The Stasi - East Germany's Secret Police

The Stasi was the largest secret police that ever existed. This video will give an introduction, touching topics like:
- When was the Stasi founded?
- Who was the head of the Stasi?
- Did The Stasi work together with the KGB?
- How many people worked for the Stasi?
- What kind of businesses was The Stasi involved in?
- The Stasi files
I will issue more videos on Stasi related subjects soon.
When in Berlin, consider visiting the Stasi Museum: www.stasimuseum.de/en/enindex....
Books:
• The History of the Stasi: East Germany's Secret Police, 1945-1990- Jens Gieseke (amzn.to/3JHwMTT)
• Seduced by Secrets: Inside the Stasi's Spy-Tech World - Kristie Macrakis (amzn.to/3JyJVyi)
• Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police - John O. Koehler (amzn.to/3JzTPQs)
• Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall - Anna Funder (amzn.to/3ZHjts3)
[When using the links and ordering, I will receive a small commission. You don't have to use the links of course, but many thanks if you do!]
Sources:
• DVD: Stasi - Alltag einer Behörde
• www.mdr.de/geschichte/ddr/ale...
• www.jugendopposition.de/lexik...
• Monika Tantzscher: Hauptabteilung VI: Grenzkontrollen, Reise- und Touristenverkehr (MfS-Handbuch). Hg. BStU. Berlin 2005.
• Angela Schmole: Hauptabteilung VIII. Beobachtung, Ermittlung, Durchsuchung, Festnahme (MfS-Handbuch). Hg. BStU. Berlin 2011. www.nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:...
• State Security - A reader on the GDR Secret Police
• www.stasi-unterlagen-archiv.d...
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi
Pictures:
• Erich Mielke: By Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1983-0325-037 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
• Erich Mielke: Von Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R0522-177 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
• Ernst Wollweber: By Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-08658-0006 / Rudolph / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
• Wilhelm Zaisser: By Bundesarchiv, B 285 Bild-04246 / Unknown / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
• DDR foundation: By Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-G1122-0600-130 / Autor/-in unbekannt / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
• KGB Headquarters Moscow - By RIA Novosti archive, image #143644 / Alexander Polyakov / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
• Wolfgang Welsch: By Herbaliser in der Wikipedia auf Deutsch, CC BY-SA 3.0, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
• Berlin Tegel Airport: By Arne Müseler / www.arne-mueseler.com, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
• Markus Wolf: By Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-1989-1208-420 / Schöps, Elke / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, commons.wikimedia.org/w/index...
• Map of the USSR and Europe: Kolja21, CC BY 3.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/..., via Wikimedia Commons

[@EdMcF1]

I asked my East German pen friend how it was living under the watch of the Stasi, he wrote back 'Well, I can't complain'.

[@unclestuka8543]

Very clever reply, says it all without revealing anything

[@cehaem2]

Stasi supervised only certain exposed people. They didn't have the manpower to monitor everyone.

[@dalegribble1560]

@@cehaem2 Maybe not everyone of course but they had A LOT of informants who wouldn't hesitate to report to save their own asses or recieve some sort of reward. Maybe they got an extra ration or some shit lol

[@samwindmill8264]

​@@dalegribble1560or "IM's" as the stasi called them, short for "Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter"

[@kristoffer3000]

@@dalegribble1560 Extra ration? East Germany had a higher quality of life than the West, what are you on about.

[@user-Wojciech]

Stasi ruining opposition's reputation by making them look like Stasi. So they were pretty self aware.

[@xibalbalon8668]

It's a common tactic among groups like this, the FBI did it often during COINTELPRO

[@MadeAnAccountOnlyToReplyToThis]

​@@xibalbalon8668*does lol

[@paulwebbiweb]

I love the way there is no timewasting. From the first sentence we are heading into the heart of the topic.

[@dylancarter1831]

Very efficiently German that is, lol.

[@bomcabedal]

I worked at the U of Potsdam in 1994-6, immediately after its founding. The facilities were taken over from the Stasi’s University (and the DDR Sporthochschule). The library was … quite something. So were the staff. Academic personnel was let go, but the ancilliary staff was still there, and let’s say that they had their own way of doing things.

[@docBZA]

Care to elaborate? Sounds interesting!

[@bomcabedal]

@@docBZA Well, not much more than I said. The facilities (the two _Communs_ behind the Neues Palais in Sanssouci Palace, and surrounding buildings) were in dire need of renovation, so I spent most of my time avoiding the builders. There were barracks as well, which had been used by the Russian army and basically had to be gutted. I saved an entire edition of Marx' complete works from the skip one day; Ulbricht's complete writings were a bit too much though, at 20-something volumes.

