Stasi

The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, MfS) or State Security Service (Staatssicherheitsdienst, SSD), commonly known as the Stasi
Stasi (IPA: [ˈʃtaːziː]),[3] was the official state security service of the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic (East Germany). It has been described as one of the most effective and repressive intelligence and secret police agencies to have ever existed.[4][5][6][7][8][9] The Stasi
Stasi was headquartered in East Berlin, with an extensive complex in Berlin- Lichtenberg
Lichtenberg and several smaller facilities throughout the city. The Stasi
Stasi motto was "Schild und Schwert der Partei" (Shield and Sword of the Party), referring to the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (German: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, SED). Erich Mielke
Erich Mielke was its longest-serving chief, in power for thirty-two of the GDR's forty years of existence. One of its main tasks was spying on the population, mainly through a vast network of citizens turned informants, and fighting any opposition by overt and covert measures, including hidden psychological destruction of dissidents (Zersetzung, literally meaning decomposition). Its Main Directorate for Reconnaissance
Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (German: Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung) was responsible for both espionage and for conducting covert operations in foreign countries. Under its long-time head Markus Wolf, this directorate gained a reputation as one of the most effective intelligence agencies of the Cold War. Numerous Stasi
Stasi officials were prosecuted for their crimes after 1990. After German reunification, the surveillance files that the Stasi
Stasi had maintained on millions of East Germans were laid open, so that any citizen could inspect their personal file on request; these files are now maintained by the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi
Stasi Records.

Contents

1 Creation 2 Relationship with the KGB 3 Organization 4 Operations

4.1 Personnel and recruitment 4.2 Infiltration 4.3 Zersetzung

5 International operations

5.1 Examples

6 The fall of the Soviet Union 7 The recovery of the Stasi
Stasi files

7.1 Storming the Stasi
Stasi headquarters 7.2 Controversy of the Stasi
Stasi files 7.3 Tracking down former Stasi
Stasi informers with the files 7.4 Reassembling the destroyed files

8 Museum in the old headquarters 9 Stasi
Stasi officers after the reunification

9.1 Recruitment by Russian state-owned companies 9.2 Lobbying

10 Alleged informants 11 See also 12 References 13 Bibliography

13.1 The controversy of the Stasi
Stasi files

14 External links

14.1 German 14.2 English

Creation[edit] The Stasi
Stasi was founded on 8 February 1950.[10] Wilhelm Zaisser
Wilhelm Zaisser was the first Minister of State Security of the GDR, and Erich Mielke
Erich Mielke was his deputy. Zaisser tried to depose SED General Secretary Walter Ulbricht after the June 1953 uprising,[11] but was instead removed by Ulbricht and replaced with Ernst Wollweber
Ernst Wollweber thereafter. Wollweber resigned in 1957 after clashes with Ulbricht and Erich Honecker, and was succeeded by his deputy, Erich Mielke. In 1957, Markus Wolf
Markus Wolf became head of the Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung (HVA) (Main Reconnaissance Administration), the foreign intelligence section of the Stasi. As intelligence chief, Wolf achieved great success in penetrating the government, political and business circles of West Germany
West Germany with spies. The most influential case was that of Günter Guillaume, which led to the downfall of West German Chancellor Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt in May 1974. In 1986, Wolf retired and was succeeded by Werner Grossmann. Relationship with the KGB[edit] See also: Eastern Bloc
Eastern Bloc politics, Eastern Bloc
Eastern Bloc information dissemination, and Active measures Although Mielke's Stasi
Stasi was superficially granted independence in 1957, until 1990 the KGB
KGB continued to maintain liaison officers in all eight main Stasi
Stasi directorates, each with his own office inside the Stasi's Berlin compound, and in each of the fifteen Stasi
Stasi district headquarters around East Germany.[12] Collaboration was so close that the KGB
KGB invited the Stasi
Stasi to establish operational bases in Moscow
Moscow and Leningrad
Leningrad to monitor visiting East German tourists and Mielke referred to the Stasi
Stasi officers as "Chekists of the Soviet Union".[12] In 1978, Mielke formally granted KGB
KGB officers in East Germany
East Germany the same rights and powers that they enjoyed in the Soviet Union.[12] Organization[edit] The Ministry for State Security also included the following entities:

Administration 12 was responsible for the surveillance of mail and telephone communications. Administration 2000 was responsible for the reliability of National People's Army (Nationale Volksarmee, NVA) personnel. Administration 2000 operated a secret, unofficial network of informants within the NVA. Administration for Security of Heavy Industry and Research and Main Administration for Security of the Economy: protection against sabotage or espionage. Division of Garbage Analysis: was responsible for analyzing garbage for any suspect western foods and/or materials.[citation needed] Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment: the armed force at disposal of the ministry, named for the founder of the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police. The members of this regiment, who served at least three years, were responsible for protecting high government and party buildings and personnel. The regiment was composed of six motorized rifle battalions, one artillery battalion, and one training battalion. Its equipment included PSZH-IV
PSZH-IV armored personnel carriers, 120 mm mortars, 85 mm and 100 mm antitank guns, ZU-23 antiaircraft guns, and helicopters. A Swiss source reported in 1986 that the troops of the Ministry of State Security also had commando units similar to the Soviet Union's Spetsnaz GRU
Spetsnaz GRU forces. These East German units were said to wear the uniform of the airborne troops, although with the violet collar patch of the Ministry for State Security rather than the orange one of paratroopers. They also wore the sleeve stripe of the Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment.[13] Main Administration for Reconnaissance: focused its efforts primarily on West Germany
West Germany and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, but it also operated East German intelligence in all foreign countries. Main Administration for Struggle Against Suspicious Persons was charged with the surveillance of foreigners—particularly from the West—legally traveling or residing within the country. This included the diplomatic community, tourists, and official guests. Main Coordinating Administration of the Ministry for State Security: coordinated its work with Soviet intelligence agencies. Main Department for Communications Security and Personnel Protection: provided personal security for the national leadership and maintained and operated an internal secure communications system for the government. Penal System: to facilitate its mission of enforcing the political security of East Germany, the Stasi
Stasi operated its own penal system, distinct from that of the Ministry of the Interior. This system comprised prison camps for political, as opposed to criminal, offenders.

