Stasi (MfS)
슈타지
The GDR's Ministry for State Security (MfS), the secret police and intelligence agency that called itself the 'shield and sword of the Party'. With roughly 91,000 full-time employees and over 173,000 unofficial collaborators (IMs), it penetrated every sphere of East German society, neutralizing dissent through the psychological decomposition technique known as Zersetzung. In November 1989 its officers co-drafted the travel regulation and designed the internal media blackout, but Krenz's order to announce the text immediately caused the control scenario to collapse.
In depth
Creation and structure
The Ministry for State Security (MfS) was founded on 8 February 1950 under the direct guidance of the Soviet secret police. After the June 1953 uprising it was briefly downgraded to a State Secretariat within the Interior Ministry, then restored to full ministry status in November 1955. From 1957 until its dissolution, Erich Mielke headed it, building it into a vast surveillance apparatus.
Headquarters were on Normannenstrasse in Berlin-Lichtenberg, with district offices (Bezirksverwaltungen) and county offices (Kreisdienststellen) across the GDR, plus on-site offices at major factories and universities. Foreign espionage was the domain of Main Directorate A (HVA), led by Markus Wolf, while the Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment served as its armed wing.
Surveillance and methods
From the 1970s the Stasi perfected the psychological destruction technique known as Zersetzung ('decomposition'). Tactics included gaslighting through covert home intrusions (moving furniture, resetting alarms), career sabotage, spreading false rumours, and destroying personal relationships, all while concealing the source so victims often believed they were losing their minds. It was effective at neutralizing dissent while avoiding international condemnation.
Under the motto 'There is no such thing as unimportant information', the Stasi amassed files on most of the GDR's 16 million citizens. Its shelving stretched 111 kilometres, and its methods even included 'smell jars' (Geruchskonserven), sealed containers of target individuals' body odour for dog tracking.
9 November 1989
On 9 November 1989, four officers from the Stasi and the Interior Ministry drafted a temporary transition regulation for permanent exit and private travel. They planned to control a mass exodus by requiring passport holders to apply for visas with a four-week wait, and imposed a media blackout until 4 a.m. on 10 November. But Egon Krenz, during a Central Committee break, ordered immediate release and handed the text to Günter Schabowski. The elaborate control scenario collapsed and the Berlin Wall opened that night.
Dissolution
On 17 November 1989 the Volkskammer renamed the MfS the Office for National Security (AfNS), and on 14 December the government ordered its dissolution. The agency was formally dissolved on 13 January 1990. Under the Stasi Records Act of 1991, every citizen gained the right to inspect their surveillance files; the records are now held by the Stasi Records Agency within the German Federal Archives.
Sources
- Wikipedia (EN) founding date (8 Feb 1950), organisational history, motto, personnel numbers, Zersetzung methodology, Mielke tenure, dissolution date
- Wikipedia (RU) Russian-language article confirming founding, structure, Zersetzung, dissolution
- zzf-potsdam.de Hans-Hermann Hertle, CWIHP Bulletin 12/13: MfS and Interior Ministry officers co-drafted the 9 Nov 1989 travel regulation, placed a media blackout until 4 a.m. on 10 Nov, Krenz overrode the blackout by ordering Schabowski to release the text immediately
- bundesarchiv.de German Federal Archives: Stasi function as 'shield and sword of the Party', full-time staff of 91,000 by 1989, Zersetzung methods, HVA foreign espionage