What did the Stasi do? (Short Animated Documentary)

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Sources:
A Concise History of Germany by Mary Fulbrook.
The Stasi and the East German Revolution of 1989 by Richard Popplewell

[@Daniel-kq4bx]

Funfact: When everything collpased you could look into your own Stasi files and find out which friend spied on you

[@CollinBuckman]

Some people even found out that their own spouses were Stasi informants.

[@Daniel-kq4bx]

@@CollinBuckman we met a woman from the east in vacation one time and she said she didnt want to see the files. She didnt want to know which friend or so wasnt real

[@varana]

You can still apply for reading your Stasi file.

[@Alsayid]

Wasn't Katarina Witt also a Stasi informant?

[@OlafoWaffle]

Plot twist it was the family cat for accidentally stepping on them in the dark, 16yrs prior.

[@EdMcF1]

I asked my East German penfriend how life was living under the Stasi and he said 'Well, you know, I can't complain.'.

[@kungfuskull]

This joke deserves more likes

[@scotandiamapping4549]

XD

[@luke.4317]

@@techtutorvideos imagine thinkin that u lived a bad life in ussr or east germany

[@cleantoad4332]

@@luke.4317 Still hard to deny that this was a violation of privacy on the most extreme levelss.

[@luke.4317]

@@cleantoad4332 and? privacy its being violated everyday today, and so? does this change ur life? no; the difference is that they were keeping everyone safe and avoiding a civil war/revolution, now for the most ur data its being sold not only controlled for terrorism(so the same as keeping safe )

[@dschoene57]

I was 16 when the wall fell, and the Stasi had a 76 page dossier on me. That was the level of surveillance. And I wasn't even a particular troublesome youngster.

[@honkhonk8009]

You would expect that level of information coming from google when you request data from them. But a literal book. Sometimes I wish our government in America was as efficient and well oiled as the German one. We would love to rely on our government for basic services, but instead we have to fight them on a daily basis to stop unnecessarily impeding on freedoms.

[@robc4191]

@@honkhonk8009 americans love two things... To brag about how free they are To whine about how oppressive their government is

[@youtubeaccount5153]

@@robc4191 American here - can’t argue with your comment.

[@youtubeaccount5153]

@@honkhonk8009 Relying on a government for basis services goes hand in hand with losing freedoms.

[@ricardofan2733]

@@youtubeaccount5153 yeah but then you give your freedoms to money hungry corporations to fill in the gap, not much different, maybe worse

[@dios5618]

Small Stasi joke from german friend, the Stasi make the finest taxi driver, because you only need to enter and they already know where you want to go!

[@humansvd3269]

Yeah, anywhere but there.

[@scifino1]

Kind of like how you go on KZbin, and it already shows you the videos you'll want to see.

[@bennynagon9322]

@@scifino1 which really is kind of the same thing only the stasi where retarded and so open about it. Better to do it this way fool people thinking it’s for a good cause and just do the same thing.

[@su2004]

Already quoting the cab fare as you approach

[@radec1566]

That was a good one

[@stevenjlovelace]

It seems like the Stasi were so thorough at oppressing dissent that they didn't realize how many dissenters there really were.

[@OlafoWaffle]

They are lucky they didn't come down with a case of the deads, when the wall came down .

[@FirstnameLastname-cw8ok]

Daniel Schick Too bad, really

[@dr.nosborn6330]

Looks like Mielke was an idealist? Because he didn't realize the ammount of "revisionism" and careerism that plague the SUPG.

[@onthemarketblog6444]

little britain

[@geddinixan255]

Its because there were so many. Look at chna its happening right now. They need suport. Eastern germans were supported by western citizens whole time. That kept their moral up. Chinese need to see we care so they can carry on fighting. Their government is worse than any virus.

[@boser_ketchup3101]

My history teacher is from East Germany, specifically Saxony and she told us that after the reunification you could have a look into your Stasi Profil and her family was marked as people who wanted to flee and her father to be taken. It were their neighbours who spied on them. They acted like friends for years. It's a very creepy story, but not uncommon. You basically couldn't trust anyone since the Stasi also blackmailed your family, friends and loved once.

[@Gareth1892000]

That is so sad. Thanks for sharing

[@boser_ketchup3101]

@@Gareth1892000 it's even sadder when you know that most of the Stasi workers didn't get any punishment.

[@commisaryarreck3974]

@@boser_ketchup3101 Have a fun game Check how many current and former government officials were members Like Merkel

[@boser_ketchup3101]

@@commisaryarreck3974 yeah, Merkel wasn't part of the stasi. Please show your evidence if you think otherwise.

[@jamestoliman9081]

​@@boser_ketchup3101 They need to be spied on, hunted down and killed

[@lowenwelle1044]

Fun Fact: If one sent music cassettes from West Germany to the GDR to relatives, these cassettes were often seized by the STASI. Officially, because the private sending of non-accessible data media was prohibited. Unofficially, because the STASI needed the cassettes to record intercepted phone calls. After the reunification large amounts of these STASI cassettes were found. Often even the original labels (like "Christmas music 1979") were still on these cassettes. Greetings from Bavaria

[@kalyka98]

That's the most pathetic thing i have heard in a while

[@martonk]

@@kalyka98 yes, same

[@sharkboi6164]

Kalyka 98 Communists.mp4

[@fluedgoop]

@@kalyka98 reusing something instead of throwing it away is the complete opposite of pathetic.