Bautzen prison

Operations[edit] Further information: Eastern Bloc
Eastern Bloc politics See also: Censorship in East Germany Personnel and recruitment[edit] See also: Informal collaborator Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi
Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy.[14][15] In 1989, the Stasi employed 91,015 people full-time, including 2,000 fully employed unofficial collaborators, 13,073 soldiers and 2,232 officers of GDR army,[16] along with 173,081 unofficial informants inside GDR[17] and 1,553 informants in West Germany.[18] Regular commissioned Stasi
Stasi officers were recruited from conscripts who had been honourably discharged from their 18 months' compulsory military service, had been members of the SED, had had a high level of participation in the Party's youth wing's activities and had been Stasi
Stasi informers during their service in the Military. The candidates would then have to be recommended by their military unit political officers and Stasi
Stasi agents, the local chiefs of the District (Bezirk) Stasi
Stasi and Volkspolizei
Volkspolizei office, of the district in which they were permanently resident, and the District Secretary of the SED. These candidates were then made to sit through several tests and exams, which identified their intellectual capacity to be an officer, and their political reliability. University graduates who had completed their military service did not need to take these tests and exams. They then attended a two-year officer training programme at the Stasi college (Hochschule) in Potsdam. Less mentally and academically endowed candidates were made ordinary technicians and attended a one-year technology-intensive course for non-commissioned officers. By 1995, some 174,000 inoffizielle Mitarbeiter (IMs) Stasi
Stasi informants had been identified, almost 2.5% of East Germany's population between the ages of 18 and 60.[14] 10,000 IMs were under 18 years of age.[14] From the volume of material destroyed in the final days of the regime, the office of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records
Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records (BStU) believes that there could have been as many as 500,000 informers.[14] A former Stasi
Stasi colonel who served in the counterintelligence directorate estimated that the figure could be as high as 2 million if occasional informants were included.[14] There is significant debate about how many IMs were actually employed. Infiltration[edit] Full-time officers were posted to all major industrial plants (the extensiveness of any surveillance largely depended on how valuable a product was to the economy)[15] and one tenant in every apartment building was designated as a watchdog reporting to an area representative of the Volkspolizei
Volkspolizei (Vopo).[19] Spies reported every relative or friend who stayed the night at another's apartment.[19] Tiny holes were drilled in apartment and hotel room walls through which Stasi
Stasi agents filmed citizens with special video cameras.[19] Schools, universities, and hospitals were extensively infiltrated.[19] The Stasi
Stasi had formal categorizations of each type of informant, and had official guidelines on how to extract information from, and control, those with whom they came into contact.[20] The roles of informants ranged from those already in some way involved in state security (such as the police and the armed services) to those in the dissident movements (such as in the arts and the Protestant Church).[21] Information gathered about the latter groups was frequently used to divide or discredit members.[22] Informants were made to feel important, given material or social incentives, and were imbued with a sense of adventure, and only around 7.7%, according to official figures, were coerced into cooperating. A significant proportion of those informing were members of the SED; to employ some form of blackmail, however, was not uncommon.[21] A large number of Stasi
Stasi informants were tram conductors, janitors, doctors, nurses and teachers; Mielke believed that the best informants were those whose jobs entailed frequent contact with the public.[23] The Stasi's ranks swelled considerably after Eastern Bloc
Eastern Bloc countries signed the 1975 Helsinki accords, which GDR leader Erich Honecker viewed as a grave threat to his regime because they contained language binding signatories to respect "human and basic rights, including freedom of thought, conscience, religion, and conviction."[24] The number of IMs peaked at around 180,000 in that year, having slowly risen from 20,000–30,000 in the early 1950s, and reaching 100,000 for the first time in 1968, in response to Ostpolitik
Ostpolitik and protests worldwide.[25] The Stasi
Stasi also acted as a proxy for KGB
KGB to conduct activities in other Eastern Bloc
Eastern Bloc countries, such as Poland, where the Soviets were despised.[26] The Stasi
Stasi infiltrated almost every aspect of GDR life. In the mid-1980s, a network of IMs began growing in both German states; by the time that East Germany
East Germany collapsed in 1989, the Stasi
Stasi employed 91,015 employees and 173,081 informants.[27] About one out of every 63 East Germans collaborated with the Stasi. By at least one estimate, the Stasi
Stasi maintained greater surveillance over its own people than any secret police force in history.[28] The Stasi
Stasi employed one full-time agent for every 166 East Germans. The ratios swelled when informers were factored in: counting part-time informers, the Stasi
Stasi had one informer per 6.5 people. By comparison, the Gestapo
Gestapo employed one secret policeman per 2,000 people. This comparison led Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal
Simon Wiesenthal to call the Stasi
Stasi even more oppressive than the Gestapo.[29] Stasi
Stasi agents infiltrated and undermined West Germany's government and spy agencies.[citation needed] In some cases, spouses even spied on each other. A high-profile example of this was peace activist Vera Lengsfeld, whose husband, Knud Wollenberger, was a Stasi
Stasi informant.[23] Zersetzung[edit]

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Main article: Zersetzung The Stasi
Stasi perfected the technique of psychological harassment of perceived enemies known as Zersetzung (pronounced [ʦɛɐ̯ˈzɛtsʊŋ]) – a term borrowed from chemistry which literally means "decomposition".

