaining East German smell jars are on display at the Stasi Museum in Berlin. via kirchersociety