[@Mysteres78979]

@@fluedgoop What he meant was that morally, take the present of someone else (even if at that time it was forbidden by the east german law of the time) for their own use, is a questionable offense and even if these man used these casettes for "state" use, and I don't blame them, it would probably piss you off that you sent a casette to your friend that instead was re used by someone else to record conversations and etc. I'm just stating what is obvious to me.

[@leonrenner8403]

CIA wants to know your location. Stasi allready knows it.😂

[@065Tim]

The CIA just use your smartphone to log your whole life. Stasi didn't even come close that level of surveillance!

[@ArtjomKoslow]

@@065Tim Mielke would have tears in his eyes if he could see what´s possible now...

[@martenkats6915]

@@065Tim Especially in the 1980's, the Stasi were very technologically advanced for that time. If they were still around today and as well clued up on technology as they were back then, they'd have been the most advanced secret service anywhere in the world by quite a distance.

[@94Newbie]

@@065Tim not for the lack of trying though.

[@065Tim]

All the people backing the Stasi on this one is just plain scary...

[@jimsackmanbusinesscoaching1344]

I used to have to travel to Munich and Berlin every month for business for a couple of years before the wall fell. One of the "fun" things to do in Berlin was to cross over into East Germany and see if you could figure out who was tailing you - if anyone.

[@joermnyc]

Jim Sackman Business Coaching I had a college professor who somehow was able to get a visa to visit Moscow at least 50 years ago for university studies. He spoke fluent Russian, and travelled alone. He did notice the same guy following him around, sitting in his hotel lobby, etc. One day he managed to lose the guy in a crowd, come around him from behind and confront him. The tail panicked and headed for the hills. If they were continuing to tail him, they were way more careful about it after that.

[@DoctorCyan]

Joe R M That’s badass!

[@franpe6522]

@@joermnyc so cool, but that was risky af.

[@saldownik]

@@franpe6522 What was risky about it?

[@franpe6522]

@@saldownik the guy panicked, he could shot him instead of running away. Or arrested him for "attacking a agent"

[@cannonball666]

1972 Breaking News.: East German pole vaulter becomes West German pole vaulter.

[@-et37-]

cannonball666 10/10

[@TheCimbrianBull]

ROFL! 🤣 😂 😅

[@AgentTasmania]

Of no connection is the Polish man who goes by Walter when in Germany.

[@TheCimbrianBull]

@@AgentTasmania What? Please elaborate.

[@mikebiketrike]

Hahahahahaha I get it cause he jumped over the wall XD

[@scottlarson1548]

My experience with the Stasi wasn't direct but still funny. When I went to East Berlin through the U-Bahn in 1985 with a group of American students, two Stasi agents carefully pulled the last person from our group (we didn't even notice she was gone) and took her to a room to be interrogated. While we stood there on the east side wondering what happened to Shannon, they asked her who she was, where she was from, and what they planned to do in East Berlin that day. Then they let her go and she came through smiling. She said they were polite but they didn't seem to be interested in her answers, like they were following a procedure they weren't dedicated to.

[@youtubeaccount5153]

I’m sure there were more than a few that were simply going thru the motions. Either because you get that everywhere or they had a good paying job but we’re not emotionally committed to it.

[@frut_jooos]

The absence of interest was likely an interrogation technique used to let down the guards of people, if you believe that the guy doesn't care about what happens at his job you're more likely to relax and mess up.

[@Dima-px6pr]

So why you and group of America students go to estate Germany if you hate them?

[@scottlarson1548]

@@Dima-px6pr HA HA HA! Estate them? Good one!

[@Dima-px6pr]

@@scottlarson1548 sorry English not my first language but seriously why alot Americans and another western country go to the USSR if they hate them and call them evil comnisem

[@pigroachgameingkhando7058]

My father when he was conscripted in USSR army was stationed for 2 years in East Germany from 1986 to 1988. He dated a East German woman at the time. When wall fell Stasi files were declassified. Everyone can go and open their files once you fill your details in, and surprise surprise my father had file on him too, the woman he dated was a snitch, snitching on him to Stasi. A lot of people who decided to open thier Stasi files resulted in loss of friendship, some people even find out that their wives their teachers Neighbors were all snitching on someone. People mistake when they say KGB was ruthless, not true at all Stasi was worst and ruthless spy agency in whole eastern block.

[@rixille]

In America you can imagine we have our share of snitches and parasites who work in intelligence agencies here.

[@OffGridInvestor]

So about the rumor ONLY in the Russian speaking world, the KGB rounded up PILES of crippled WW2 veterans. Those capable of looking after themselves were fine. SOME seriously crippled where looked after. Those who used to pester people for money were put in barges and taken out to sea far above Japan and DROWNED BY THE THOUSANDS. KGB still hasn't declassified this but enough people saw enough..... so what were you saying about the stasi being worse?

[@su2004]

I can already see my neighbours snitching on each other

[@ppumpkin3282]

I imagine a lot of people who were "snitching" were just messing with Stasi.

[@rikusschulze6249]

@@ppumpkin3282 They sure as hell claim that these days. Back then....well. The files are open, everyone can look at I've never heard anyone say "everything in those files about me was false" and even if, that would've made it worse.