[@colombianguy8194]

The Stasi ran a radio station nicknamed "gongs and chimes". It was a number station, those stations are used by spies to receive encrypted information on open shortwave radio. The nickname came from the spooky sound identifier. In the last transmission, drunken operators sang a song 😂

[@mehabox]

Yeah, read about it in the Russian press long before I had access to the internet, then several years later I found the exact record in the number station archive online, along with other creepy recordings from the Cold War era…

[@emirvmendoza]

G03 (Gongs and Chimes) was not a Stasi numbers station. The Stasi HQ was stormed by demonstrators in 15 January 1990, but G03 continued operating until 9 May 1990. According to the Numbers Stations Research website, "G03 was a numbers station operated by the East German army (NVA)."

[@colombianguy8194]

@@emirvmendoza thanks for the clarification.

[@paul329]

This channel is a treasure, please keep making videos!

[@johnpoile1451]

The Cold War is of great interest to me as well.

[@NandiCollector]

*As a history nerd, military passionate & numismatic collector, I'm in love with this channel.*

[@brianrunyon266]

When able, cover the different East German leaders.

[@daddybeagleaz907]

​@@brianrunyon266especially Ulbrecht.

[@HalLo-dh5ue]

Ich bin ein Post-DDR-Kind und habe gerade diesen Kanal entdeckt. Ich finde ihn super hilfreich, um meinen internationalen Freunden die jüngere Geschichte Deutschlands, sowie indirekt auch die Ursachen für diverse innerdeutsche kulturelle Unterschiede zu veranschaulichen. Für die Stasi-Playlist würde ich persönlich mich sehr über Beiträge zu den IMs, den Verhör-, Abhör- & Beobschtungsmethoden freuen. Ich habe den Eindruck, dass auf diese Weise der weite Arm des Staates hinein ins persönliche Leben gut veranschaulicht werden kann.

[@marlit8443]

I received my Stasi file after a wait for about 3 years. I was still a teenager when the Stasi showed interest in me. I left, I was still a teenager.

[@kelf114]

I'm old enough to remember East Germany and the USSR. Thank you for keeping the information alive. The people who don't remember need to know.

[@dalegribble1560]

When some people who lived through both the Gestapo and the Stasi were asked which was worse and a good answer was something along the lines of the Gestapo made you think they were everywhere but the Stasi really WAS everywhere.

[@christopherwang4392]

I believe there is also an old saying which sums up the differences between the Gestapo and the Stasi: "The Gestapo were bone breakers. The Stasi were _soul_ breakers."

[@emirvmendoza]

More videos about the Stasi please. I see comments stating that the DDR is "Still the best state to exist on German lands." If only they knew deeply how much the Stasi was omnipresent in every East German's life.

[@kristoffer3000]

Yeah why listen to people that lived there when there's so much propaganda to be gobbled up instead. The majority of East Germans want socialism back so it clearly couldn't have been that bad.

[@angus7278]

Try “Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?: The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It” A fascinating and balanced read by Bruni de la Motte. You’ll learn a lot, i guarantee it.

[@puschelhornchen9484]

As coming from Westgermany I sometimes wonder if it could be called an irony of history that we now know more of the history of the secret service of the last nondemocratic german state than we know about the history of secret service of the last(and still existing) democratic german state. They just started to open the archives of 1950 to 1970 in recent years, and I was so glad to see two video of lectures about the Westgerman Foreign Intelligence Service 'BND' on the official youtube channel of the "Stasi File Archives" .

[@kristoffer3000]

Propaganda is a helluva drug, East Germany was very democratic, the same can not be said for any capitalist nation however where the rich control our elections, politicians and minds.

[@Doctoriuseful]

Ein sehr interessanten Kanal hast du hier, mein Lieber. Ich habe die DDR zum Glück nur als Kind erlebt. Einige deiner Videos sind reif im Schulunterricht gezeigt zu werden, so wie dieses hier über die Stasi. Mach weiter so! :D

[@toddclayton]

Markus Wolf's "The spy with no face" is quite interesting, and I'd also recommend "The Stasi Myth and Reality" by Mike Dennis. But Anna Funder's book is a great "easy" read with tonnes of "modern day" perspectives. Koehler's book is amazing too.

