Stasi
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{{This2|the secret police of East Germany|its other common meaning|Stasi Commission}}
:''For the regular police in East Germany, see [[Volkspolizei]]''.
{{Infobox Govt Agency
| agency_name = ''Ministerium für Staatssicherheit''
| abbreviation = ''STASI''
| nativename_a =
| nativename_r =
| logo =
| logo_width =
| logo_caption =
| seal = Emblema Stasi.svg
| seal_width = 125 px
| seal_caption = Seal of the Ministry of State Security of the GDR
| formed = Feb. 8th, 1950
| preceding1 =
| preceding2 =
| dissolved =
| superseding =
| jurisdiction =
| headquarters = [[East Berlin]], [[GDR]]
| employees = 68,000
| minister1_name =
| minister1_pfo =
| minister2_name =
| minister2_pfo =
| minister3_name =
| minister3_pfo =
| chief1_name = [[Wilhelm Zaisser]] (1950–1953)
| chief1_position =
| chief2_name = [[Ernst Wollweber]] (1953–1957)
| chief2_position =
| chief3_name = [[Erich Mielke]] (1957–1989)
| chief3_position =
| chief4_name = [[Wolfgang Schwanitz]] (1989-1991)
| parent_agency =
| child1_agency =
| child2_agency =
| website = [http://www.mfs-insider.de/ MFS-Insider]
| footnotes =
}}
The '''''Ministerium für Staatssicherheit''''' ([[Ministry for State Security]]), commonly known as the '''Stasi''' (abbreviation {{lang-de|Staatssicherheit}}, literally State Security), was the official [[secret police]] of [[East Germany]]. The MfS was headquartered in [[East Berlin]], with an extensive complex in Berlin-[[Lichtenberg]] and several smaller facilities throughout the city. It was widely regarded as one of the most effective and repressive intelligence and secret police agencies in the world. The MfS motto was ''"Schild und Schwert der Partei"'' (Shield and Sword of the Party), showing its connections to the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] (SED), the equivalent to the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union]]. Another term used in earlier years to refer to the MfS was ''Staatssicherheitsdienst'' (State Security Service or SSD).
== History ==
[[Image:Stasi 004 540px.jpg|thumb|Mielke and MfS Officers]]
===Creation of the MfS===
The MfS was founded on [[8 February]] [[1950]]. It was modeled on the [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[Ministry for State Security (USSR)|MGB]], and was regarded by the [[Soviet Union]] as an extremely loyal and effective partner. [[Wilhelm Zaisser]] was the first [[Minister of State Security]] of the GDR, and [[Erich Mielke]] his deputy. Zaisser was removed by SED First Secretary [[Walter Ulbricht]] following the [[Uprising of 1953 in East Germany|June 1953 uprising]] and replaced by [[Ernst Wollweber]]. Wollweber resigned in [[1957]] after numerous clashes with [[Walter Ulbricht]] and [[Erich Honecker]], and was succeeded by his deputy, [[Erich Mielke]].
Also in [[1957]], [[Markus Wolf]] became head of the ''[[General Reconnaissance Administration|Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung]]'' (HVA) (General Reconnaissance Administration), its foreign intelligence section. As intelligence chief, Wolf achieved great success in penetrating the government, political and business circles of [[West Germany]] with spies. The most influential case was that of [[Günter Guillaume]] which led to the downfall of West German [[Chancellor of Germany|Chancellor]] [[Willy Brandt]] in [[May 1974]]. In [[1986]], Wolf retired and was succeeded by [[Werner Grossmann]].
===Dealings with foreign Leftist and terrorist organizations===
However, the MfS also played another, more external, role; it saved the lives of many leftist activists and politicians during the 1970s, especially in [[South America]]. For example, it is alleged {{Fact|date=October 2007}} that immediately after the [[Pinochet|Pinochet Coup]] in [[Chile]] (September 1973), MfS agents organised the rescue and transportation to the GDR of hundreds of members and cadres of People's Unity. Evidence also exists concerning the MfS efforts to shelter and equip members of the [[Red Army Faction]] (RAF) when the RAF was an active terrorist organization in [[West Germany]]{{Fact|date=July 2008}}.