[@spencersfarm]

A joke about a group of unemployed ex-Stasi officers: Thinking of a way to redeploy their Stasi skills (they planted and operated bugs), the men decided to make and sell hearing aids, using whatever they could salvage from their former jobs. When they asked customers for their feedback, one said, "The hearing aid works fine, but I don't really need to hear a couple arguing at home three streets away!"

[@thevoidlookspretty7079]

I’m imagining exactly how no prosecutions went anywhere: “I was just following orders.” A German tradition.

[@TheGahta]

naw, its more a problem of not being able to pinpoint blame, but the punchline was funny i give you that ;D

[@23GreyFox]

America and Russia is even better in that tradition.

[@Blutwind]

Not realy most of the "Grunts" were basicaky safe from persecution because the local laws made their acting legal. For those that were indeed involved in deadly actions esp. at the Wall (though that wasn´t the stasi) quiet a lot were persecuted and of those a not so small number were indeed found guilty. On the Personal side of things you can be quiet sure that some people got a rought beating from their "friends" if said friends found out they were spied upon

[@shrouddreamer]

A tradition which is thankfully a thing of the past. In today's German military, someone who was "just following orders" will be charged for it as well. "An order must not be followed if a criminal offence would be committed as a result." §11 Section 2 of the SG ("Soldiers Statute" / "Soldatengesetz")

[@KingJohnMichael]

​@@shrouddreamerwish that would count for the actual order givers too

[@cannonball666]

Tourist in East Berlin: "So, this is the Iron Curtain" Tour guide: "Don't tell anyone, but it's concrete. Our government can't afford iron" Stasi: "I heard that"

[@Spongebrain97]

Tour guide: let me show you our glorious bord- Immediately runs across

[@zaikolebolsh5724]

@@Spongebrain97 undercover stasi: been waiting for you, comrade

[@CDexie]

Uhmm the Iron Curtain isn't the same as the Berlin Wall... What a silly tourist

[@privatetrash2810]

@@CDexie Are you dumb? West Berlin was apart of West Germany, which was on the opposite side of the curtain.

[@CDexie]

@@privatetrash2810 Yeah but.... You couldn't *see* the Iron Curtain?

[@Matt-cz6ti]

I remember seeing an interview with an old German man who’d lived under both the Nazis and the Communists. When asked whether the Gestapo or the Stasi were more frightening he answered, without hesitation or thinking, “The Stasi. The Gestapo wanted you to think they were everywhere. The Stasi really were.”

[@enternamehere4124]

Poor man, lived under both the nazis and the communist? I would bet that i wasn't an easy life exactly

[@jgw9990]

@@a_loyal_kiwi88 I'm sure the Soviets raping their way through to Berlin wasn't appreciated by German women

[@borisgenchev8567]

@Діма Базалюк Just cause other armies did it doesn't make it any less true, idiot.

[@NewNicator]

@Діма Базалюк All armies committed such acts during the Second World War, and it was just unmatched by the Soviets who were responsible for the majority of rape cases (in Europe at least). Many even sexually assaulted liberated peoples (including Jews) from prison/death camps. So that should tell you just how bad life was for women on the eastern front.

[@NewNicator]

@Діма Базалюк You sound like the type of person that justifies Putin's invasion of Ukraine lol.

[@Oscar-ys9yx]

Fun fact: the Stasi operated a “Poetry circle” where they would invite people working to come and learn the skills of being a poet. This may have sounded good, helping things like literacy, but ultimately the goal of the Stasi poetry group was that poetry often gave away member’s innermost thoughts, often including discontent- and many dissidents were caught this way.

[@brianholmes1812]

Ok but the amount of German people in the comments with old Stasi jokes is brilliant

[@Yora21]

2:06 Oh wow, someone really did his research. This is about a kids TV show that had a West German and an East German version, and I also heard the story that the Stasi went into day cares and had the children draw the character to see if their parents were illegally watching West TV. Though as a West German kid, I agree with most people that the East German version was actually better.

[@abrakadabra2192]

Sandmann?

[@ArtjomKoslow]

@@abrakadabra2192 Indeed. Still in the german TV. But only the eastern original. Even in the West they watched eastern Sandmann.

[@AGS363]

True. But the real question was another one. "OK children, let us draw the clock from the TV news."

[@raimohoft1236]

We never had to do either of these things... but they came to our school to take script samples from everyone, when the first "Honecker go away!", and that kind of graffities turned up. But just once...

[@martinfiedler4317]

Traitor ;)

[@thekatazsiuniverse4868]

"The most famous organisation in East Germany was their secret police" bit ironic isn't it?

[@friedipar]

Three Agents (one CIA, one KGB and one StaSi) are taskt to get into a cave and determine the age of the skeleton inside. The CIA guy comes out and says “using modern technology, we could determine that the skeleton is about 450 years old.“ The KGB guy goes next and claims “we recieved a call from our glorious leader Stalin and he says that the corps is exactly 443 years and 3 months old.“ The StaSi Agent goes last and after emerging says: “the skeleton belonged to a guy named Hans Schneider, born on the 5.7.1576 and who also was a traitor and a capitalist spy. You ask how i know this? He confessed it to me!“

[@thederp6505]

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

[@andrewsitu5107]

What would MI6 and Mossad say?