[@angus7278]

I’d highly recommend: “Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?: The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It” Bruni de la Motte

[@emmcee662]

I’m so glad I discovered this channel! Thanks from Australia 🇦🇺

[@dylancarter1831]

I have always been interested in the DDR, amongst the other former commie countries and this series is so fascinating. Thanks for making and uploading.

[@angus7278]

You should read “Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?: The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It” if you haven’t already. By Bruni de la Motte

[@cthoadmin7458]

You deserve more than 495 subscribers... The content is excellent!

[@mjstbnsn6294]

Just joined😊

[@Ronald_U_Swanson]

Found this channel as I've been on an Eastern Bloc secret police kick. Excellent video, you have a new subscriber.

[@angus7278]

“Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?: The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It” is a fascinating read. Bruni de la Motte

[@NandiCollector]

*As a history nerd, military passionate & numismatic collector, i'm in love with this channel.*

[@angus7278]

You’ll likely love “Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?: The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It” A great read for a history nerd.

[@mohabatkhanmalak1161]

That high security settlement that you mention at 6.20, where high ranking government officials lived warrants a video. How did they commute to and from their offices, functions, the airports etc.🦋

[@inigoromon1937]

Just suscribed. Visited West Germany as a student and always wanted to have a peek at the East. That was not to be, and the wall fell two years later. As a doctor, im told they were quite good, made some interesting advances, but could do nothing much due to lack of material and tachnology. The DDR was an interesting social experiment. A cautionary tale.

[@user-fp5ex7ml1e]

Hi . Love your Channel . I listened to RBI Radio Berlin International as an extremely bored teenager in rural Australia.could you please do a video on DDR radio and tv ?

[@MichaelAMartin777]

Great information! Looking forward to the rest of the series. Thank you.

[@mjstbnsn6294]

Outside of The Lives of Others and Deutschland 83 how many movies or TV were made about the Stasi?

[@gabrielapierattistellato7030]

I am loving this channel, ty for the information you bring.

[@mahdi5796]

Very interesting. Subscribed. Please continue the great job

[@travelsofmunch1476]

All these videos are fabulous

[@davebillnitzer5824]

Ich finde es interessant und etwas beunruhigend, dass es heute viele gibt, die von der "guten alten Zeit" der DDR sprechen. Ich glaube, sie haben keine Ahnung, wie das Leben in der DDR wirklich war.

[@miel1074]

If the Stasi ever had a file on my life, they would die of boredom!!!

[@markhagge8646]

I can't wait for more videos in the Stasi series. Thank you for your excellent work.

[@youtubesketches110]

This is such high-quality content. I love your narratives.

[@tigranasatryan5232]

One of the best channels in youtube

[@henrids]

interesting, keep making these videos!

[@IchimokuCloud]

I went to the Stasi HQ and drank a beer in their canteen. Something I could never imagine when I was a NATO officer there in 1985!! Well worth a visit.

[@joanhuffman2166]

I once saw a film called Goodbye Lenin. It seems strange that anyone would have a sentimental view of the GDR, but the filmmaker did.

[@danmorley8116]

Fascinating. The number of employees really stunned me!

[@emirvmendoza]

Thank you for the reference/source list

[@rayeisenstein4245]

Please do videos about Secret Police of all Countries the Russian had between 1945 to 1989 ( Poland, Hungary, Armenia, Romania and others)

[@bibekghatak5860]

Very nice & interesting video !!

[@SobriquetSobriquet]

Again, thank you for your content. I'll share with my American friends who do not know a single thing about MfS. I know too much. It hits my heart.

[@dgu8240]

I love your channel. A video I would find very interesting, is a comparison between the live of an average soviet citizen and a ddr citizen. I always heard live in the ddr was better than in the Soviet Union but was never given an explanation

[@jdhatl]

I wrote my senior thesis for my 1994 B.A. in German at an American college on the Stasi.

[@mato219]

Based on what did you write it if the archives weren't open to the public then?

[@jdhatl]

I don't think so? This was like 1993-1994. I used the early WWW internet to access German libraries and find books on interlibrary loan. Just trying to finish my degree.

[@mato219]

@@jdhatl well, the guy making the video said they weren't open for the public. I don't what you used for your senior thesis, maybe testimonies of individuals. Those are valuable but one cannot conclude with certainty to what extent they are objective.

[@jdhatl]

It was an undergrad senior thesis. I found German scholarly books about the GDR & Stasi via the early internet and interlibrary loan. There was a lot available even way before the archives were available. Not that important really, just a bachelor degree paper, before I got out of academia after graduation. Had just spent some time there and found East Germany very interesting.