===End of the MfS===
On 7 November 1989, in response to the changing political and social situation in the GDR in the fall of 1989, Mielke resigned. On 17 November 1989, the Council of Ministers ''([[Ministerrat]] der DDR)'' renamed the MfS 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]] [[Hans Modrow]] directed the dissolution of the AfNS, which was confirmed by a decision of the ''Ministerrat'' on 14 December 1989.
As part of this decision, the ''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 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" ''(Runden Tisch)'', the government dropped the creation of the ''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.
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== Influence ==
[[Image:Stasi-statue.jpg|thumb|Statue of workers and Police officer in front of the Stasi archives, Mitte district, Berlin. (The officer has been pelted with eggs.)]]
The MfS infiltrated almost every aspect of GDR life. In the mid-1980s, a network of civilian informants, ''Inoffizielle Mitarbeiter'' (IMs, Unofficial Collaborators), began growing in both German states; by the time East Germany collapsed in 1989, the MfS employed an estimated 91,000 employees and 300,000 informants. About one of every 50 East Germans collaborated with the MfS — one of the most extensive police infiltrations of a society in history. In 2007 an article in BBC stated that "Some calculations have concluded that in East Germany there was one informer to every seven citizens." <ref> ''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6692895.stm Computers to solve stasi puzzle]''-[[BBC]],Friday [[25 May]] [[2007]].</ref> Additionally, MfS agents infiltrated and undermined West Germany's government and spy agencies.
[[Image:Mielke generaele.jpg|left|thumb|Minister Mielke and Stasi generals singing]]
The MfS monitored political behavior among GDR citizens, and is known to have used torture and intimidation to mute dissent. During the [[Peaceful revolution|Peaceful Revolution]] of 1989, MfS offices were overrun by enraged citizens, but not before the MfS destroyed a number of documents (approximately 5%)<ref>"http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/16-02/ff_stasi</ref> When the remaining files were published for review, many people learned that their friends, colleagues, spouses, and relatives had regularly filed reports with the MfS. These wounds on civil society have not yet entirely healed.
Other files (the [[Rosenholz files|Rosenholz Files]]), which contained the names of East German spies abroad, led American spy agencies to capture them. After German reunification, it was revealed that the MfS had secretly aided left-wing terrorists such as the [[Red Army Faction]]. The loss of MfS financial support was a major factor in the dissolution of such terrorist groups.
In 1999, an article in ''[[Der Spiegel]]'' alleged that the MfS intentionally irradiated political prisoners with high-dose radiation, possibly to provoke cancer(s) in them.<ref>''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/352461.stm Dissidents say MfS gave them cancer]''—[[BBC]], Tuesday [[25 May]] [[1999]].</ref>
== Recovery of MfS archives ==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Archiv2 300 203px.jpg|thumb|Stasi archives (not in original shelving)]] -->
During the regime's final days, MfS officials shredded documents with paper shredders and by hand. As people heard of this, they quickly formed a committee of citizen on December 4th, 1989. In a public demonstration they gained access to the MfS headquarters on January 15th, 1990 and halted the destruction.
With the [[German Reunification]] on October 3, 1990 a new government agency was founded called the [[BStU]] (Office of the Federal Commissioner Preserving the Records of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR).<ref>[http://www.bstu.bund.de/cln_029/nn_710332/EN/Office/office__node.html__nnn=true Functions of the BStU], from the English version of the official BStU website</ref>
In 1992, following a declassification ruling by the German government, the MfS files were published, leading people to look for their files. [[Timothy Garton Ash]], an English historian, wrote ''The File: A Personal History'' after reading the file compiled about him while he completed his dissertation research in East Berlin.
In 1995, the BStU began reassembling also the shredded documents; 13 years later the three dozen archivists commissioned to the projects had only reassembled 327 bags; they are now using [[Paper shredder#Unshredding|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<ref>''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'': [http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/16-02/ff_stasi "Intel Inside"]</ref>
The [[CIA]] acquired some MfS records during the looting of the MfS archives. The [[Federal Republic of Germany]] has asked for their return and received some in April 2000.<ref>[[BBC]]: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/703303.stm "MfS files return to Germany."]</ref>
== Alleged assassinations ==
MfS has been accused of a number of assassinations against political dissidents and other people both inside and outside the country. Examples include the East German football player [[Lutz Eigendorf]] and the Swedish journalist [[Cats Falck]].
