Mandy Wötzel speaks out

[Anke G]

As mentioned in an earlier thread, of the three coaches denied accreditation by the German Olympic Committee, Ingo was the only one who sued to get an injunction against the ban. The injunction was granted on procedural grounds. The German Olympic Committee immediately appealed, but a truce was called. Ingo and the GOC agreed (at the eleventh hour) that the focus should be on Savchencko/Szolkowy until after the pairs event.

Now that the Olympics are over, Ingo's future in German coaching will become a news story again. March 6 is the court date set for hearing the appeal of the German Olympic Committee. They want to establish that they have absolute authority in naming athletes, coaches, and support staff to the Olympic team.

Beyond the GOC appeal, there is also the question of Ingo's future with the German figure skating federation because coaches are civil servants in the same way teachers are. The German army has already said that the issue of his lying about Stasi involvement on his application is an internal matter. They're keeping a very low profile, but it's a serious matter.

As the story ramps up again, Mandy Woetzel has spoken out.
http://de.sports.yahoo.com/060301/27/6z8n.html
To paraphrase: Mandy Wötzel did an interview in Bunte magazine (sort of like People) in which she criticized Ingo Steuer for being out of touch with reality and not taking responsibility for his actions or showing any remorse. She said that she was always uneasy around him, that she felt psychologically attacked by him, and suffered from depression as a result. She views him as someone for whom it's all about power. When she sees him on TV, her old fears rise to the surface. Her own Stasi files "oddly can't be found" [so she doesn't know what he might have reported about her].

For a general article about the problem of the Stasi and sport see
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1599857,00.html

It's all very sad.

Anke G.

 

[Anke G]

Where is Mandy Woetzel now?

Thought I'd follow up my report on Mandy's interview about Ingo with information on where she is now.

Mandy is now skating with the Imperial Ice Stars, a Russian troup formed in 2004, produced by Tony Mercer, a Brit living in Moscow, and choreographed by Tatiana Tarasova. Their current show, Sleeping Beauty on Ice, has gotten very good reviews from skeptical arts reviewers. They use 14 tons of ice and specially designed skates to put the show on in standard theaters/opera houses, (where Tschaikovsky belongs, according to one reviewer). The cast is billed as 23 Olympic, World, European and National Championship skaters, with 210 medals among them. A clever turn of phrase that reviewers transpose into 23 world, European, and national figure skating champions.

http://www.imperialicestars.com/about/cast.htm

I wish they'd come to the US, but I'll probably need to go to Europe to see them.

Anke G.

 

[Jaana]

She said that she was always uneasy around him, that she felt psychologically attacked by him, and suffered from depression as a result. She views him as someone for whom it's all about power. When she sees him on TV, her old fears rise to the surface. Her own Stasi files "oddly can't be found" [so she doesn't know what he might have reported about her].

I´m really wondering about that concerning Woetzel. As far as I remember she and Ingo dated (had a relationship), Ingo found somebody else and Woetzel took it very badly. After that their working together was very strained, but they had to continue it. All that showed in their skating, no good feelings between them. I believe that in some point they used a psycholog to get their relationship to look better on the ice, and that helped (somewhat).

 

[Linny]

Together with her partner

Love the way her bio says "together with her partner" but doesn't name him. Linny

 

[gsk8]

Thanks!

Thanks for the translation Anke!

 

[Rikku]

There's an article saying that Ingo Steuer's involvement with the Stasi was somewhat known already in 1998.

http://www.faz.net/s/RubFE7FB2A818E...AAAB331D47AA5783F7~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html

Sort-of translation:

"The Stasi-case of figure skating coach Ingo Steuer could have been cleared up already more than eight years ago. After the 1998 Olympic games the federal president's office refused to present the bronze medalist with the "silver bayleaf".

There was no official and detailled explanation - data privacy. But internally, the men around federal president Roman Herzog knew that "IM Torsten" was not to be presented with the highest award for sport in Germany. And they got their information from the ministry of internal affairs, Spiegel magazine says."
[...]
"Steuer's stasi files, so the Birthler-agency confirmed on sunday, were known by the mid-nineties. And it's exactly the same files that now, after a close evaluation by the stasi-commission, led to Steuer's cancellation from the German olympic team"

If that's true, I'm wondering why they waited 8 years to let the bomb drop.

 

[ukicefan]

I've found an interesting news story about Ingo's past - it alleges that he reported a skater who was considering defecting.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2020435,00.html

 

[Anke G]

There's an article saying that Ingo Steuer's involvement with the Stasi was somewhat known already in 1998.

http://www.faz.net/s/RubFE7FB2A818E...AAAB331D47AA5783F7~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html

"Steuer's stasi files, so the Birthler-agency confirmed on sunday, were known by the mid-nineties. And it's exactly the same files that now, after a close evaluation by the stasi-commission, led to Steuer's cancellation from the German olympic team"

If that's true, I'm wondering why they waited 8 years to let the bomb drop.