[@iapetusmccool]

@@andrewsitu5107 MI5: "he died accidently after he handcuffed himself and zipped himself up in a bag all on his own".

[@andrewsitu5107]

@@iapetusmccool lol

[@abor7ab535]

same joke in Egypt 😂

[@friedipar]

An eastern German comes into a shop, looking for bread. Seeing that all the shelves are empty, he asks the shopkeeper “excuse me, do you have no bread?“ to wich the shopkeeper answers “no. Here, we only have no shoes. If you want no bread, you need to go next door“

[@alexs555]

Funny thing. Most people will not understand the joke.

[@lugas4548]

@@alexs555 can you explain it pls?

[@alexs555]

@@lugas4548 I'll try. In planned economy countries there were shortages of all products. So, there were shops with no products to sell. This joke highlights how widespread it was (one shop with no bread, next shop with no shoes). My great grandma had to wait in line for the opening of the shop (8am) to buy any bread and milk - by 9 AM it would be sold out.

[@breaderikthegreat3224]

@@alexs555 or you wait many years to get a car, I think it was something between 8-16 years

[@alexs555]

@@breaderikthegreat3224 Yes! My parents never got their car. The USSR collapsed before that! :))

[@remhawk73]

The scariest part is that these people just took over their uniforms and went home after the unification.

[@fe6767]

They'd be mad not to.

[@spartancolonel]

Scarier part: many of them are currently high ranking members of government.

[@wanne10]

@@spartancolonel can you point out who you mean?

[@martonk]

@Lord Farquaad same in Hungary. We call it the egyenruhaváltás, or "changing the uniform".

[@ClickBeetleTV]

It's amazing how easy it is to forget that the Stasi only disbanded thirty years ago.

[@powersettingsm7172]

The stasi operated in groups of three agents. The first had to be able to read, the second had to be able to write. The third one was to report on the two other dangerous intellectuals.

[@kidfox3971]

I love communism jokes and that's a very good one.

[@secretbaguette]

This feels like one Nixon would have told

[@ComissarYarrick]

In Poland this joke was also quite popular, tho our version was about police :) . Then again, there was a lot of jokes about police back then, especialy for their riot units, ORMO and ZOMO. Due to their preference to use brute force, they were often mocked as "beating heart of the party" :P .

[@marksulloway5669]

A variation on this joke is about why the East German border guards always worked in pairs with a dog - one guard could read, one guard could right, and the dog was the only one with at successful training graduation diploma.

[@raymondbenjamins5884]

I actually visited a stasi prison in Berlin and got a tour by a former inmate. It's impressive and incredibly humbling to see that place and actually hear first hand accounts of what went on in there. If you ever get a chance to do the same, I highly recommend taking it.

[@MagiconIce]

Torturing prisoners in the name of a communist state or taking a tour in such a prison?

[@thisisabcoates]

@@MagiconIce Why not both?

[@chheinrich8486]

I went with My school class to one in in our City, which by the way was already used by the Kaiserreich, the Weimar republic and the third reich begire the stasi used it

[@balaalalaslk]

A really good look at the life of a Stasi agent is the movie The Lives of Others. It has a very memorable quote about interrogations, if a person under intense interrogation for days repeats the exact same story over and over again with the same details then the person most likely lying. Because a real situation like would have the details fluctuate or the person might change their story all together to get out of torture.

[@andrewsitu5107]

Some people stick to the same story because it is the absolute truth.

[@balaalalaslk]

@@andrewsitu5107 Somebody asks you what you did last night and then you tell them you stayed at home. They ask again you tell them you watched a movie. They keep asking and more details come out with each new question. Now imagine someone answers with a detailed minute by minute breakdown and comes with a 8 hour long timestamped video of himself in his room. Also has witnesses testify to that. They also never deviate even slightly from their response. The second person was clearly coached and trained extensively to prepare for this meeting like they were expecting it. That is enough for the secret police in East Germany to lock you up until you explain why you were so prepared and what exactly you're hiding.

[@youtubeaccount5153]

My dad neither tortured me nor intensely interrogated me. But he would come back to the same questions, maybe in slightly different ways, to determine if I was telling the truth. Life with a law enforcement investigator.

[@Gareth1892000]

I remembered that movie. Another method was to offer a small gain (for example: I could let you meet your family if you answer just simply write a few sentence) after a long hour of integration

[@toastyanon8902]

I had a teacher in college that recommended a foil to that film “Heroes Like Us.” I do recommend it because it’s genuinely entertaining by itself, it’s a much more comical look at East German society by an extremely neurotic young Stasi agent. Always try to recommend it!

[@leobart3328]

We have have a word in Berlin for those old people that look out the window all the day and observe all the people outside its called "stasi-opa/oma" and I think it's kind of funny

[@jebremocampo9194]

I took away your 69

[@OffGridInvestor]

Grandfather/grandmother: there's the translation

[@Hadraedan96]

I went to the Stasi Museum in Berlin. It's in the old Stasi headquarters and well worth a visit. During the tour the guide said of the 16 million East Germans the Stasi had files on over 4 million of them!

[@Delightfully_Bitchy]

Damn.

[@capncake8837]

I honestly thought they’d have files on all of them.

