The ministry of state security (stasi) its methods and activities

Question 1

Who was the Stasi headed by?

Answer 1

Erich Mielke

Question 2

What was his disposition like?

Answer 2

Paranoid, nobody could be trusted

Question 3

Dis the number of informers outnumber Gestapo?

Answer 3

Yes

Question 4

If by the 1970s to 1980s people didn’t feel repressed what could this be testimony to?

Answer 4

The efficiency of the secret police preventing unrest

Question 5

Media was geared towards what?

Answer 5

conformity

Question 6

If a journalist criticised the regime what would happen?

Answer 6

demoted or lost their jobs entirely (then it is likely they were imprisoned and interrogated)

Question 7

What did the FDJ and FDGB try and engender for the regime?

Answer 7

support, enthusiasm

Question 8

When was the NVA founded (the national people’s army)?

Answer 8

1956

Question 9

What was the purpose of the NVA?

Answer 9

so it could be called out to squash unrest and protest

Question 10

NVA was part of which military alliance?

Answer 10

The Warsaw Pact

Question 11

Which uprising did NVA not take part in?

Answer 11

the Czechoslovakian Uprising 1968

Question 12

What was used to in 1962 to counter low participation levels of the NVA?

Answer 12

Conscription

Question 13

In 1964 how many people were conscientious objectors to the NVA? What could they do instead?

Answer 13

12,000 to 15,000

They could wok in construction units

Question 14

How many people were part of the army section of the NVA? How many made up for the organisation?

Answer 14

123,000 made up for the army section

179,000 made up entire organisation

Question 15

what were the main roles of border guards?

Answer 15

to prevent escapes but also to deal with external threats

Question 16

by the late 1980s how many border troops were there? (as in the number of people?)

Answer 16

50,000

Question 17

How many of these policed the western border?

Answer 17

30,000`

Question 18

There is still controversy about what?

Answer 18

The ‘shoot to kill’ policy on the borders however if border guards prevented escapers they were well rewarded and if their attempts unsuccessful they were undoubtedly punished

Question 19

What year was the stasi created?

Answer 19

February 1950

Question 20

what was their budget in 1989?

Answer 20

4 billion Ostmarks

Question 21

What was the main aim of the Stasi?

Answer 21

To prevent uprising/protest of any kind to hinder the success of socialism

Question 22

In which year did the stasi have files on 6,000,000 citizens?

Answer 22

1989

Question 23

Why is the number of people under surveillance suggested to have been larger than it was first counted?

Answer 23

As the Stasi began to shred their files towards the end of the GDR

Question 24

Why did the Stasi prefer index cards over electronics?

Answer 24

Could be used in the common power cuts they experienced

Question 25

What were the three main surveillance methods used by the stasi?

Answer 25

Phone tapping, stalking and video surveillance

Question 26

What have stasi officers been accused of?

Answer 26

Using radiation tags on suspects, explaining why there have been rare cancers found in their quarries

Question 27

What are honey traps and why were they used by the stasi?

Answer 27

Honey traps are ways in which an attractive person can entice another person into doing things with them, the GDR used them via prostitutes and the acts they did together would be filmed and then used as incriminating evidence later.

Question 28

What were the most common types of informer for the stasi?

Answer 28

The IMs (unofficial collaborators)

Question 29

Why would somebody want to become an IM?

Answer 29

the motivations varied, some for greed, power, promotion at work, blackmail from authorities and political ideology

Question 30

What was a very rare reward for an IM?

Answer 30

Monetary reward

Question 31

how many people were IMs at some point during their lives?

Answer 31

500,000 or 1 in 30

Question 32

what was the purpose of IMBs?

Answer 32

To spy on suspected organisations

Question 33

What was the issue of having high levels of IMBs infiltrating suspected opposition groups?

Answer 33

There is a debate that suggests that by infiltrating in such high volumes it gave heart to other demonstrators, especially towards the demise because it gave the illusion of greater popularity regarding national unrest

Question 34

What was the most famous stasi prison called and where was it located?

Answer 34

Hohenschonhausen in East Berlin

Question 35

What would prisoners be subject to?

Answer 35

Intense psychological pressure and sleep deprivation, threatened their families would be arrested

Question 36

What was an extreme case involving a woman and sick child?

Answer 36

This woman became involved with an escape group and she was sentenced to four years hard labour because she wanted to see her seriously sick child in West Berlin

Question 37

What are the stasi still adamant about to this day?

Answer 37

that they only arrested criminals

Question 38

How many troops did the USSR station by the 1980s in the GDR?

Answer 38

400,000

Question 39

When did these troops actually intervene?

Answer 39

they intervened during Brezhnev’s visit to threaten Honecker in their meeting on July 28 1970