The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, pronounced [minɪsˈteːʁiʊm fyːɐ̯ ˈʃtaːtsˌzɪçɐhaɪt]; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (pronounced [ˈʃtaːziː] ⓘ, an abbreviation of Staatssicherheit), was the intelligence service and secret police of East Germany (the German Democratic Republic or GDR) from 1950 to 1990. It was one of ...
Stasi, secret police agency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). It sought to infiltrate every institution of society and every aspect of daily life, including even intimate personal and familial relationships. In doing so, it became one of the most hated and feared institutions in East Germany.
Secret police have long helped authoritarian states maintain their control and hegemony on power, normally by operating outside the law to repress any discontent or opposition. Stalin’s Russia used the KGB, Nazi Germany used the Gestapo, and East Germany had the infamous Stasi. The Stasi were one of the most successful intelligence services in history: they kept almost unimaginably detailed ...
In the annals of 20th-century history, few organizations have left a more chilling legacy than the Stasi, the notorious secret police of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Born in the early years of the Cold War, the Stasi evolved into a sprawling apparatus of surveillance and psychological terror, casting a long shadow over the lives of East Germans until the fall of the Berlin Wall in ...
Function The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) governed the GDR for 40 years without ever being legitimized in a democratic election. The SED maintained its position of power by means of a huge security apparatus. One cornerstone of this system was the Ministry for State Security (MfS), or " Stasi ", which was founded in 1950. The MfS was set up under the direct guidance of the Soviet ...