…the Stasi
Stasi often used a method which was really diabolic. It was called Zersetzung, and it's described in another guideline. The word is difficult to translate because it means originally "biodegradation". But actually, it's a quite accurate description. The goal was to destroy secretly the self-confidence of people, for example by damaging their reputation, by organizing failures in their work, and by destroying their personal relationships. Considering this, East Germany
East Germany was a very modern dictatorship. The Stasi
Stasi didn't try to arrest every dissident. It preferred to paralyze them, and it could do so because it had access to so much personal information and to so many institutions.

—Hubertus Knabe, German historian [30]

By the 1970s, the Stasi
Stasi had decided that the methods of overt persecution that had been employed up to that time, such as arrest and torture, were too crude and obvious. It was realised that psychological harassment was far less likely to be recognised for what it was, so its victims, and their supporters, were less likely to be provoked into active resistance, given that they would often not be aware of the source of their problems, or even its exact nature. Zersetzung was designed to side-track and "switch off" perceived enemies so that they would lose the will to continue any "inappropriate" activities. Tactics employed under Zersetzung generally involved the disruption of the victim's private or family life. This often included psychological attacks, such as breaking into homes and subtly manipulating the contents, in a form of gaslighting – moving furniture, altering the timing of an alarm, removing pictures from walls or replacing one variety of tea with another. Other practices included property damage, sabotage of cars, purposely incorrect medical treatment, smear campaigns including sending falsified compromising photos or documents to the victim's family, denunciation, provocation, psychological warfare, psychological subversion, wiretapping, bugging, mysterious phone calls or unnecessary deliveries, even including sending a vibrator to a target's wife. Usually, victims had no idea that the Stasi
Stasi were responsible. Many thought that they were losing their minds, and mental breakdowns and suicide could result. One great advantage of the harassment perpetrated under Zersetzung was that its subtle nature meant that it was able to be plausibly denied. This was important given that the GDR was trying to improve its international standing during the 1970s and 80s, especially in conjunction with the Ostpolitik
Ostpolitik of West German Chancellor Willy Brandt massively improving relations between the two German states. International operations[edit] See also: Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung Other files (the Rosenholz Files), which contained the names of East German spies abroad, led American spy agencies to capture them. After German reunification, revelations of Stasi's international activities were publicized, such as its military training of the West German Red Army Faction.[31] Directorate X was responsible for disinformation. Rolf Wagenbreth, director of disinformation operations, stated "Our friends in Moscow call it 'dezinformatsiya'. Our enemies in America call it 'active measures', and I, dear friends, call it ‘my favorite pastime'".[32] Examples[edit]

