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German History in Documents and Images
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Individual Odor Samples Preserved by the Stasi (1990s)
While storming the headquarters of the Office for National Security (formerly the Stasi) on January 15, 1990, demonstrators found their fears confirmed – employees had already been busy destroying documents in order to cover up the crimes of the SED regime. In addition to sacks stuffed with shredded documents, they also found, among other things, jars with body odor samples taken from people who had been examined and arrested. The samples had been used to help search dogs track people down. Photo: Keikus Karsten.