It's not clear to me either. I have read several reports that say that when the interior ministry decided against giving Ingo an award, they could not legally pass the information on to another agency. Privacy laws or some such. So one branch of government had looked through the files and come to some conclusions but could not tell another branch to do the same. It's all very unfortunate.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Maybe he still believes in the principles of Lenin. Many do and I don't think that is so bad.

Joe

 

[Ptichka]

Maybe he still believes in the principles of Lenin. Many do and I don't think that is so bad.

Joe, do you have any, and I mean any evidence for such a statement? I for one would be surprised to say the least. The reason people generally don't feel remorse for cooperation with Stasi is because that was how everyone played the game, people just fail to see a moral dimension to it.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Joe, do you have any, and I mean any evidence for such a statement? I for one would be surprised to say the least. The reason people generally don't feel remorse for cooperation with Stasi is because that was how everyone played the game, people just fail to see a moral dimension to it.

I really don't Ptichka - I never heard of Stasi until reading this thread. I assume it is the name of a Political Party. I just think when one accepts the party-line one must have some sort of belief in the philosophy of it.

My knowledge of Lenin is limited except that he posed a philosophy for the good of the people. I don't think that his philosophy was carried out by those that followed and Lenin's ideal was never reached because of corruption.

Maybe Ingo was just another person who was duped.

Joe

 

[STL_Blues_fan]

Stassi was like a German version of KGB.

everybody just went with the flow. It was not a democracy so you had no other choice but to accept government's "philosophy and beliefs". Three or 4 generation after the resolution, nobody really believed in the Marx, Engels and Lenin agenda, except for the 1st generation. 70 years after Lenin was dead (1994) - I don't think Ingo was deluded.

He had be working with Stassi in order to travel outside of the Eastern Bloc, and as Ptichka said, everybody did. But everybody admitted it, Ingo is still denying his involvement.

 

[Antilles]

He must have been pretty young when he was involved. I can see how intimidation by the Stasi would be motivation to co-operate. Such a strange story.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

How did he get involved with figure skating?

 

[backspin]

How did he get involved with figure skating?

Do you mean Ingo? He was a pairs skater. The Stasi was very interested in keeping close tabs on the German athletes, since they travelled internationally. Wanted to make sure no one was planning to defect.

My coach is Russian, grew up in the then Soviet Union, & tells us about how, on a plane trip to a competition, they knew there were probably 10 or 12 KGB agents on the plane, & subsequently following them, but you never knew who it could be. Also all their phone calls were taped.

Such a strange, strange, paranoid culture to grow up in and deal with. I can't even fathom what that could possibly be like, you never know who can be trusted, maybe your sister, or friend, or skating partner would betray you. I googled "Stasi" & one of the articles mentioned people would be detained / jailed and tortured for such crimes as telling political jokes, or trying to leave the country.

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

Fascinating story, Backspin. I keep thinking of Maya Plitsetskaya, the great Soviet ballerina, who when travelling abroad had special guards to keep her from defecting. Read her autobiography. It's incredible what they did to her family.
When she performed in NYC, she never left the stage door alone.

Back to Ingo. So Pairs Skating came before his possible induction into the Stasi. Dumb me, I was thinking they made him learning skating as a decoy.

Joe

 

[backspin]

yeah, there was a Russian coach, I forget who, whose husband was a concert pianist. They were never allowed to be travelling through the same city at the same time, so they couldn't meet up & make a break for it.

 

[Ptichka]

yeah, there was a Russian coach, I forget who, whose husband was a concert pianist. They were never allowed to be travelling through the same city at the same time, so they couldn't meet up & make a break for it.

That would be Tatiana Tarasova nad her husband Vladimir Krainev.

 

[Vash01]

This is one of the most interesting threads I have ever come across. Anke, thanks so much for starting this. I want to spend more time reading and thinking about this before I post my opinions, but I just wanted to say Thank you.

Vash

 

[Miezekatze]

He had be working with Stassi in order to travel outside of the Eastern Bloc, and as Ptichka said, everybody did. But everybody admitted it, Ingo is still denying his involvement.

It is simply not true that everybody in the GDR who travelled outside of the Eastern Bloc was a member of the Stasi/Stasi informer. (if everybody was, there wouldn't really be anybody to spy on and also Ingo wouldn't now be one of only 3 former East Germans who had problems getting an accreditation for the Olympics because of his Stasi past).

There were plenty of athletes and officials who never were a member of the Stasi and obviously those got to travel to competitions just as well. The people who WERE Stasi informers were of course used to spy on those athletes and officials when they were abroad.

Of the about 160 officials that were checked for past Stasi involvement only 3 were discovered to have Stasi ties (plus IIRC about 6 others, who had Stasi ties, but whos ties were determined to have been "minor").

I think this thread would be more informative, if people tried to spread a tad less matter-of-factly misinformation in it.