[@amirsadeghi9888]

can you make a separate video on zeresetung or "decomposition process", and their methods of operation... and how people would react to such tactics? would they fled to west gerrmany? I wonder how many intelligence services employ such tactics today, as many of agents were later hired by german government... how similar or different to mkultra would it be...?

[@starlonga]

Really great videos

[@bandit7174]

Very informative it’s very difficult to find well put together information on the DDR. Can you do a video on point Alpha?

[@angus7278]

“Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?: The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It” By Bruni de la Motte. A fascinating and balanced read for those interested in this subject.

[@PougueMahone]

Danke great video.

[@Emoldi]

Ich bin Jahrgang 1954 und in der DDR geboren. Von der Stasi hat man in der Regel im Alltag nichts bemerkt. Du hast dort dein privates Leben leben können und es war schön. I was born in 1954 and in the GDR. As a rule, you didn't notice anything about the Stasi in everyday life. You were able to live your private life there and it was nice.

[@amogusenjoyer]

What was life like? How would you compare it to West Germany or current Germany? Was the Stasi still hated even if you didn't have to think about it a lot? Or was it seen more like a necessary evil?

[@kayzeaza]

Man if I was being spied on Id definitely want to see how much they knew lol

[@Jimmy-wl2iw]

Appreciate your insight…..Jimmy, USA

[@daddybeagleaz907]

I have a copy of Stasiland, very informative. This channel is really well done, in layman's terms, subscribed.

[@1joshjosh1]

Safe to say this channel kicks a**.

[@johnpoile1451]

I have three of the four you have referenced minus "Seduced by secrets". I also have "Faust's Gold" GDR's drug fuelled Gold medal programme. Perhaps you could give your perspective.

[@kevinstrade2752]

DDR was literally on the front line of the cold war. Security was primary. It was a literal security state, it had to be as westerners came and went. Im sure the DDR got a lot of funding and support from the Soviets and took advantage of its situation. Not excusing some of the horrible acts commuted by the Stasi, it is understandable their surveillance of DDR citizens as well as westerners visiting.

[@joanhuffman2166]

I remember crossing at Checkpoint Charlie in 1989. The customs officials had the sourest faces I've ever seen. We were a group of sleep deprived young people and rather silly. The Stasi following us looked so bored. It was Saturday, and the man and woman following us never looked at each other. The city was empty except our group, a group of senior ladies and the Stasi pair.

[@marklynch8781]

To get to the same level here in the USA they had to build massive super computers.

[@arturocevallossoto5203]

Können Sie Bücher über die Stasi (auf Deutsch) empfehlen?

[@fratercontenduntocculta8161]

An East Germany Channel? Yes please!

[@contreposicion]

I first was happy too, but then i realised that there are a lot of empirics but no explanations on this channel. What should be the conclusion from, the stasi was much bigger and sophisticated in doing their job. Dunno... Or wait, the gdr was even worse than... There could be real explanation and enlightenment on that topic. What circumstances/political views/ capitalist attacks have made the stasi inevitable.

[@mariaisaksson8516]

Hello where can i found more about the Hauptaubteilung Personenschutz ? and the other departments ?

[@eastgermanyinvestigated]

Hi, more in formation on the Stasi departments can be found on the following sites: www.stasi-mediathek.de www.stasi-unterlagen-archiv.de/en/

[@ArnoWalter]

The uncle of my wife was a Stasi officer working in organized crime. He said it was rather difficult because the existence of organized crime was against official party narrative but you could get everything on the East German black market. Drugs, weapons, Porsche, everything.

[@ClancyWoodard-yw6tg]

I'm currently reading John o. Koehlers book about the stasi and its pretty interesting

[@snapdragon6601]

That must have been hard for neighbors in the former East Germany to start trusting each other again after the wall came down, with all the snitching that went on during the Stasi years.

[@angus7278]

If you want to read about how it really was I’d recommend “Stasi State or Socialist Paradise?: The German Democratic Republic and What Became of It” A fascinating and balanced read. By Bruni de la Motte

[@dsm2240]

The fall of the Wall did not immediately destroy the Stasi. It lasted until February 1990.

[@inigoromon1937]

Timoty Garton Ash visited the DDR as a student... And got a file!!😮

[@Tobi-ln9xr]

7:30 How was that copied from the USSR when the FSB started to exist after the Stasi already didn’t exist anymore.

