Long before Michael Jackson was dangling babies over Berlin hotel balconies, East German spies had their Cold War-era eyes set on the singer during the height of his ’80s pop popularity.
Indeed, a new report reveals that Stasi — the one-time East German spy machine — was so concerned about MJ’s popularity, that they spied on him during concerts in neighboring West Germany, fearing that his “decadent” music could inspire a Communist-era revolution.
The recently released Stasi files indicate that a 1988 MJ concert in West Germany so gravely concerned East German officials, who worried that MJ fans would be willing to literally do anything to see the singer — including potentially rioting against oppressive East German rule.
As reports reveal:
“They were concerned dissident youths would call for the Wall to fall,” Steffen Mayer, a spokesman for the government agency that looks after the Stasi archives, told Reuters. “This was seen as a potential security threat given the amount of foreign media that would be present.”
The pics above — taken during MJ’s visit — shows crowds gathering near Brandenburg Gate, where MJ performed and close to the former Berlin Wall, along with MJ himself in Berlin.
Ultimately, the concert took place without major political provocation — though crowds could be heard chanting “The Wall Must Go” and “Gorbachev, Gorbachev”, the then Soviet leader who ultimately helped begin Communism’s end just a year after MJ’s tour in 1988.
Jackson was not alone in his Stasi popularity — Bruce Springsteen and Pink Floyd also got the ’80s spook treatment.
Of course, in the end, MJ eventually got himself busted in Berlin in 2002 when he famously dangled baby Prince Michael II over a hotel balcony raising the ire of concerned parents worldwide.