DASCH, GEORGE. See PASTORIUS.
DE MAIZIÈRE, LOTHAR (1940– ). A prominent East German
politician obliged to resign because of an alleged past affiliation
with the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), Lothar de
Maizière was born in Nordhausen (Thuringia) on 2 March 1940,
the son of a lawyer. After reasons of health forced him to abandon
a career as a violist, he obtained a law degree in 1975 through a
correspondence course at Humboldt University. Remaining in East
Berlin, de Maizière worked for the Solicitors’ Council and became
the vice president of the Federal Synod of Protestant Churches in
- His rise to political prominence occurred during the tumultu-
ous months of late 1989 and early 1990. A leading official of the
Christlich-Demokratische Union of East Germany, de Maizière
became minister for church affairs in the reform cabinet of Hans
Modrow but left a few months later. In April 1990, following
the first free elections in the German Democratic Republic, the
People’s Chamber appointed him minister-president of the new
coalition government. A vocal supporter of a rapid merger with
the Federal Republic of Germany, de Maizière helped bring about
the final unification treaty.
Although he received a new position as minister without portfolio
in the cabinet of Helmut Kohl, charges of having previously been an
MfS informer increasingly undermined his public standing. At issue
was an agent code-named czerni, whose 1,000-page file had been
destroyed in December 1989 but whose general identity appeared to
match that of de Maizière. In addition to residing at the same street
address in East Berlin and possessing a weekend property in Tor-
now, they were both members of the Federal Synod and had access
to information from the Solicitors’ Council. De Maizière admitted
to contact with the MfS, but solely in a professional capacity and
never as an enlisted informer. By September 1991, the controversy
had resulted in his complete retreat from political life and return to
private practice.
DECHIFFRIERDIENST. The codebreaking unit of the Austro-Hun-
garian Evidenzbüro, the Dechiffrierdienst was established following
the Italo-Turkish War of 1911 and was one of the few European op-
76 • DASCH, GEORGE