In September 2003, a 53-year-old man from [[Berlin]], named as "Jürgen G" in a press release from the German Prosecutor-General, was arrested on suspicions of having been a member of a death squad that carried out a number of assassinations on orders from the East German government from 1976 to 1987.<ref>{{cite news |first=Thomas |last=Hall |title="Svensk tv-reporter mördades av DDR" |url=http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=147&a=185847 |publisher=[[Dagens Nyheter]] |date=2003-09-25 |accessdate=2008-01-20 |language=Swedish}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Leif |last=Svensson |title=Misstänkt mördare från DDR gripen |url=http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=147&a=186255 |publisher=[[Dagens Nyheter]]/[[Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå]] |date=2003-09-26 |accessdate=2008-01-20 |language=Swedish}}</ref> The man was eventually released for lack of evidence.<ref>{{cite news |title=Misstänkte DDR-mördaren släppt |url=http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=148&a=215428 |publisher=[[Dagens Nyheter]]/[[Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå]] |date=2003-12-17 |accessdate=2008-01-20 |language=Swedish}}</ref>
== Museum in the old headquarters ==
[[Image:StasiHQ.jpg|thumb|MfS HQ in Lichtenberg]]
The Anti-Stalinist Action Normannenstraße (ASTAK), an association founded by former GDR Citizens' Committees, has transformed the former headquarters of the MfS 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 MfS symbols: Some of the tools that the MfS used to track down their opponents. During an interview the seats were covered with a cotton sheet, to collect the perspiration of the victim. His name was written in a glass and the sheet was kept in the archives. 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 underwear, because of how close the garment is to the skin. The MfS 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 hidden in luggage.
**Display gallery of Directorate VII. This part of the museum tells the history of the MfS, from the beginning of the GDR to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
*First (upper) floor
**Mielke's offices. The decor is 60s 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:
<center><gallery>
Image:Stasi kitchen.JPG|Kitchen
Image:Guard post.JPG|Surveillance
Image:Stasi secretariat.JPG|Secretariat
Image:Jail stasi.JPG|Jail
<!-- Deleted image removed: Image:Sport Unification Dynamo.png|[[Sportvereinigung Dynamo]] was the state sponsored multi-sport association of East Germany's police and security forces including the MfS. {{deletable image-caption|1=Tuesday, 4 December 2007}} -->
</gallery></center>
==Society for Legal and Humanitarian Support==
<!-- Translated from German Wiki -->
Ex-MfS officers continue to be politically active via the ''Gesellschaft zur Rechtlichen und Humanitären Unterstützung e. V.'' (Society for Legal and Humanitarian Support) (GRH). Former high-ranking officers and employees of the MfS, including the MfS last 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 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.<ref>''Stasi Offiziere Leugnen den Terror''. ''Berliner Morgenpost'' 16 March 2006. [http://morgenpost.berlin1.de/content/2006/03/16/berlin/817152.html]</ref>
Behind the scenes, the GRH also exerts pressure on 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 officer attacking the Museum for promoting "falsehoods, anticommunist agitation and psychological terror against minors."<ref> Backmann, Christa. ''Stasi-Anhänger schreiben an Bildungssenator Böger''. ''Berliner Morgenpost'' [[25 March]] [[2006]]. [http://morgenpost.berlin1.de/content/2006/03/25/berlin/818994.html]</ref> Similar letters have also been received by schools organizing field trips to the museum.<ref>Schomaker, Gilbert. ''Ehemalige Stasi-Kader schreiben Schulen an''. ''Die Welt'', 26 March 2006. [http://www.welt.de/data/2006/03/23/863998.html]</ref>
=== Alleged informants ===
* Vic Allen [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/09/99/britain_betrayed/451366.stm]
* [[Gert Bastian]]
* [[Nicholas Berube]] — former member of the French Underground
* [[Ibrahim Böhme]]
* [[Richard Clements (UK journalist)|Richard Clements]] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/09/99/britain_betrayed/451366.stm]
