Deutsch-deutsche Erinnerungen (German-German Memoirs), he not
only defended his actions as director of KoKo but also conceded the
superiority of the West German social market economy over a cen-
trally planned Marxist system.SCHEDLINSKI, RAINER (1956– ). A prominent East German
alternative writer and a major informant for the Ministerium für
Staatssicherheit (MfS), Rainer Schedlinski was born in Magdeburg
on 11 November 1956. While working at a variety of jobs, he made
contact with the alternative literary scene in Magdeburg and began
publishing poetry in an underground publication. In 1979, his name
attracted the attention of local authorities because of mail sent by
his brother in the Federal Republic of Germany (who was helping
people escape to the West). Schedlinski was recruited by the local
MfS office and given the code name gerhard. After some initial
displeasure, his case officer saw potential owing to his wide circle of
literary acquaintances. In 1982, he was drafted into the East German
army, but a mental breakdown and attempted suicide led to a six-
month confinement in a psychiatric clinic.
In April 1983, Schedlinski moved to the Prenzlauer Berg district in
East Berlin, where his literary career started to flourish and his col-
leagues included Lutz Rathenow, Detlef Opitz, and Alexander An-
derson. His reports were described as “comprehensive and diverse,”
and he was officially placed in the highest category of informer. Like
Anderson, Schedlinski sought to reinforce the apolitical and highly
theoretical literary outlook within this group of potential dissidents,
notably as editor of ariadnefabrik, their principal periodical and a
recipient of MfS funding. When it ceased publication in 1989, he
found a position at the newly established Galrev publishing house.
His unmasking as an agent in January 1992 sparked much publicity
in the German press. Faced with overwhelming evidence, Schedlin-
ski conceded his past role but tried to minimize its impact, stressing
the information that he purposely withheld and describing the MfS as
no more than a “receptionist” within the state’s power structure.
SCHEITHAUER, HELMUT (1929–1968). A member of the Ver-
waltung Aufklärung found guilty of murdering two of his agents,
Helmut Scheithauer was born in Limbach (now Slovakia) on 21
SCHEITHAUER, HELMUT • 391