East Germany’s secret police, the Stasi, were poised to arrest Roger Moore when he was filming James Bond movie Octopussy in Berlin.
Secret documents just released show that the Stasi were monitoring the British film crew as they shot a scene at Checkpoint Charlie, the famous crossing point between East and West Berlin.
Stasi agents, known for their brutality, were furious when they saw the crew had “violated” the border, crossing into East Berlin four times on August 10, 1982.
In the scene, Moore’s 007 had to meet his British intelligence handler, “M”, played by Robert Brown, and was chauffeured in a dark Mercedes 200 to Checkpoint Charlie.
The scene was shot several times before director John Glen was happy, and for each take the car had to drive right up to the East German border, before turning round and returning.
But the crew did not realise the car was actually crossing into East Germany.
The Stasi officers’ report said: “When turning, the vehicle violated the state border four times by about 4 to 5 metres.”
The document published yesterday said: “Report on filming of a ‘James Bond’ movie, in the western apron of the border crossing point Friedrich/Zimmerstrasse on August 10, 1982, between 7:30am and 1:33 pm.
“12 vehicles appeared in the western apron of the border crossing point… most of them parked in the parking lot behind the house Zimmerstrasse 19 a.”
The Stasi was set up in 1950 and by 1989 had 91,000 staff and a network of informants looking for “enemies of the state”. The Stasi was disbanded when Germany reunified in 1990.
