KQ3: Repression and Control

Question 1

What were the 5 main repressive organisations in the GDR?

Answer 1

1. STASI
2. Border Troops
3. NVA (National People’s Army)
4. Police
5. Soviet Forces

Question 2

When was the NVA formed?

Answer 2

1956

Question 3

What was the NVA?

Answer 3

The GDR’s armed forces. They did not fight any significant battles. It was incorporated in the Warsaw Pact.

Question 4

When was conscription introduced for the NVA?

Answer 4

1962

Question 5

What did the majority of people choose instead of fighting?

Answer 5

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION

You could do construction work instead.

Question 6

What was the main job of the Border Troops?

Answer 6

To prevent escapes. They would be rewarded and punished accordingly.

Question 7

How many border guards were there manning the Berlin Wall?

Answer 7

Around 8,000

Question 8

What was the role of the police?

Answer 8

Similar to the role of police today., criminal sector/ domestic complaints sector e.c.t

Question 9

STASI-

How many people did they have files on by 1989?

Answer 9

6 million

Question 10

STASI-

How many employees did they have?

Answer 10

91,000.

1 officer per 595 people.

Question 11

STASI-

What was there budget in 1989?

Answer 11

4 billion Ostmarks

Question 12

STASI-

Name 4 of their surveillance methods.

Answer 12

1. Phone tapping
2. Videoing
3. Followed by agents
4. Scents given to dogs

Question 13

STASI-

What techniques were used in Imprisonment and Interrogations?

Answer 13

1. beatings
2. sleep deprivation
3. psychological pressuring
4. threatening family

Question 14

STASI-

Give an example of a prison camp?

Answer 14

Hohenschonhausen

Question 15

STASI-

How many informants and unofficial collaborators were there?

Answer 15

500,000

1 in 30 people

Question 16

STASI-

Give 3 reasons why someone would inform/ collaborate with the STASI.

Answer 16

1. Personal grudge
2. To further their/ their children’s careers
3. Blackmail / bribery

Question 17

STASI-

What did Enrich Meikle outline the role of the Stasi to be in the 1958 guideline?

Answer 17

1. Counterintelligence against the FRG.
2. Supress remaining Nazis
3. Crush dissident behaviour.

Question 18

Name 5 ways the SED carried out propaganda and censorship?

Answer 18

1. Newspapers
2. Literature
3. Theatre
4. Parades
5. Post and goods from the West

Question 19

Give an example of a parade.

Answer 19

1974, GDR celebrates 25 years of existence by having marches showing military equipment. FDGb/ FDJ march and hold banners of Rosa Luxembourg and Karl Marx.

Question 20

How many people read the newspaper in the GDR?

Answer 20

8.3 million

Question 21

Who censored all newspapers and literature?

Answer 21

The Central Committee’s Department of Agitation

Question 22

How many books were purged in 1952?

Answer 22

8 million

Question 23

FDGB-

What was it.

Answer 23

Free German Trade Union Federation

Represented the Workers.

Question 24

FDGB-

What was its membership in the 1980s

Answer 24

9.6 million

Question 25

FDGB- | When did workers lose the right to strike?

Answer 25

1961

Question 26

FDGB- | How many holidays did the FDGB organise for its members in 1983>

Answer 26

8.3 million

Question 27

FDGB- | How did it actually benefit the workers?

Answer 27

1. Holidays 2. Opinion polls 3. Complaints were taken seriously

Question 28

FDJ- | What did it stand for?

Answer 28

Free German Youth

Question 29

FDJ- | What percentage of 14-25 year olds were members during the 1980s?

Answer 29

75%

Question 30

FDJ- | What were the aims?

Answer 30

1. Political indoctrination | 2. Community work

Question 31

Eingaben- | What was it?

Answer 31

Ordinary citizens would write individual letters of complaint to SED officials at a local/regional/national level. They would get a reply within 4 weeks.

Question 32

Eingaben- | Give examples of what the complaints were about.

Answer 32

Mostly; Domestic repairs, housing/sanitary issues, work/wages, public transport. Also- Travel restrictions after Helsinki Accords, the despite the potential damage to ones career.