[@alonsoACR]

@@capncake8837 Including toddlers? Dude, if you exclude the under 15s and the communist sympathizers you find out they had files on way over half the population. Plus, remember the StaSi burned countless files before they were stopped.

[@TriatomicAI]

My mother's neighbors were stasi, and they jailed my grandfather for saying stuff about the communist party while drunk in a bar. Glad they're gone

[@raimohoft1236]

Gone?! 😤

[@TalonsofWater]

Good riddens to bad rubbish.

[@matthew5386]

was your grandfather a nazi by any chance? like im guessing as a grandfather he would have been around for quite a while

[@TriatomicAI]

@@matthew5386 no he was born in 1948, hard to be a Nazi by then.

[@matthew5386]

@@TriatomicAI just because he was born after the height of a political ideology doesnst mean he could be one. i know he wasn't im just saying for future context. did your grandfather enjoy the healthcare, education, housing and food of the GDR?

[@koerks1523]

2:06, I love the detail of the west and east "Sandmann" :D Great work!

[@mightywurlitzer]

Damn, you saw it 3 min before I did. Such a clever surveillance method.

[@Yora21]

Supposedly they asked children in day cares how the Sandman character looks.

[@linarionschonmar1572]

@@Yora21 they also asked them what shape the clock of the newsprogram was

[@Yora21]

@@linarionschonmar1572 Not saying the GDR was the same as North Korea, but in complete batshit insanity they were at a same level.

[@Pille1842]

@@Yora21 Well, not really. North Korea maintains labor camps with hundreds of thousands of its citizens imprisoned and forced to work and die under horrible conditions. Nothing like that ever existed in the GDR.

[@Dostwyn]

Nice reference at 2:06 For those who don't know: both East and West Germany had a children's TV show depicting a puppet sandman. The East version wore a red hat and a goatie while the West version wore a blue hat and a neckbeard. Interestingly, the East German version still airs on German TV to this day, while the West German version was canceled.

[@someguy7723]

confirmed. east germany, best germany

[@Nikki-tx6kh]

I remember seeing extracts of it during Good Bye Lenin. The cartoon the children are watching in the scene where Alex goes to visit his father.

[@icrushchildrensdreams4556]

Do a video on the German Smuggler’s Republic. It was a short lived state within the French and American zones of influence in the Rhineland

[@seneca983]

Guy Bloke has a video on it.

[@hoodclassicsofcalifornia]

@@seneca983 and its great

[@johgu92]

I'm from this region, it was called "Freistaat Flaschenhals" (bottleneck free state) due to its form reminding of a bottleneck and the region being a vine region.

[@caolanfeely4317]

Do a video on the Roman nobility after the collapse of western Rome

[@niewiemcotuwpisacisioa5317]

yesssss

[@merrittanimation7721]

Sounds amazing.

[@obiwankenobi4252]

Nothing because over the length of the Imperial history the Roman aristocratic and senatorial class had been stripped of their power and social status

[@merrittanimation7721]

@@obiwankenobi4252 What about the people who just so happened to be hereditarily rich and benefitted from the Roman social system?

[@OCinneide]

@@merrittanimation7721 As the west was slowly attacked deeper and deeper by barbarian raids the Emperors decided that instead of manning the borders they'd have stationary armies to react to threats and they'd fortify the main cities and towns of the region. This meant that power was centralised around these main cities/towns. E.g. Thessaloniki, Ravenna etc. As the western roman empire started to collapse the local nobles started to take a vested interest in the defense of their own cities and so the feudal system slowly started to morph into being. Aka, the lord in his high castle has a bunch of knights from the surrounding area who have a bunch of peasants under them and this constitutes the main force. This was compared to the old system where the government protected the borders and the nobles had no interest in protecting anywhere but their villas.

[@cannonball666]

The Sun at 2PM: So long suckers! I'm in the West!" Stasi : "We'll be waiting for you tomorrow morning, comrade. Hehe."

[@JW-zx5dr]

lol

[@065Tim]

Even in the Stasi's wildest dreams they'd never imagine the ways surveillance is employed like it is today. The Stasi never got to place a listening device with a built in camera in every citizen's pocket to be activated any time they'd like.

[@snipingflute4346]

Stephen Jenkins And maybe Iran, by chance?

[@Aimless6]

@Stephen Jenkins "NSA can't spy on Americans" > Just ask the Brits or Isreali to do it. > Patriot Act. > If you can get a warrant to spy on the Presidential election staff ... didn't Nixon get in trouble for that?

[@mrbisshie]

The Stasi would blush if they seen the NSA's work. They would envy the CCP's mass surveillance.

[@lotionman1507]

the stasi couldnt imagine getting civilians to convince each other that it was just a conspiracy theory

[@LordVader1094]

@@lotionman1507 That's the most brilliant part. People willingly accept what was once forced on them.

[@Osterochse]

it is a little weird to watch this while I know for a fact that my neighbour was working at the Stasi full time...

[@smophie6260]

Scary stuff

[@youtubeaccount5153]

And what did he do for a living afterward? Do you happen to know?

[@Osterochse]

@@youtubeaccount5153 not really, but as far as I know he worked as a civil engineer since this was his first job. Today he is a pensioneer. I am currently looking outside of my window seeing him mow his front lawn as write this comment.

