German officials have been quick to ascribe the fury of their citizens over U.S. spying to their own history with the excesses of the surveillance state. But victims of the fearsome communist East German secret police say: not so fast.
Allegations that the National Security Agency (NSA) kept tabs on Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone calls have threatened counterterrorism cooperation, a major trade deal and good relations between the longtime allies. Popular distrust of the United States is at a longtime high.
Officials say Germans are so sensitive about the issue because their society is still grappling with East Germany's Orwellian spying apparatus, which was dismantled upon reunification in 1990 but whose corrosive effects continue to eat at people's lives.