It appears that even the East German Stasi got caught up in the Michael Jackson hysteria of the late 1980s.

According to a document from the archives of the former secret police, the Stasi reported on June 18, 1988 that it monitored the King of Pop as he visited the Allied Checkpoint Charlie in the centre of divided Berlin.

It was the day before he was to give a concert in West Berlin and Stasi officials were worried the star would cause security problems in the East.

As it turns out the Communist secret police were not photographing the pop star at all. According to Sat.1 Television, they were in fact taking pictures of a double who was part of an elaborate stunt to gauge Jackson hysteria in the city.

Christian Engel, the double's former bodyguard, said: "[We] travelled with dark cars and bodyguards and we fooled everybody. Nobody noticed that Michael isn't the real Michael."

"It was made for the Sat.1 morning and evening show. It worked very well."

The Stasi routinely snooped on dissidents and ordinary East German citizens, and also placed thousands of agents to spy on top Western officials.

In the end, East German authorities staged a crackdown on Jackson fans during the concert.

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