[@youtubeaccount5153]

@@Osterochse 😡. I get putting the past behind. But some of these people were just evil. How many of them apologized or asked forgiveness? Very few I bet. A couple of Bible verses come to mind. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” And, “Vengeance is mine says the Lord.” Maybe at least make them live in Russia.

[@Osterochse]

@@youtubeaccount5153 I don't know a single occasion where anybody actually asked for forgiveness. One time a "comedian" made fun of people who want an apology since "noone asked the pope for an apology either", which is just plain wrong, but I am getting off track here. Rather the opposite has happened, I usually hear only justifications that what they did was the right thing to do at that time or that were just following orders etc. In many regards it is kind of similar to the way it was after the second world war. And in a way it actually was. If you were working in the Stasi you usually get a better pension today than others since your pension is only dependent on the amount of money you made in the GDR and the stasi jobs were well paid. Most famous is Margot Honecker (the violet dragon). She was the spouse of the chairman of the state council (which means he was effectively the head of state) and minister of education in the GDR. She lived until she died in 2016 in Chile, received a nice pension, was drinking Coca Cola, complained about capitalism, and talked about the resurgence of socialism in form of the leftist party in Germany. There are some videos of her here on youtube, but I think it is all in German.

[@cameronburke8002]

We went on a Guided Tour of a Stasi prison on a school trip and the tour guide was a bit wild. It was a small group and the students and teachers came to the conclusion he must have spent some time in a Stasi prison.

[@varana]

Depending on where you were, he probably was. Usually, they try to have former prisoners as guides in those memorials.

[@noytelinu3409]

"Alright we have a one party system that everyone needs to join to do anything here. Which means that whoever does join will hold our values!" Yeah wtf I thought they were smarter than this.

[@obiwankenobi4252]

Fun fact: East Germany was never a one party state. While the Socialist Unity Party (a merger of the East German wings of the SPD and KPD) was constitutionally bound to be in charge it never held a majority of seats in the Vollshammer (the East German Parliament), and was perpetually in coalition with the CDU and the FDP, which were respectively conservative and liberal parties. So, while elections in East Germany were freer than in the rest of the Warsaw Pact the SUP always got done what Moscow wanted to do, which always meant tighter control over the population. This made East Germany a "Totalitarian Democracy", aka a mostly democratic government with free elections but a tight control over the population through surveilliance

[@moritamikamikara3879]

There's a huge amount of people even nowadays that don't understand this simple idea...

[@brandonlyon730]

I hear they have similar system going on in Venezuela right now. Want a good job and be able to participate in everything, be a part of the socialist party and we’ll help you in anyway. If not then fuck off.

[@DreamWalkerVl]

@@brandonlyon730 I heard in some village in Somalia their began to use socialism. Another evidence that socialism causes poverty and famine.

[@andrewsitu5107]

@@obiwankenobi4252 sounds like Singapore lol.

[@Assassine0606]

My parents grew up in the GDR, both had encounters with the STASI. My father was in the military, and just before leaving, they wanted to hire him as an informant, because he was pretty happy and more or less supportive of socialism. He declined, because he liked go life for all, but hated surveillance, and therefore was denied access to university by the STASI. My Mother helped her brother flee to the West, so the STASI searched the flat of her family. Both don´t want to see their STASI-Documents (although it is possible to get access nowadays). Funnily, both liked the GDR and Socialism for it´s ecocomic side and basic service for all, while hating the surveillance of the authotarian police state.

[@monsterhunter445]

I think that sums it's up. I think people forget those socialist countries did meet basic needs better than capatalist countries. But the surveillance was definitely over the top. But to be fair US and the west could undermine so you can't blame paranoia sometimes

[@coloradoing9172]

@@monsterhunter445 "I think people forget those socialist countries did meet basic needs better than capatalist countries" lmao

[@pianisti4562]

@@coloradoing9172 that's literarly true "lmao"

[@coloradoing9172]

@@pianisti4562 yeah here comes the 14 year old nice minecraft videos

[@pianisti4562]

@@coloradoing9172 Like my age has anything to do with this. It's a fact that socialist countries had free healthcare, education, subsidised housing, cheap public transport and easily available necessities. There's a study that compares socialist countries to capitalist countries and it finds that at the same level of development, socialist countries provided better quality of life than their capitalist counter parts. I can link this to you if you want. And no, you also can't use the argument that "oh, but you're from a western country, what do you know about socialism," because i come from a former socialist country, so i've heard firsthand accounts about peoples' lives there.

[@andynguyen7817]

“How did Mongolia Became a puppet-state of the Soviet Union?” “How did Japan Industrialize so fast, while China couldn’t?” “Why did the Soviet Union and UK invaded Iran during WW2?” “When did France and the UK become allies?” Edit: To make my fourth question to make sense, I actually want know when France and the UK become close allies. I don’t really think they become close allies just because of Germany unification and their imperial expansion. Both countries were rivals and enemies for centuries, and disliked each other a lot. When did they actually become close allies, despite their history.

[@tech4pros1]

france and britain became allies in WW1, when they were united in the fact of not liking imperial germany's expansionism..

