Berlin: A Spy's Guide to its Cold War History in Story and Image by James Stejskal
Espionage History Book Review by Alex Gerlis for Spybrary.com
Discover why James Stejskal’s new Berlin spy guide is essential reading for anyone fascinated by Berlin espionage, hidden locations, and the city’s secret history, according to spy thriller author Alex Gerlis.
Berlin: A Spy’s Guide to its Cold War History in story and image By James Stejskal
Double Dagger Books, 2025
A Monday afternoon and I’m returning from a very productive research trip in Berlin and am now on a British Airways flight to London when a youngish German man sits down next to me and we exchange pleasantries – something about the rain, inevitably – and I take out my copy of James Stejskal’s book and carry on reading it.
Berlin: A Spy’s Guide is the perfect companion for those of us fascinated by Berlin and espionage
Alex Gerlis
Soon after take-off my travelling companion says, ‘excuse me – my girlfriend lived there!’ and points to a picture (on page 63) taken in the Karlshorst Compound of an apartment block where KGB officers used to live. He explained his girlfriend moved there some time after the KGB left. ‘They never had balconies’ he explained. He was fascinated by James’s book, as he should be.
The author – a former CIA officer based in Berlin in the 70s & 80s – has managed the not
inconsiderable achievement of writing, in effect, three books in one and he’s pulled off this trick in such style that the three books complement each other perfectly.
These themes merge so well with one another that the result is this highly impressive and readable book and a must for a visitor to Berlin or anyone else who wants to know more about the city’s relationship with espionage.
The author claims – and I’d agree with him – that Berlin has the best claim to be THE City of Spies, and his account of the espionage history of the city since 1945 is told in a fluent and gripping manner, substantiating the case for the city’s pre-eminent place in espionage history. There are dozens of stories throughout the book, fascinating case studies of espionage operations and the spies involved in them as well as the organisations – clandestine and otherwise- operating in the city.
The stories are told in the manner of a practised raconteur, but in a sparing way: just enough detail.
The book also works well as a guidebook: at the end of each story or description of an organisation or building, the address of the place is given, along with the nearest metro station. It’s then up to the visitor to Berlin to decide which places to visit. Despite an extensive and – in my experience – efficient metro system Berlin is a great place to walk around.
Watch our Berlin Spy Guide by James Stejskal interview on Spybrary TV
Although it’s largely unrecognisable as the Berlin of the Nazi era and no longer the divided city of the Cold War, the essence of Berlin remains. You can still find glimpses of the city’s past: the benches in the Tiergarten where spies would meet their contacts, the extraordinary Karl-Marx Allee which leads through the heart of what was East Berlin from Alexanderplatz to the Stasi Museum (a must see) in Lichtenburg, the old Jewish cemetery on Schönhauser Allee which inexplicably remained open in the war and where deserters and other fugitives would gather at night.
Add to these the locations identified in James’s book, and you’ll see a side of the city away from the obvious tourist traps. In this respect, James succeeds in not just lifting the veil on this hidden side of the city, but also bringing it to life.
And the third book within the book?
It’s something of a handbook on espionage, the tips and practice contained within the main text and in special sections (such as handlers' reports on meeting their agents).
Alex Gerlis
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