These images depict a small transistor radio of the type a resident of Berlin might own during the 1960s or 1970s. What is not apparent when the radio is closed is that it is actually a communications device used by agents of the East German state police, the Stasi, who crossed into (or lived in) West Berlin to communicate with their officers across the Berlin Wall in East Berlin. The use of simple, everyday objects in the game of espionage is one of the hallmarks of the contest between the spy agencies of both the Communist and Western powers, a game played with great intensity in divided Berlin.

Spy Radio from East Germany (East Germany), courtesy of the Wende Museum, Los Angeles, CA.