[@mateistoian726]

I like all of them except the last one since it'd pretty much be a copy-paste of his us-uk video

[@Serulik]

The Japan and China is actually really simple. Empress Qi Xi refused to endorse technologic research because that would require non cunfucian education, and cunfucian education and its "mandate of heaven" was a major reason why the Manchu dynasty stayed in power. In Japan there was never such a strict approach to education and free thinking because "do everything the emperor says" isn't that important to memorize when the emperor himself prefers to stay out of politics

[@dominicchapman1684]

The UK and France becoming allies happened in response to the Fachoda crisis, in which France tried to take control of the southern portion of Sudan while there was a separatist mouvement there. France did this in the hopes of connecting their Colonial empire east to west, but the British, under Kitchener, reasserted control of the region just as the french arrived. London and Paris were calling for war, as France had already claimed the region, and the British weren’t having any of that, but France backed down, recognising that Germany posed a much more substantial threat to their sovereignty than the UK after losing Alsace Lorraine 20 years prior, leading to the “entente cordiale”, cordial agreement, where Britain would stand with France against Germany. It’s also interesting to note that the Fachoda crisis, named after the town at which the French and British met, was the last diplomatic incident between the two countries, and that despite both countries seeing massive debate on whether they should enter an armed conflict over this, it was very chill in Fachoda, Kitchener himself being able to speak french and keep things cool over there.

[@krim7]

For japan, it was because the conservative, backwards looking Shogunate was overthrown in the Meiji restoration. Those who came to power wanted to emulate Europe, and so they did (rapid industrialization, followed by rapid colonial expansion). China had an inward looking conservative government that failed to adapt with the times, so much so that they were beaten and battered by the colonial powers and, eventually lost huge chunks of its territory to Japan. Only then did China begin to industrialize/modernize. The Soviets and the British wanted Iranian oil, and to make sure there was a supply corridor between British controlled south Asia and the USSR. France and the UK became allies because of the rise of Germany, who threatened France on land and tried to rival Britain at sea. Having liberated themselves from the Imperial China, Mongolia was the second communist country to be created. The Red Russians, under the pretext of fighting White Russians, invaded Mongolia and helped prop up the Communist regime. Later on, Mongolia served as a buffer state between the USSR and China and thus was not invaded or occupied by either power.

[@amarsven]

My parents told me that they kinda knew who was in the Stasi. Once they needed to use a phone and wanted to ask a neighbor who they knew was in the Stasi and hence has a phone. He denied having a phone. However, my parents couldn't just say:. "Hey we know you are in the Stasi. We know you have phone." By the way, they never wanted to read their files after reunification. Seemed not a big deal for them.

[@OffGridInvestor]

Some people would rather LEAVE the past behind them. Because many who read their files had nasty surprises about who was spying on them. Best friends and stuff. It broke A LOT of friendships as a result

[@monsterhunter445]

@@OffGridInvestor exactly this.

[@ChrisM-bn5vr]

How did they know he was in the Stasi before they asked him to borrow his phone?

[@punishedvenomsnake716]

Ok, this is epic. Alexa, play "Der Heimliche Aufmarsch"

[@muchentuchen6592]

Niet. Alexa play "kalinka"

[@alaskagyal]

69th like, nice

[@senorhace4746]

LENNY

[@cannonball666]

Der Hind lick Auf Mein Arsch?

[@rtwfreak2012]

Es geht durch die Welt ein Geflüster

[@corporalzeph2518]

*The Gestapo is gone* German Citizens: Finally! We have some personal freedom and we can do whatever we want! *The Stasi: Allow us to introduce ourselves*

[@math3000]

West Berlin: crab rave

[@Cjnw]

Stasi > NATO

[@user-bt8lk3jc6i]

But almost Gestapo and SD into BND W.germany police

[@JamesTrifolium]

Angela Kindness True. NATO basically turned Norway into an American puppet state.

[@toxicatto6074]

@Alex The Awesome Kinda a yes and no tbh. The US did support some dictatorship, and dictatorship isn't exactly well known for freedom of speech, and the US supply those dictatorship with guns and military training, and so the US -indirectly- suppresses protests by giving dictators guns to massacre their own people. There is one called "Banana Massacre" where United Fruit Company workers protested because low wage and poor working condition. With support from the US government, the colombian army killed the protesters, which the US government said are "communists", look it up

[@maximiliank.4418]

There where the situation of an married couple, both working for the Stasi but doesn't know it about each other and basically are only married to spy each other.

[@pigroachgameingkhando7058]

Once guy from Dresden told me, when he opened his Stasi file, on his file he find out that Stasi spied on his 6 year old son, on the file there were pictures of his Son playing in the playground

[@fragidistic]

They even had extensive database of human scents. They kept them in glass jars for trained dogs to find your odour trail.

[@sordman2]

My mother was raised in East Germany. Several members of her family and many of her teachers were forced into the Stasi. She didn't find out until after the Berlin Wall fell.

[@bernduelauert3277]

The worst part is that many former Stasi-employees are now active in current german society and politics. A famaous example is Anetta Kahane. If you speak German, compare the German and English version of her in Wikipedia. The differences are significant.

[@JonathanNilens]

Honey, that's with the majority of Wikipedia articles on specific country bound subjects....

[@Iemonzinger]

What are some of the differences?

[@Thedarkside379]

What are these differences so to speak? I speak German and looked at both the English and German pages. Both are clear on her involvement with the Stasi, what are you trying to get at?

