Was there a Stasi in East Germany?

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 percentage of East Germans were Stasi informants?

Statsi’s Army of Informants When you consider that the entire population of the country was only 16 million at the time, this means that more than 1\% of the population served as informants.

What happened to the East German Stasi?

After German reunification, the surveillance files that the Stasi had maintained on millions of East Germans were opened, so that all citizens could inspect their personal file on request. The files were maintained by the Stasi Records Agency until June 2021, when they became part of the German Federal Archives.

How did the Stasi control East Germany?

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 many citizens did the Stasi have files on?

The Stasi (formally the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, or Ministry for State Security) kept tabs on about 6 million people, more than a third of the population in the now-defunct East Germany (GDR).

How did the Stasi affect East Germany?

This level of surveillance and infiltration caused East Germans to live in terror—you really never knew if you could trust anyone—though most had no idea of the scope of these activities until after the Berlin Wall fell. Stasi files laid out together would cover about 69 sq. miles.

How did the East Germany use psychology to smear the west?

Psychological operations were used to glorify the East German socialist state and smear the immoral, pleasure-seeking, capitalist West. Erotica – whether printed or filmed – was banned in East Germany, and was pointed to as evidence of the West’s decadence and depravity.

Did the Stasi throw a lightbulb out of a window?

A lightbulb tossed out of a high-rise apartment caused a similar flurry of activity in the town of Suhl on 7 October 1987, after it hit the roof of a vehicle in a motorcade for state apparatchiks. The Stasi suspected “negative enemy forces” were to blame. Stasi photograph of a lightbulb thrown out of a window.

What happened to East Germany in the 1990s?

In 1990, to protect his fragile mother from a fatal shock after a long coma, a young man must keep her from learning that her beloved nation of East Germany as she knew it has disappeared. The fall of the Berlin Wall, and a kid has to make his beloved mother don’t know about it.