Stasi
Stasi experts helped to build the secret police organization of Mengistu Haile Mariam
Mengistu Haile Mariam in Ethiopia.[33][34] Fidel Castro's regime in Cuba was particularly interested in receiving training from the Stasi. Stasi
Stasi instructors worked in Cuba and Cuban communists received training in East Germany.[35] The Stasi
Stasi chief Markus Wolf
Markus Wolf described how he set up the Cuban system on the pattern of the East German system.[36] Stasi
Stasi officers helped in initial training and indoctrination of Egyptian State Security organizations under the Nasser regime from 1957–58 onwards. This was discontinued by Anwar Sadat
Anwar Sadat in 1976. The Stasi's experts worked with building secret police systems in the People's Republic of Angola, the People's Republic of Mozambique, and the People's Republic of Yemen
People's Republic of Yemen (South Yemen).[34] The Stasi
Stasi organized and extensively trained Syrian intelligence services under the regime of Hafez al-Assad
Hafez al-Assad and Ba'ath Party
Ba'ath Party from 1966 onwards and especially from 1973.[37] Stasi
Stasi experts helped to set up Idi Amin's secret police.[34][38] Stasi
Stasi experts helped the President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, to set up his secret police. When Nkrumah was ousted by a military coup, Stasi Major Jürgen Rogalla was imprisoned.[34][39] The Stasi
Stasi sent agents to the West as sleeper agents. For instance, sleeper agent Günter Guillaume
Günter Guillaume became a senior aide to social democratic chancellor Willy Brandt, and reported about his politics and private life.[40] The Stasi
Stasi operated at least one brothel. Agents were used against both men and women working in Western governments. "Entrapment" was used against married men and homosexuals.[41] Martin Schlaff – According to the German parliament's investigations, the Austrian billionaire's Stasi
Stasi codename was "Landgraf" and registration number "3886-86". He made money by supplying embargoed goods to East Germany.[42] Sokratis Kokkalis – Stasi
Stasi documents suggest that the Greek businessman was a Stasi
Stasi agent, whose operations included delivering Western technological secrets and bribing Greek officials to buy outdated East German telecom equipment.[43] Red Army Faction
Red Army Faction (Baader-Meinhof Group)—A terrorist organization which killed dozens of West Germans and others, which received financial and logistical support from the Stasi, as well as shelter and new identities.[44] The Stasi
Stasi ordered a campaign in which cemeteries and other Jewish sites in West Germany
West Germany were smeared with swastikas and other Nazi symbols. Funds were channelled to a small West German group for it to defend Adolf Eichmann.[45] The Stasi
Stasi channelled large amounts of money to Neo-Nazi
Neo-Nazi groups in West, with the purpose of discrediting the West.[46] The Stasi
Stasi worked in a campaign to create extensive material and propaganda against Israel.[45] Murder of Benno Ohnesorg
Benno Ohnesorg – A Stasi
Stasi informant in the West Berlin police, Karl-Heinz Kurras, fatally shot an unarmed demonstrator, which stirred a whole movement of Marxist radicalism, protest, and terrorist violence. The Economist describes it as "the gunshot that hoaxed a generation".[47][48] The surviving Stasi
Stasi Records contain no evidence that Kurras was acting under their orders when he shot Ohnesorg.[49][50] Operation Infektion—The Stasi
Stasi helped the KGB
KGB to spread HIV/AIDS disinformation that the United States
United States had created the disease. Millions of people around the world still believe in these claims.[51][52] Sandoz chemical spill—The KGB
KGB reportedly ordered the Stasi
Stasi to sabotage the chemical factory to distract attention from the Chernobyl disaster six months earlier in Ukraine.[53][54][55] Investigators have found evidence of a death squad that carried out a number of assassinations (including assassination of Swedish journalist Cats Falck) on orders from the East German government from 1976 to 1987. Attempts to prosecute members failed.[56][57][58] The Stasi
Stasi attempted to assassinate Wolfgang Welsch (de), a famous critic of the regime. Stasi
Stasi collaborator Peter Haack ( Stasi
Stasi codename "Alfons") befriended Welsch and then fed him hamburgers poisoned with thallium. It took weeks for doctors to find out why Welsch had suddenly lost his hair.[59] Documents in the Stasi
Stasi archives state that the KGB
KGB ordered Bulgarian agents to assassinate Pope John Paul II, who was known for his criticism of human rights in the Communist bloc, and the Stasi
Stasi was asked to help with covering up traces.[60] A special unit of the Stasi
Stasi assisted Romanian intelligence in kidnapping Romanian dissident Oliviu Beldeanu from West Germany.[61] The Stasi
Stasi in 1972 made plans to assist the Vietnam People's Public Security in improving its intelligence work during the Vietnam War.[62] In 1975, the Stasi
Stasi recorded a conversation between senior West German CDU politicians Helmut Kohl
Helmut Kohl and Kurt Biedenkopf. It was then "leaked" to the Stern magazine as a transcript recorded by American intelligence. The magazine then claimed that Americans were wiretapping West Germans and the public believed the story.[63]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it. The fall of the Soviet Union[edit] Recruitment of informants became increasingly difficult towards the end of the GDR's existence, and, after 1986, there was a negative turnover rate of IMs. This had a significant impact on the Stasi's ability to survey the population, in a period of growing unrest, and knowledge of the Stasi's activities became more widespread.[64] Stasi had been tasked during this period with preventing the country's economic difficulties becoming a political problem, through suppression of the very worst problems the state faced, but it failed to do so.[15] Stasi
Stasi officers reportedly had discussed re-branding East Germany
East Germany as a democratic capitalist country to the West, but which in practice would have been taken over by Stasi
Stasi officers. The plan specified 2,587 OibE officers (Offiziere im besonderen Einsatz, "officers on special assignment") who would have assumed power as detailed in the Top Secret Document 0008-6/86 of 17 March 1986.[65][66] According to Ion Mihai Pacepa, the chief intelligence officer in communist Romania, other communist intelligence services had similar plans.[66] On 12 March 1990, Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel reported that the Stasi
Stasi was indeed attempting to implement 0008-6/86.[65] Pacepa has noted that what happened in Russia and how KGB
KGB Colonel Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Putin took over Russia resembles these plans.[66] See Putinism. On 7 November 1989, in response to the rapidly changing political and social situation in the GDR in late 1989, Erich Mielke
Erich Mielke resigned. On 17 November 1989, the Council of Ministers ( Ministerrat
Ministerrat der DDR) renamed the Stasi
Stasi as the "Office for National Security" (Amt für Nationale Sicherheit – AfNS), which was headed by Generalleutnant Wolfgang Schwanitz. On 8 December 1989, GDR Prime Minister
Prime Minister Hans Modrow
Hans Modrow directed the dissolution of the AfNS, which was confirmed by a decision of the Ministerrat
Ministerrat on 14 December 1989. As part of this decision, the Ministerrat
Ministerrat originally called for the evolution of the AfNS into two separate organizations: a new foreign intelligence service (Nachrichtendienst der DDR) and an "Office for the Protection of the Constitution of the GDR" ( Verfassungsschutz
Verfassungsschutz der DDR), along the lines of the West German Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz, however, the public reaction was extremely negative, and under pressure from the "Round Table" (Runder Tisch), the government dropped the creation of the Verfassungsschutz
Verfassungsschutz der DDR and directed the immediate dissolution of the AfNS on 13 January 1990. Certain functions of the AfNS reasonably related to law enforcement were handed over to the GDR Ministry of Internal Affairs. The same ministry also took guardianship of remaining AfNS facilities. When the parliament of Germany investigated public funds that disappeared after the Fall of the Berlin Wall, it found out that East Germany had transferred large amounts of money to Martin Schlaff through accounts in Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein, in return for goods "under Western embargo". Moreover, high-ranking Stasi
Stasi officers continued their post-GDR careers in management positions in Schlaff's group of companies. For example, in 1990, Herbert Kohler, Stasi
Stasi commander in Dresden, transferred 170 million marks to Schlaff for "harddisks" and months later went to work for him.[42][67] The investigations concluded that "Schlaff's empire of companies played a crucial role" in the Stasi
Stasi attempts to secure the financial future of Stasi
Stasi agents and keep the intelligence network alive.[42] The Stern magazine noted that KGB
KGB officer Vladimir Putin worked with his Stasi
Stasi colleagues in Dresden in 1989.[67] The recovery of the Stasi
Stasi files[edit] During the Peaceful Revolution
Peaceful Revolution of 1989, Stasi
Stasi offices were overrun by angry citizens, but not before the Stasi
Stasi destroyed a number of documents (approximately 5%)[68] consisting of, by one calculation, 1 billion sheets of paper.[2] Storming the Stasi
Stasi headquarters[edit]

Citizens protesting and entering the Stasi
Stasi building in Berlin; the sign accuses the Stasi
Stasi and SED of being Nazi-like dictators. 1990.