* [[Tom Driberg]] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/446305.stm]
* [[Gwyneth Edwards]] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/09/99/britain_betrayed/452253.stm]
* [[Raymond Fletcher]] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/446305.stm]
*Football club [[Dynamo Dresden]] had more than 18 agents <ref>[http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/REZENSIO/buecher/2001/SpGi1201.htm H-Soz-u-Kult / Mielke, Macht und Meisterschaft<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
* [[Katarina Witt]], figure skater [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/05/05/witt05.xml]
* [[Ingo Steuer]], figure skater [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1893878,00.html]
* [[Günter Guillaume]] (who spied upon West German Chancellor [[Willy Brandt]])
* [[Lutz Heilmann]] — today Member of the [[Left Party (Germany)|Left Party]] and the first former Stasi official elected into the Federal Legislature ([[Bundestag]])
* [[Martin Kirchner]]
* [[Charlotte von Mahlsdorf]]
* [[Robin Pearson]] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/09/99/britain_betrayed/450921.stm]
* [[John Roper, Baron Roper of Thorney Island]] [http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,,977356,00.html]
* Holm Singer („[[IM Schubert]]“)
* [[Wolfgang Schnur]]
* [[Manfred Stolpe]] — minister-president of [[Brandenburg]] (1990–2002)
* [[Christa Wolf]] — famous German writer and intellectual
==In the arts==
The [[Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film]]-winning German film ''Das Leben der Anderen'' (aka ''[[The Lives of Others]]'') involves the monitoring of the cultural scene of East Berlin by agents of the MfS.
[[The Legend of Rita]] ''(Die Stille nach dem Schuß)'', a 2000 film directed by [[Volker Schlöndorff]], dwells heavily on the relationship between the MfS and the general population of [[East Germany]]. The second-most prominent character is the MfS "control" for the title character.
''[[Stasiland]]'' a 2004 best-selling book by [[Anna Funder]]. It was awarded the [[Samuel Johnson Prize]] in 2004.
==See also==
*[[Verfassungsschutz]]
*[[Mass surveillance]]
*[[Stasiland]]
*[[Felix Dzerzhinsky Watch Regiment]]
*[[Stasi 2.0]]
*[[Werner Teske]]
== Footnotes ==
{{Reflist}}
==References==
* ''Stasi'' by [[John O. Koehler]], [[West View Press]], 1999, ISBN 0-8133-3409-8.
==External links==
=== German ===
*[http://www.mfs-insider.de Unofficial homepage]
*[http://www.stasiopfer.de Information about Stasi victims]
*[http://www.bstu.de Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the former German Democratic Republic - Official site]
*[http://www.stasimuseum.de Museum in the former Stasi headquarters, Berlin-Lichtenberg]
*[http://www.grh-ev.org Homepage of the ''Gesellschaft zur Rechtlichen und Humanitären Unterstützung'']
*[http://www.amadelio.de/amadelio_vlog/archiv/archiv_vlog_rel/vlog_2006_zahn.htm Interview with a Stasi victim, blog by amadelio'']
=== English ===
*[http://www.thelivesofothers.com/ Official website of the award winning film ''The Lives of Others'']
*[http://www.geocities.com/isanders_2000/stasi.htm Photos of Stasi Headquarters in Berlin]
*[http://www.myspystory.com/ Read about the Defection of a Stasi Agent]
*[http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,486390,00.html "Support Group For Spies: From East German Spooks to West German Victims"] by Khuê Pham, ''[[Spiegel Online]]'', June 11, 2007.
*[http://www.theburningwall.com/ Official website of the award winning film ''The Burning Wall'']
{{Cold War}}
{{RedSecretPolice}}
[[Category:Stasi| ]]
[[Category:Cold War]]
[[Category:East Germany]]
[[Category:German intelligence agencies]]
[[Category:German loanwords]]
[[Category:Defunct law enforcement agencies of Germany]]
[[Category:Law enforcement in communist states]]
[[Category:1950 establishments]]
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[[Category:Military of East Germany]]
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[[de:Ministerium für Staatssicherheit]]
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[[pl:Ministerstwo Bezpieczeństwa Państwowego NRD]]
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[[ksh:Ministerium für Staatssicherheit]]
[[ru:Министерство государственной безопасности ГДР]]
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