Cameras disguised inside coat zips and bugs hidden in tree trunks

Cameras disguised inside coat zips and bugs hidden in tree trunks: Fascinating insight into the crafty tricks and devious gadgets German spies used during the Cold War·         The gadgets are kept at the Stasimuseum Berlin that was once home to the East German Ministry for State Security·         When the headquarters were taken at the end of the Cold War, employees tried to destroy evidence of espionage·         Gadgets that survived include cameras controlled from a pocket, spy devices hidden in ties and bugging equipment

Following the end of WWII up to when the wall came down in Berlin, spies in East Germany carried out Cold War espionage from Stasi headquarters outside the capital. 

The Stasi spies - the German equivalent to the CIA in the U.S, the Soviet Union's KGB and MI6 in the UK - carried out secret missions during the Cold War period and many of the equipment was stored in a building 15 minutes from the German town of Alexanderplatz.

Although some of the gadgets were destroyed when the building was taken over following the collapse of the Berlin wall, many remained and are now on display in the Stasimuseum, on the ground of the old headquarters.