With the fall of the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic the Stasi
Stasi was dissolved. Stasi
Stasi employees began to destroy the extensive files and documents they held, by hand, fire and with the use of shredders. When these activities became known, a protest began in front of the Stasi headquarters,[69] The evening of 15 January 1990 saw a large crowd form outside the gates calling for a stop to the destruction of sensitive files. The building contained vast records of personal files, many of which would form important evidence in convicting those who had committed crimes for the Stasi. The protesters continued to grow in number until they were able to overcome the police and gain entry into the complex. Once inside, specific targets of the protesters' anger were portraits of Erich Honecker
Erich Honecker which were trampled on or burnt. Among the protesters were former Stasi
Stasi collaborators seeking to destroy incriminating documents[citation needed]. Controversy of the Stasi
Stasi files[edit] With the German Reunification
German Reunification on 3 October 1990, a new government agency was founded called the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic (German: Der Bundesbeauftragte für die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der ehemaligen Deutschen Demokratischen Republik), officially abbreviated "BStU".[70] There was a debate about what should happen to the files, whether they should be opened to the people or kept closed. Those who opposed opening the files cited privacy as a reason. They felt that the information in the files would lead to negative feelings about former Stasi
Stasi members, and, in turn, cause violence. Pastor Rainer Eppelmann, who became Minister of Defense and Disarmament after March 1990, felt that new political freedoms for former Stasi
Stasi members would be jeopardized by acts of revenge. Prime Minister
Prime Minister Lothar de Maizière even went so far as to predict murder. They also argued against the use of the files to capture former Stasi
Stasi members and prosecute them, arguing that not all former members were criminals and should not be punished solely for being a member. There were also some who believed that everyone was guilty of something. Peter Michael Diestel, the Minister of Interior, opined that these files could not be used to determine innocence and guilt, claiming that "there were only two types of individuals who were truly innocent in this system, the newborn and the alcoholic". Other opinions, such as the one of West German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, believed in putting the Stasi
Stasi behind them and working on German reunification.

But why did the Stasi
Stasi collect all this information in its archives? The main purpose was to control the society. In nearly every speech, the Stasi
Stasi minister gave the order to find out who is who, which meant who thinks what. He didn't want to wait until somebody tried to act against the regime. He wanted to know in advance what people were thinking and planning. The East Germans knew, of course, that they were surrounded by informers, in a totalitarian regime that created mistrust and a state of widespread fear, the most important tools to oppress people in any dictatorship.

—Hubertus Knabe, German historian [30]

Others argued that everyone should have the right to see their own file, and that the files should be opened to investigate former Stasi members and prosecute them, as well as not allow them to hold office. Opening the files would also help clear up some of the rumors that were currently circulating. Some also believed that politicians involved with the Stasi
Stasi should be investigated. The fate of the files was finally decided under the Unification Treaty between the GDR and Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). This treaty took the Volkskammer law further and allowed more access and use of the files. Along with the decision to keep the files in a central location in the East, they also decided who could see and use the files, allowing people to see their own files. In 1992, following a declassification ruling by the German government, the Stasi
Stasi files were opened, leading people to look for their files. Timothy Garton Ash, an English historian, after reading his file, wrote The File: A Personal History.[71] Between 1991 and 2011, around 2.75 million individuals, mostly GDR citizens, requested to see their own files.[72] The ruling also gave people the ability to make duplicates of their documents. Another big issue was how the media could use and benefit from the documents. It was decided that the media could obtain files as long as they were depersonalized and not regarding an individual under the age of 18 or a former Stasi
Stasi member. This ruling not only gave the media access to the files, but also gave schools access. Tracking down former Stasi
Stasi informers with the files[edit] Even though groups of this sort were active in the community, those who were tracking down ex-members were, as well. Many of these hunters succeeded in catching ex-Stasi; however, charges could not be made for merely being a member. The person in question would have to have participated in an illegal act, not just be a registered Stasi
Stasi member. Among the high-profile individuals who were arrested and tried were Erich Mielke, Third Minister of State Security of the GDR, and Erich Honecker, head of state for the GDR. Mielke was sentenced to six years prison for the murder of two policemen in 1931. Honecker was charged with authorizing the killing of would-be escapees on the East-West frontier and the Berlin Wall. During his trial, he went through cancer treatment. Because he was nearing death, Honecker was allowed to spend his final time in freedom. He died in Chile in May 1994. Reassembling the destroyed files[edit] Some of it is very easy due to the number of archives and the failure of shredding machines (in some cases "shredding" meant tearing paper in two by hand and documents could be recovered easily). In 1995, the BStU began reassembling the shredded documents; 13 years later, the three dozen archivists commissioned to the projects had only reassembled 327 bags; they are now using computer-assisted data recovery to reassemble the remaining 16,000 bags – estimated at 45 million pages. It is estimated that this task may be completed at a cost of 30 million dollars.[73] The CIA
CIA acquired some Stasi
Stasi records during the looting of the Stasi's archives. The Federal Republic of Germany has asked for their return and received some in April 2000.[74] See also Rosenholz files. Museum in the old headquarters[edit]

Statue of workers and Police officer in front of the Stasi
Stasi archives, Mitte district, Berlin.

The Anti-Stalinist Action Normannenstraße (ASTAK), an association founded by former GDR Citizens' Committees, has transformed the former headquarters of the Stasi
Stasi into a museum. It is divided into three floors:

Ground floor

The ground floor has been kept as it used to be. The decor is original, with many statues and flags.

