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Stasi
The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maintaining state authority, i.e., the "Sword and Shield of the Party" (). This was accomplished primarily through the use of a network of civilian informants. This organization contributed to the arrest of approximately 250,000 people in East Germany. The Stasi also conducted espionage and other clandestine operations abroad through its subordinate foreign intelligence service, the Office of Enlightenment, or Head Office A (german: Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung). They also maintained contacts and occasionally cooperated with West German terrorists. The Stasi was headquartered in East Berlin, with an extensive complex in Berlin-Lichtenberg and several smaller facilities throughout the city. Erich Mielke was the Stasi's longest-serving chief, in power for 32 of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erich Mielke
Erich Fritz Emil Mielke (; 28 December 1907 – 21 May 2000) was a German communist official who served as head of the East German Ministry for State Security (''Ministerium für Staatsicherheit'' – MfS), better known as the Stasi, from 1957 until shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. A native of Berlin and a second-generation member of the Communist Party of Germany, Mielke was one of two triggermen in the 1931 murders of Berlin Police captains Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck. After learning that a witness had survived, Mielke escaped arrest by fleeing to the Soviet Union, where the NKVD recruited him. He was one of the key figures in the decimation of Moscow's German Communists during the Great PurgeJohn O. Koehler, ''The Stasi; The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police'', page 51. as well as in the Stalinist witch-hunt for ideological dissent within the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. Following the end of World War II in 1945, Miel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stasi Records Agency
, commonly known as the ) , dissolved = June 17, 2021 , superseding1 = , agency_type = Former Secret Police Archive , jurisdiction = , status = Dissolved, now part of the German Federal Archives , headquarters = Karl-Liebknecht-Straße31/33 Berlin-Lichtenberg, Germany , coordinates = , motto = , employees = 1,313 () , budget = , chief1_name = Roland Jahn , chief1_position = Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records , parent_department = , parent_agency = , website = (in English) , agency_id = , map = , map_size = , map_caption = Location on a map of Berlin. , map_alt = , footnotes = , embed = The Stasi Records Agency (german: Stasi-Unterlagen-Behörde) was the organisation that administered the archives of Ministry of State Se ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the State (polity), state was a part of the Eastern Bloc in the Cold War. Commonly described as a communist state, it described itself as a Socialist state, socialist "workers' and peasants' state".Patrick Major, Jonathan Osmond, ''The Workers' and Peasants' State: Communism and Society in East Germany Under Ulbricht 1945–71'', Manchester University Press, 2002, Its territory was administered and occupied by Soviet Union, Soviet forces following the end of World War II—the Soviet occupation zone of Germany, Soviet occupation zone of the Potsdam Agreement, bounded on the east by the Oder–Neisse line. The Soviet zone surrounded West Berlin but did not include it and West Berlin remained outside the jurisdiction of the GDR. M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stasi Museum
The Stasi Museum (also known in German as the ''Forschungs- und Gedenkstätte Normannenstraße'') is a research and memorial centre concerning the political system of the former East Germany. It is located in the Lichtenberg locality of Berlin, in the former headquarters of the Stasi (officially the ''Ministerium für Staatssicherheit''), on Ruschestraße, near Frankfurter Allee and U-Bahn station Magdalenenstraße. History The centrepiece of the exhibition is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security – i.e. head of the Stasi – Erich Mielke. The museum is operated by the ''Antistalinistische Aktion Berlin-Normannenstraße'' (ASTAK), which was founded by civil rights activists in Berlin in 1990.Trägerverein ASTAK e.V. From the home page. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Reconnaissance Administration
The Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (german: ; german: , ) was the foreign intelligence service of the Ministry of State Security (''Stasi''), the main security agency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), from 1955 to 1990. The HVA was an integral part of the Stasi, responsible for operations outside of East Germany such as espionage, active measures, foreign intelligence gathering, and counterintelligence against NATO-aligned countries and their intelligence agencies. The Stasi was disbanded in January 1990 and the HVA's mode of operation was revealed to the public, including its internal structure, methods, and employees. The HVA became the subject of broad interest and intensive research under the responsibilities of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records. The HVA is regarded by some as the most effective foreign intelligence service during the Cold War and the second largest after Soviet Union's intelligence forces. It provided up to 80 percent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Main Directorate For Reconnaissance
The Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (german: ; german: , ) was the foreign intelligence service of the Ministry of State Security (''Stasi''), the main security agency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), from 1955 to 1990. The HVA was an integral part of the Stasi, responsible for operations outside of East Germany such as espionage, active measures, foreign intelligence gathering, and counterintelligence against NATO-aligned countries and their intelligence agencies. The Stasi was disbanded in January 1990 and the HVA's mode of operation was revealed to the public, including its internal structure, methods, and employees. The HVA became the subject of broad interest and intensive research under the responsibilities of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records. The HVA is regarded by some as the most effective foreign intelligence service during the Cold War and the second largest after Soviet Union's intelligence forces. It provided up to 80 percent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolfgang Schwanitz
