How many informants did the Stasi have?
In the mid-1980s, a network of IMs began growing in both German states. By the time that East Germany collapsed in 1989, the Stasi employed 91,015 employees and 173,081 informants. About one out of every 63 East Germans collaborated with the Stasi.
What were Stasi informants called?
IMs
In the residential areas the Stasi relied on “Information people” (“Auskunftspersonen ” / AKPs), for information on neighbours. These were informants who in most circumstances would not themselves have been listed as IMs, and whose information gathering would mostly have been controlled by senior Stasi officers.
Who were the Stasi and what did they do?
Over the 40-year existence of communist East Germany, the Ministry of State Security built one of the most tightly controlled surveillance regimes in history. The Stasi created a vast web of full-time agents and part-time spies, with some historians calculating that there was one informant for every 6.5 citizens.
How did the Stasi punish people?
The Stasi applied Zersetzung before, during, after, or instead of incarcerating the targeted individual. However, in certain cases, the Stasi did attempt to entrap individuals, as for example in the case of Wolf Biermann: The Stasi set him up with minors, hoping that they could then pursue criminal charges.
What is a Stasi spy?
Stasi, official name Ministerium für Staatsicherheit (German: “Ministry for State Security”), secret police agency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). The Stasi was one of the most hated and feared institutions of the East German communist government.
What was the tagline for the Stasi?
The Stasi motto was “Schild und Schwert der Partei” (Shield and Sword of the Party). “The Party” was the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The main job of the Stasi was to prevent opposition to the Party.
What are Stasi tactics?
Zersetzung: A Stasi Tactic Zersetzung was a form of psychological harassment that was designed to wreak havoc on an individual, without any need to arrest or torture the target. As the German historian, Hubertus Knabe puts it: The word is difficult to translate because it means originally biodegradation.
What did Stasi stand for?
Ministry for State Security
Stasi, official name Ministerium für Staatsicherheit (German: “Ministry for State Security”), secret police agency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). The Stasi was one of the most hated and feared institutions of the East German communist government.
Is the HVA the Stasi?
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.
Who did the Stasi spy on?
Under Markus Wolf, its chief of foreign operations from 1958 to 1987, the Stasi extensively penetrated West Germany’s government and military and intelligence services, including the inner circle of West German Chancellor Willy Brandt (1969–74); indeed, the discovery in April 1974 that a top aid to Brandt, Günter …
What did unofficial informants do for the Stasi?
Up to now, the broad network of so-called “unofficial informants” (IMs) maintained by the Stasi has dominated the popular view of East Germany’s surveillance state. Files full of IM reports became indispensable sources for Stasi victims, politicians,…
Who was an informer for the Stasi in East Germany?
About one in 100 East Germans was an informer for communist East Germany’s secret police in 1989, according to a new study. Political ideology was their main motivation, both in East and West Germany.
How many secret policemen did the Stasi have?
Infiltration. The Stasi employed one secret policeman for every 166 East Germans; by comparison, the Gestapo deployed one secret policeman per 2,000 people. As ubiquitous as this was, the ratios swelled when informers were factored in: counting part-time informers, the Stasi had one agent per 6.5 people.
Why did the Stasi beat confessions out of suspects?
1 The Stasi routinely beat confessions out of suspects before they went on trial 2 Reputation for violence against so-called troublemakers and enemies of state 3 Informants were everywhere and people in state lived in fear of being accused