Between the ground and first (upper) floor:

Surveillance technology and Stasi
Stasi symbols: Some of the tools that the Stasi
Stasi used to track down their opponents. During an interview, the seats were covered with a cotton cloth to collect the perspiration of the victim. The cloth was placed in a glass jar, which was annotated with the victim's name, and archived. Other common ways that the scents would be collected is through breaking into a home and taking parts of garments. The most common garment taken was underpants, because of how close the garment is to the skin. The Stasi
Stasi would then use trained dogs to track down the person using this scent. Other tools shown here include a tie-camera, cigarette box camera, and an AK-47
AK-47 hidden in luggage. Display gallery of Directorate VII. This part of the museum tells the history of the Stasi, from the beginning of the GDR to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

First (upper) floor

Mielke's offices. The decor is 1960s furniture. There is a reception room with a TV set in the cafeteria. Office of Colonel Heinz Volpert Lounge for drivers and bodyguards Office of Major-General Hans Carlsohn, director of the secretariat Secretariat The Cafeteria Kitchen The Minister's Workroom The Conference Room with a giant map of Germany on a wall—one of the most impressive rooms. The cloakroom

Second (upper) floor

Repression—Rebellion—Self-Liberation from 1945 to 1989

Photo gallery:

Kitchen

Surveillance

Secretariat

Prison

Stasi
Stasi officers after the reunification[edit] Recruitment by Russian state-owned companies[edit] Former Stasi
Stasi agent Matthias Warnig (codename "Arthur") is currently the CEO of Nord Stream.[75] German investigations have revealed that some of the key Gazprom Germania managers are former Stasi agents.[76][77] Lobbying[edit] Former Stasi
Stasi officers continue to be politically active via the Gesellschaft zur Rechtlichen und Humanitären Unterstützung e. V. (GRH, Society for Legal and Humanitarian Support). Former high-ranking officers and employees of the Stasi, including the last Stasi director, Wolfgang Schwanitz, make up the majority of the organization's members, and it receives support from the German Communist Party, among others. Impetus for the establishment of the GRH was provided by the criminal charges filed against the Stasi
Stasi in the early 1990s. The GRH, decrying the charges as "victor's justice", called for them to be dropped. Today the group provides an alternative if somewhat utopian voice in the public debate on the GDR legacy. It calls for the closure of the museum in Hohenschönhausen and can be a vocal presence at memorial services and public events. In March 2006 in Berlin, GRH members disrupted a museum event; a political scandal ensued when the Berlin Senator (Minister) of Culture refused to confront them.[78] Behind the scenes, the GRH also lobbies people and institutions promoting opposing viewpoints. For example, in March 2006, the Berlin Senator for Education received a letter from a GRH member and former Stasi
Stasi officer attacking the Museum for promoting "falsehoods, anticommunist agitation and psychological terror against minors".[79] Similar letters have also been received by schools organizing field trips to the museum.[80] Alleged informants[edit]

Vic Allen[81] Richard Clements[81] Gwyneth Edwards[82] Football club Dynamo Dresden
Dynamo Dresden had more than 18 agents[83] Anetta Kahane, German journalist, activist and the founder of the Amadeu Antonio Foundation.[84][85] Sokratis Kokkalis[86][87][88] Robin Pearson (Lecturer at the University of Hull)[89] John Roper, Baron Roper of Thorney Island[90] Bernd Runge, CEO of Phillips de Pury auction house[91] Holm Singer[92] Ingo Steuer, figure skater and now trainer[93]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it. See also[edit]

Example of Stasi
Stasi covert prisoner transport vehicle based on the B1000 van. On display at the Hohenschönhausen prison memorial in Berlin.

Barkas (van manufacturer); Barkas B1000 van BFC Dynamo Eastern Bloc
Eastern Bloc politics Felix Dzerzhinsky Watch Regiment Global surveillance disclosures (1970–2013) Global surveillance disclosures (2013–present) Economic and industrial espionage Hubertus Knabe Stasi
Stasi 2.0 Stasi
Stasi Records Agency Stasiland Telephone tapping
Telephone tapping in the Eastern Bloc Werner Teske The Lives of Others, movie centered on the Stasi Verfassungsschutz Zersetzung

References[edit]