[@kidmohair8151]

I'm assuming that my watching the Arte series on the Gulag made the algo-deities send me here. sometimes it works. most of the time though? not so much. subscribed

[@Hyperactivman2]

Wo ist sie wir brauchen sie wieder❤

[@mathisnotforthefaintofheart]

Looks like they got all their ideas from Miniluv (novel 1984)

[@damionmunro]

👍

[@kingdedede333]

The good guys

[@jameswatt7249]

Are there any real good guys?

[@dalegribble1560]

I'll still take my chances here in America....

[@MichaelM-hw6nk]

Terrifying

[@joanhuffman2166]

How did Zaisser and Mielke avoid being murdered by Stalin's thugs when they were in Spain?

[@joanhuffman2166]

@@jasonscott6174 Stalin's goons were very busy killing German communists who were working for the Spanish republic. Stalin was diligent in the matter of eliminating anyone who could cut in on his power and influence.

[@jonasnormann772]

Probably fought against the facist, instead of the other way around.

[@johnnotrealname8168]

Wait what? The Staatssicherheit was the biggest? Heh? I am surprised it was also at it's zenith in the '80s, although this is true of the Комитет государственной безопасности.

[@rodrigovelasquez49]

Thank you for your job. Ich danke dich für deine Untersützung.

[@edkonstantellis9094]

The STASI was the Verbinding u. MIschung zwischen Ost Deutche Nazis u. Soviet intelligenz The remnants of Gestapo and influx of KGB occupation after Germany's capitulation lead to who will pick sides in an ideology East/West Germany was the confluence Thirty-Five years hence, borders have changed, but geopolitics remain

[@markbours6173]

FBI Stasi

[@skylineXpert]

After watching das leben der andern I must say: my german teacher was right In terms of the stasi. But i admire the bethke brothers for cheating them under their noses and over their hats

[@stefankirchhubel3126]

where is my comment???

[@Ronilac]

STASI the biggest... ? What about China, North Korea... DDR was not so big after all

[@TheBigCola0]

and dont forget the yanks

[@alhei525]

Maybe he was talking about how many employees per capita.

[@kayzeaza]

I have a doctorate in spying

[@Moredread25]

I'm just happy that even with all the power the Stasi gathered they couldn't save East Germany.

[@becomematrix]

Funny how nothing about the ddr was democratic. Paranoia everywhere.

[@lucaiovis]

Funny how nothing about any "democratic state" is democratic. The most enduring of political buzzwords.

[@petermitchelmore2592]

KGB and Stasi at the same time: Vladimir Putin.

[@BB-kt5eb]

He was not technically a Stasi employee. He was KGB stationed in East Berlin where the two agencies served as extensions of each other. The CIA had people in West Berlin who worked with the BND as well.

[@petermitchelmore2592]

@@BB-kt5eb There is a Stasi ID card of his widely available online. Besides, whenever the KGB demanded something, the Ministerium fur Staatsicherheit had to comply.

[@BB-kt5eb]

@@petermitchelmore2592 I’m aware of that. All KGB agents who were stationed in East Germany were issued Stasi ID’s because the two agencies worked so closely together.

[@marceloquiroga8877]

me hubiera gustado vivir en el paraiso socialista de la RDA,eso si la STASI me vigilaba.

[@garryferrington811]

I hope you are not giving Florida governor Ron DeSantis ideas. He would really like his own Stasi.

[@donnied9432]

Other than being a life long anti-communist, I have no relationship to East Germany. I find these videos absolutely fascinating.

[@wolfgang6915]

Many, many Mistakes! Something is not true, or wrong by Date! Ein Angehöriger der Grenztuppen der DDR. PKE GüSt Friedrichstraße..

[@tom_bout]

Similar to the freemason compass

[@account5133]

Ah yes the tactics of weak men.

[@dalegribble1560]

The Stasi wouldn't have much fun with an armed populace would they? Stasi is a great example and argument for the 2nd Amendment!!

[@The_Stockfather]

Is that the freemason symbol on their flag!? Some shit like this be happening to me in America.

[@AtheistOrphan]

No.

[@brianjones-eh6ej]

Interesting Video! Can we contact you via email?

[@eastgermanyinvestigated]

Sure, you can find my email address in the 'About' section.

[@flowersofthefield340]

They would have bugged peoples phones and also the family members of the target ...... Its amazing what level these ruthless people will go too. When you think about it. 🗂️📁📂

[@rzpogi]

They even had Romeos and Juliets that seduces possible dissenters. I remember one case in which the tunnels in which East Germans try to escape to West Berlin keeps getting busted because the girlfriend of leader of the underground movement is a Stasi Agent.