Aleksander Radler (born May 17, 1944) is an Austrian-Swedish

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

and former unofficial employee of the

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

Ministry of State Security (Stasi).

Life

Radler was born in Posen (now

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

in Poland) and grew up in the German Democratic Republic, but retained

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n citizenship and was therefore able to travel freely to and from the West. In 1965, he was recruited by the Stasi as a "secret agent" and was assigned the alias IM "Thomas". He studied Protestant theology at the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

and later at the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The university was established in 1558 and is cou ...

, and regularly reported on contacts he made there. In July 1968, he revealed to his Stasi superiors the names of several fellow students who had entrusted to him letters to carry to West Berlin. As a result, six students were sentenced to between 2 and 3 years in prison for "planned flight from the Republic" or "subversive acts" (one of the students wrote that he was blackmailed for "active anti-communist work in an illegal student organization"). Two of them committed suicide in prison. Through his IM activities about 23 young people were prosecuted for a total of 50 years of detention. To protect Radler's identity, the Stasi permitted him to continue his studies in Sweden, but continued to support him financially and employ him as an informer. After several years he was promoted to the position of IMB ("unofficial defence employee with enemy connection or for immediate processing suspected of enemy activity"). Radler completed his doctoral studies in theology at the

University of Lund Lund University () is a public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially founded in 1666 on the ...

in 1977 with a thesis on the work of

Friedrich Schleiermacher Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (; ; 21 November 1768 – 12 February 1834) was a German Reformed Church, Reformed theology, theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Age o ...

. From 1982 to 1985 he was a professor at

Åbo Akademi University Åbo Akademi University ( , ) is the only exclusively Swedish language multi-faculty university in Finland (or anywhere outside Sweden). It is located mainly in Turku (Åbo is the Swedish name of the city) but has also activities in Vaasa. Å ...

in Finland. In 1988, he

habilitated Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellen ...

with an examination on the work of

Erik Gustaf Geijer Erik Gustaf Geijer (12 January 1783 – 23 April 1847) was a Swedish writer, historian, poet, romantic critic of political economy, philosopher, and composer. His writings served to promote Swedish National Romanticism. He was an influentia ...

. In October of the same year, he was appointed professor of theology at the University of Jena with the support of the Stasi. In 1991, he took up a new position as professor of Systematic Ecumenical Theology and Ethics at the

Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (), also referred to as MLU, is a public university, public research university in the cities of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle and Wittenberg. It is the largest and oldest university in the German State o ...

. In 1994, the Berlin pastor Dietmar Linke made public evidence of Radler's activity as a Stasi informant. Shortly thereafter in 1995, Radler gave up his professorship and returned to Sweden, where he became ''kyrkoherde'' (chief pastor) in

Burträsk Burträsk is a locality situated in Skellefteå Municipality, Västerbotten County, Sweden with 1,575 inhabitants in 2010. It is notable as the only place where Västerbotten cheese is made. ''Burträsk Court District'', or ''Burträsks tingslag ...

. In addition, he was a member of the parish council for the

Christian Democrats Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well a ...

and associate professor at

Umeå University Umeå University (; Ume Sami language, Ume Sami: ) is a public university, public research university located in Umeå, in the mid-northern region of Sweden. The university was founded in 1965 and is the fifth oldest within Sweden's present bord ...

. In 2011, the Swedish historian Birgitta Almgren described his case in her book ''Inte bara spioner ... Stasi-infiltration i Sverige under kalla kriget'' ("Not just spies ... Stasi infiltration in Sweden during the Cold War") without revealing his name. Finally in the spring of 2012, the newspaper ''Expressen'' published a story identifying IM "Thomas" with Aleksander Radler. He denied culpability but resigned his parish office later that year after the Swedish Church launched an investigation into his case. On November 23, 2014,

MDR Fernsehen MDR Fernsehen is a regional public service television channel owned and operated by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) and serving Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. It is one of the seven regional "third programmes" that are offered within the fed ...

screened the hour-long documentary ''Der Stasimann in Schweden'' ("The Stasi Man in Sweden") by Ryszard Solarz about Radler and his work for the Stasi. Radler was not available for an interview for this film.

Publications

* ''Religion und kirchliche Wirklichkeit. Eine rezeptionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung des Schleiermacherbildes in der schwedischen Theologie''. (Studia theologica Lundensia 36). Liber/Gleerup, Lund 1977. . * ''Idéhistoriska perspektiv: från Augustinus till Luther : kursbok i kristendomens historia''. Lund Univ., Teol. inst. 1984. * ''Kursbok i kristendomens historia: teologihistoriska perspektiv''. Lund Univ., Teologiska inst. 1985. * ''Kristen idéhistoria: kursbok i kristendomens historia''. Lund Univ., Teologiska inst. 1988. * ''Peregrinatio religiosa: Studien zum Religionsbegriff in der schwedischen Romantik. Teil 1: Die christliche Persönlichkeitsphilosophie Erik Gustaf Geijers'' (Bibliotheca historico-ecclesiastica Lundensis 18). Lund Univ. Press, Lund 1988. * (with

Bengt Hägglund Bengt Vilhelm Hägglund (22 November 1920 – 8 March 2015) was a Swedish theologian. Hägglund, who was professor emeritus of Christian intellectual history at Lund University, has written several books, of which ''Teologins historia'' ( English ...

, Sven-Oscar Berglund, Joachim Heubach): ''Luther und Barth'' (Veröffentlichungen der Luther-Akademie Ratzeburg 13). Martin-Luther-Verlag, Erlangen 1989. . * (with Udo Kern, Annegret Freund): ''Tragende Tradition: Festschrift für Martin Seils zum 65. Geburtstag''. Lang, Frankfurt am Main 1992. . * ''Kristen dogmatik''. Studentlitteratur, Lund 2006. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Radler, Aleksander 1944 births Living people Writers from Poznań Austrian Lutheran theologians 21st-century Austrian theologians Systematic theologians Academic staff of the University of Jena Academic staff of the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg Humboldt University of Berlin alumni University of Jena alumni Lund University alumni Academic staff of Umeå University Academic staff of Åbo Akademi University Stasi informants Austrian expatriates in Finland Swedish expatriates in Finland 20th-century Austrian theologians