^ Vilasi, Antonella Colonna (9 March 2015). "The History of the Stasi". AuthorHouse – via Google Books. ^ a b Murphy, Cullen (17 January 2012). God's Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-618-09156-0. Retrieved 3 January 2014. ^ An abbreviation of Staatssicherheit. ^ Chambers, Madeline,No remorse from Stasi
Stasi as Berlin marks fall of Wall, Reuters, 4 Nov 2009. ^ Angela Merkel 'turned down' job from Stasi, The Daily Telegraph, 14 November 2012. ^ Connolly, Kate,'Puzzlers' reassemble shredded Stasi
Stasi files, bit by bit, The Los Angeles Times, 1 November 2009. ^ Calio, Jim, The Stasi
Stasi Prison Ghosts, The Huffington Post, 18 November 2009. ^ Rosenberg, Steve, Computers to solve Stasi
Stasi puzzle, BBC, 25 May 2007. ^ New Study Finds More Stasi
Stasi Spooks, Der Spiegel, 11 March 2008. ^ Glees, Anthony (1 August 1996). Reinventing Germany: German political development since 1945. Berg. p. 213. ISBN 978-1-85973-185-7. Retrieved 14 January 2012. ^ Google Books pp. 53–85 ^ a b c Koehler 2000, p. 74 ^ " East Germany
East Germany - Agencies of the Ministry of State Security". Country-data.com. July 1987. Retrieved 2012-11-07. ^ a b c d e Koehler 2000, pp. 8–9 ^ a b c Fulbrook 2005, pp. 228 ^ Gieseke 2001, pp. 86–87 ^ Müller-Enbergs 1993, p. 55 ^ Gieseke 2001, p. 58 ^ a b c d Koehler 2000, p. 9 ^ Fulbrook 2005, p. 241 ^ a b Fulbrook 2005, pp. 242–243 ^ Fulbrook 2005, pp. 245 ^ a b Sebetsyen, Victor (2009). Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire. New York City: Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-375-42532-2. ^ Koehler 2000, p. 142 ^ Fulbrook 2005, pp. 240 ^ Koehler 2000, p. 76 ^ Gieseke 2001, p. 54 ^ Computers to solve stasi puzzle-BBC, Friday 25 May 2007. ^ "Stasi". The New York Times. ^ a b Hubertus Knabe: The dark secrets of a surveillance state, TED Salon, Berlin, 2014 ^ Kinzer, Steven (28 March 1991). "Spy Charges Widen in Germany's East". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 June 2014. ^ Translated from paragraph 6 of the German article "Einmal in der Stalinallee", Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel 29/1991. P. 32. Online version (or [1]) viewed on May 29, 2013. ^ A brave woman seeks justice and historical recognition for past wrongs. 27 September 2007. The Economist. ^ a b c d THE FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE-GATHERING OF THE MfS' HAUPTVERWALTUNG AUFKLÄRUNG. Jérôme Mellon. 16 October 2001. ^ Seduced by Secrets: Inside the Stasi's Spy-Tech World. Kristie Macrakis. P. 166–171. ^ The Culture of Conflict in Modern Cuba. Nicholas A. Robins. P. 45. ^ Rafiq Hariri and the Fate of Lebanon (2009). Marwān Iskandar. P. 201. ^ Gareth M. Winrow. The Foreign Policy of the GDR in Africa, p. 141 ^ Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police (1999). John O. Koehler. ^ Craig R. Whitney (12 April 1995). "Gunter Guillaume, 68, Is Dead; Spy Caused Willy Brandt's Fall". The New York Times. Retrieved 20 May 2009. ^ Where Have All His Spies Gone?. New York Times. 12 August 1990 ^ a b c "The Schlaff Saga / Laundered funds & 'business' ties to the Stasi". Haaretz. 7 September 2010. ^ Olympiakos soccer chief was 'spy for Stasi'. The Independent. 24 February 2002. ^ Koehler (1999), The Stasi, pages 387-401. ^ a b E. Germany Ran Antisemitic Campaign in West in '60s. Washington Post, 28 February 1993. ^ Neo-Nazism: a threat to Europe? Jillian Becker, Institute for European Defence & Strategic Studies. P. 16. ^ The Truth about the Gunshot that Changed Germany. Spiegel Online. 28 May 2009. ^ The gunshot that hoaxed a generation. The Economist. 28 May 2009. ^ Kulish, Nicholas (26 May 2009). "East German Stasi
Stasi Spy Killed Protester, Ohnesorg, in 1967" – via NYTimes.com. ^ "Karl-Heinz Kurras: Erschoss er Benno Ohnesorg? Gab Mielke den Schießbefehl?". ^ Koehler, John O. (1999) Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police ISBN 0-8133-3409-8. ^ Operation INFEKTION - Soviet Bloc Intelligence and Its AIDS Disinformation Campaign. Thomas Boghardt. 2009. ^ " KGB
KGB ordered Swiss explosion to distract attention from Chernobyl." United Press International. 27 November 2000. ^ Stasi
Stasi accused of Swiss disaster. The Irish Times. 23 November 2000. ^ Sehnsucht Natur: Ökologisierung des Denkens (2009). Johannes Straubinger. ^ Hall, Thomas (25 September 2003). "Svensk tv-reporter mördades av DDR" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter. Archived from the original on 16 December 2004. Retrieved 20 January 2008. ^ Svensson, Leif (26 September 2003). "Misstänkt mördare från DDR gripen" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter/Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå. Archived from the original on 16 December 2004. Retrieved 20 January 2008. ^ "Misstänkte DDR-mördaren släppt" (in Swedish). Dagens Nyheter/Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå. 17 December 2003. Archived from the original on 17 December 2004. Retrieved 20 January 2008. ^ Seduced by Secrets: Inside the Stasi's Spy-Tech World. Kristie Macrakis. P. 176. ^ " Stasi
Stasi Files Implicate KGB
KGB in Pope Shooting". Deutche Welle. ^ The Kremlin's Killing Ways—A long tradition continues. 28 November 2006. National Review. ^ " Stasi
Stasi Aid and the Modernization of the Vietnamese Secret Police". 20 August 2014. ^ Stasi: Shield and Sword of the Party (2008). John C. Schmeidel. P. 138. ^ Fulbrook 2005, pp. 242 ^ a b Von OibE durchsetzt. Der Spiegel
Der Spiegel 12.03 1990 ^ a b c "Symposium: From Russia With Death" (a partial transcript: part1, part2) on 19 January 2007. The panel contained Oleg Kalugin, Richard Pipes, Vladimir Bukovsky, Jim Woolsey, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa, David Satter, Yuri Yarim-Agaev and Andrei Piontkovsk. ^ a b A tale of gazoviki, money and greed Archived 28 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine.. Stern magazine, 13 September 2007 ^ "Piecing Together the Dark Legacy of East Germany's Secret Police". Wired. 18 January 2008. ^ The Stasi
Stasi Headquarters now a museum open to the public. ^ Functions of the BStU, from the English version of the official BStU website ^ The File, Information about "The File" ^ Pidd, Helen (13 March 2011). "Germans piece together millions of lives spied on by Stasi" – via www.theguardian.com. ^ Wired: "Piecing Together the Dark Legacy of East Germany's Secret Police" ^ BBC: "MfS files return to Germany." ^ Nord Stream, Matthias Warnig (codename "Arthur") and the Gazprom Lobby Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 114 ^ Gazprom's Loyalists in Berlin and Brussels. Eurasia Daily Monitor Volume: 6 Issue: 100. 26 May 2009 ^ "Police investigate Gazprom executive's Stasi
Stasi past". 7 May 2008. ^ Stasi
Stasi Offiziere Leugnen den Terror. Berliner Morgenpost 16 March 2006. [2](subscription required) ^ Backmann, Christa. Stasi-Anhänger schreiben an Bildungssenator Böger. Berliner Morgenpost 25 March 2006. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2006. ^ Schomaker, Gilbert. Ehemalige Stasi-Kader schreiben Schulen an. Die Welt, 26 March 2006. [3] ^ a b "I regret nothing, says Stasi
Stasi spy". BBC. 20 September 1999. ^ "Spying Who's Who". BBC. 22 September 1999. ^ "H-Soz-u-Kult / Mielke, Macht und Meisterschaft". hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de. ^ Rogalla, Thomas. "Eine Stasi-Debatte, die nicht beendet wurde". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2017-01-05. ^ "DDR: Birthler-Behörde ließ Stasi-Spitzel einladen - WELT". DIE WELT. Retrieved 2017-01-05. ^ "Olympiakos soccer chief was 'spy for Stasi'". Independent. 24 February 2002. ^ "Socrates Kokkalis and the STASI". cryptome.org. ^ " Stasi
Stasi spy claims hit Greek magnate". BBC
BBC News. 20 February 2002. ^ "Respected lecturer's double life". BBC
BBC News. 20 September 1999. ^ "The Stasi
Stasi spy (cont)". The Guardian. London. 14 June 2003. ^ Reyburn, Scott (26 January 2009). "Former Stasi
Stasi Agent Bernd Runge Gets Phillips Top Job (Update1)". Bloomberg. ^ Palmer, Carolyn (25 March 2008). "E.German Stasi
Stasi informant wins battle to conceal past". Reuters. ^ "Court Decision Paves Olympics Way for Stasi-linked Coach - Germany - DW - 06.02.2006". Deutsche Welle.