Wolfgang Schwanitz (26 June 1930 – 1 February 2022) was a German intelligence official, who was the last head of the Stasi, the East German secret police. It was officially renamed the "Office for National Security" on 17 November 1989. Unlike his predecessor, Erich Mielke, he did not hold the title "Minister of State Security", but held the title of "Leader of the Office for National Security". Following the German reunification, he was active as an author of works that sought to portray the Stasi in a positive light. Karl Wilhelm Fricke: Geschichtsrevisionismus aus MfS-Perspektive', Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial, 2006 Career in East Germany Early developments Schwanitz was born in Berlin. He became a member of the Free German Youth when the German Democratic Republic was founded. In 1950, he became a member of the Society for German-Soviet Friendship (german: Gesellschaft für Deutsch-Sowjetische Freundschaft), and in 1953, of the Socialist Unity Party of German ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernst Wollweber
Ernst Friedrich Wollweber (29 October 1898 – 3 May 1967) was a German politician who was State Secretary of State Security from 1953 to 1955 and Minister of State Security of East Germany from 1955 to 1957. Biography Born in Hann. Münden, Hanover, in 1898, Wollweber joined the Imperial Germany's navy, the '' Kaiserliche Marine'', at a young age and served in the submarine department during World War I. In November 1918, Wollweber participated in the Wilhelmshaven mutiny, a high-profile sailor rebellion in Kiel, and, following the end of the German Revolution, joined the Communist Party of Germany in 1919. Wollweber rose quickly through the party ranks and by 1921 had become a member of the KPD’s Central Committee and Political Secretary of Hesse- Waldeck. Two years later, Wollweber became a leader of the militant wings of the KPD in Hesse-Waldeck, Thuringia, and Silesia. Wollweber’s activities led to his arrest in 1924, after which time he was charged with high t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wilhelm Zaisser
Wilhelm Zaisser (20 June 1893 – 3 March 1958) was a German communist politician and statesman who served as the founder and first Minister for State Security of the German Democratic Republic (1950–1953). Early life Born in Gelsenkirchen, Westphalia, Zaisser studied to become a teacher from 1910 to 1913 in Essen. When World War I began a year later, Zaisser joined the Imperial German Army. Upon leaving the service in 1918, Zaisser joined the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and in 1919 returned to Essen, where he became a school teacher. During this period, Zaisser became an active communist. During the Kapp Putsch in 1920, he was a military leader of the fledgling Red Ruhr Army, which led to his arrest and dismissal as a teacher in 1921. After his release, Zaisser worked for the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) as a propagandist. From 1921 to 1922, Zaisser edited the ''Ruhr Echo'' and the ''Bergischen Voice of the People''. In 1923, Zaisser was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Markus Wolf
Markus Johannes Wolf (19 January 1923 – 9 November 2006), also known as Mischa, was head of the Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (), the foreign intelligence division of East Germany's Ministry for State Security (, abbreviated MfS, commonly known as the ). He was the Stasi's number two for 34 years, which spanned most of the Cold War. He is often regarded as one of the best-known spymasters during the Cold War. In the West he was known as "the man without a face" due to his elusiveness. Life and career Early life and education Wolf was born 19 January 1923, in Hechingen, Province of Hohenzollern (now Baden-Württemberg), to a Jewish father and a non-Jewish German mother. His father was the writer, communist activist and physician Friedrich Wolf (1888–1953) and his mother was the nursery teacher Else Wolf ( Dreibholz; 1898–1973). He had one brother, the film director Konrad Wolf (1925–1982). His father was a member of the Communist Party of Germany, and after the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Erich Honecker
Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts of General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and Chairman of the National Defence Council; in 1976, he replaced Willi Stoph as Chairman of the State Council, the official head of state. As the leader of East Germany, Honecker had close ties to the Soviet Union, which maintained a large army in the country. Honecker's political career began in the 1930s when he became an official of the Communist Party of Germany, a position for which he was imprisoned by the Nazis. Following World War II, he was freed by the Soviet army and relaunched his political activities, founding the SED's youth organisation, the Free German Youth, in 1946 and serving as the group's chairman until 1955. As the Security Secretary of the SED ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Günter Guillaume
Günter Guillaume (1 February 1927 – 10 April 1995) was a German spy who gathered intelligence as an agent for East Germany's secret service, the Stasi, in West Germany. Guillaume became West German chancellor Willy Brandt's secretary, and his discovery as a spy in 1973 led to Brandt's downfall in the Guillaume affair. Early life Günter Karl Heinz Guillaume was born on 1 February 1927, at 31 Choriner Straße in Prenzlauer Berg, then a working-class district of Berlin. He was the only child of Karl Ernst Guillaume, a pianist who played in bars and theatres, where he provided background music for silent films, and Johanna Old Pauline (), a hairdresser. His parents, who had married four months before Günter's birth, were both native to Berlin. Due to the combination of the Great Depression and the introduction of sound films, the Guillaumes suffered financial hardship. These experiences made the extremist policies being presented by Adolf Hitler and Nazi Party attractive t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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