Bibliography[edit]

De La Motte and John Green, " Stasi
Stasi State or Socialist Paradise? The German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic and What became of it", Artery Publications. 2015 Gary Bruce: The Firm: The Inside Story of Stasi, The Oxford Oral History Series; Oxford University Press, Oxford 2010 ISBN 978-0-19-539205-0. Funder, Anna (2003). Stasiland: Stories from behind the Berlin Wall. London: Granta. p. 288. ISBN 978-1-86207-655-6. OCLC 55891480. Fulbrook, Mary (2005). The People's State: East German Society from Hitler to Honecker. London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-14424-6. . Gieseke, Jens (2014). The History of the Stasi. East Germany's Secret Police 1945-1990. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-78238-254-6. ; translation of 2001 book Harding, Luke (2011). Mafia State. London: Guardian Books. ISBN 978-0-85265-247-3. Koehler, John O. (2000). Stasi: the untold story of the East German secret police. Westview Press. ISBN 0-8133-3744-5. . Macrakis, Kristie (2008). Seduced by Secrets: Inside the Stasi's Spy-Tech World. New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-88747-2. Pickard, Ralph (2007). STASI Decorations and Memorabilia, A Collector's Guide. Frontline Historical Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9797199-0-5. Pickard, Ralph (2012). STASI Decorations and Memorabilia Volume II. Frontline Historical Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9797199-2-9. Komets-Chimirri, Arik (2014). Operation Falsche Flagge be.bra wissenschaft verlag. How the KGB
KGB and Stasi
Stasi undermined a human rights group that was financed by the CIA. ISBN 978-3-95410-039-2. Only available in German.

The controversy of the Stasi
Stasi files[edit]

Serge Schmemann, "Angry Crowds of East Germans Ransack Offices of Spy Service", The New York Times, 16 January 1990. Serge Schmemann, " East Berlin
East Berlin Faults Opposition on Raid", The New York Times, 17 January 1990. Glenn Frankel, " East Germany
East Germany Haunted by Stasi
Stasi Legacy; Secret Police Files Stir Allegations", The Washington Post, 31 March 1990. John Gray, "Secret Police Gone but not Forgotten East Germans Agonize over Where all the Informers and Massive Files are", The Globe and Mail, 8 September 1990. The Economist's Berlin Reporter "East Germany's Stasi; Where have all the Files Gone", The Economist, 22 September 1990. Stephen Kinzer, "Germans anguish Over Police files", The New York Times, 12 February 1992. Derek Scally, "Kohl Wins Court Battle on Stasi
Stasi Files", The Irish Times, 9 March 2002. Garton Ash, Timothy. The File, New York: Random House, 1997. David Childs (David H. Childs) and Richard Popplewell. The Stasi: East German Intelligence and Security Service, Washington Square, NY: New York University Press, 1996. Childs, David. The Fall of the GDR, Essex, England: Pearson Learning Limited, 2001. Koehler, John. Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1999. Dennis, Mike. The Stasi: Myth and Reality, London, England: Pearson Education Limited, 2003. Colitt, Leslie. Spymaster, Reading, Massachusetts: Addison–Wesley Publishing Company, 1995.

External links[edit] German[edit]

Information about Stasi
Stasi victims Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic – Official site Museum in the former Stasi
Stasi headquarters, Berlin-Lichtenberg Homepage of the Gesellschaft zur Rechtlichen und Humanitären Unterstützung "Interview with a Stasi
Stasi victim". Amadelio Vlog. Media Archive with records of the Records of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic

English[edit]

Official website of the award winning film The Lives of Others Photos of Stasi
Stasi Headquarters in Berlin Pham, Khuê (11 June 2007). "Support Group For Spies: From East German Spooks to West German Victims". Spiegel Online. Official website of the award winning film The Burning Wall The documentary film Germany's Records of Repression on YouTube Knabe, Hubertus (2014). "The dark secrets of a surveillance state". TED Salon. Berlin. "Over the Top". Berlin1969.com. Describes West Berlin and Allied radio links passing above East Germany
East Germany and the Stasi
Stasi effort to intercept and interrupt them. StasiPrison.org - The true story of a stasi prisoner

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