[@highdefinist9697]

@@Thedarkside379 The English article mentions her being active as an informant for the Stasi - the German article does not.

[@dontbeasadsoulja]

@@highdefinist9697 nope, it's in both versions of the article.

[@arkady714]

Two E German guards are patrolling the wall when one asks "So, what do you think of the Communist Party, Comrade?", whereupon the other answers "Why, the same as you, my friend." The first guard then replies "In that case, you're under arrest!"

[@Edmonton-of2ec]

I think a better question would've been "What did the Stasi not do?" *And not in a good way* .....

[@ghostmcdoom4994]

They did surprisingly little physical Torturing. It happened but most of the time they used psychological torturing.

[@Yora21]

@@ghostmcdoom4994 You got to at least maintain the appearance that you're working for the wellbeing of the people.

[@raimohoft1236]

... and what they are still doing! 😑

[@battlefield_hackers_exposed]

2:07 such a niche pun on the two East- and West-German versions of a kids "good night" show, called the sandman...I'm impressed

[@benediktheim2614]

At 2:06 the background shows the east german and the west german version of the "Sandmännchen" a popular German bedtime tv show for kids. Kindergarten teachers in the east would ask the kids to draw the "Sandmännchen" in order to find out who was watching western television. Cool thing to show

[@nikiplay8775]

My great gandfather once was arrested in the 1960s or so because he said out loud how great his brother was living in west berlin. After he got out of prison he told that he got more beaten up then fed food and was promptly arrested again so yeah it was very fun

[@Delightfully_Bitchy]

And the Stasi couldn't understand why people didn't like them?

[@craigdavies2598]

@@Delightfully_Bitchy I’m sure they did

[@GdotWdot]

My German teacher in high school said she had an elderly friend back in Germany who was left so paranoid about Stasi he still sewed all of his clothes himself, bought everything he could directly from people who make it, kept all his money in a mattress, only read newspapers and books - no TV or internet, he had in fact had all of his utilities cut save for water and sewage. This was 10 years ago.

[@jns8168]

Did he sew his own clothes to avoid being hassled at the store?

[@GdotWdot]

@@jns8168 Partly, and partly because he was extremely paranoid that there were listening devices everywhere. Like embedded in all end products.

[@jns8168]

I hope you don't mind me asking you this, but what kind of person was he before they broke him down?

[@GdotWdot]

@@jns8168 I only know as much as I've been told. We talked a lot about what he was like in the recent times, but not about how he had been doing before. The teacher eventually brought Leben der Anderen for us to watch and that was that.

[@jns8168]

Thanks for answering. I imagine he was a man who stood up for some good cause and that was the reason for being placed on the Stasi's list. So many people were unjustly attacked by Stasi. It is a sad time in history but sadder that it is still happening now, only under different organisations. Well, I hope he eventually found/finds peace.

[@CoffeeSuccubus]

0:48 Tito wasnt loyal to Moscow though. Atleast after the Tito Stalin split.

[@leoledino]

I guess that's why he said "at this point"

[@user-ec7lt1wc3l]

He was not a puppet to Stalin like the others

[@brandonlyon730]

Funny thing about Stalin and Tito. Stalin had actually sent out over a dozen assassins to kill Tito when he was no longer cooperating with the Union. They all failed and their was rumored that Tito sent a letter to Stalin that more or less said “Stalin if you keep sending men with the intention of killing me, I’ll send one of my own to Muscow. And I will need to send out one.” There’s also a rumor that Stalin had kept that letter at his desk til the day he died.

[@Wasserkaktus]

@@brandonlyon730 Yeah Tito was pretty badass: He's probably the most talented Cold War leader no one talks about because he not only deliberately put himself on the sidelinds, but he actually established his own faction of non-aligned nations. He probably lead his country more to the ideals of equality moreso than the Warsaw Pact Countries ever could, as he did a remarkable job quashing all the Nationalist tendencies which literally ripped his country apart shortly after he died.

[@caorusso4926]

@@Wasserkaktus Tito was the clue that hold yugoslavia together. His vision of equality are a necessity for a diverse country. If someone like him picked the place maybe yugoslavia will not be dead

[@JukeboxTheGhoul]

Please remember there are still ex-Stasi alive, as well as their children who like to influence opinion towards themselves now especially on the internet on explainers like this. They were never prosecuted for the torture they did nor put on any list. (This meant just after the wall they could get employment again and sometimes try to disrupt people's lives through various methods. The devoted ones had it was hard wired in to them)

[@Tuppoo94]

For some reason this fact seems to fly under the radar. The public seems to think that the people who ran these mechanisms of oppression just disappeared somewhere. No, many of them are still out there, and their children definitely are. Just because they have lost their little socialist utopia doesn't mean they're not dangerous people to this day.

[@invidatauro8922]

@@Tuppoo94 They've aleady done their job, look how accepted Marxism is in modern western societies. That's because of people the Stasi never stopped manipulating the west. In fact it's much easier now. Because they're not seen as a threat.

[@totaleNonale]

@@invidatauro8922 Marxism isn't even the same as communism and communism doesn't necessarily mean a totalitarian/dictatorial state. I am sure there are still some people doing bad shit, especially seeing how Russia is basically still using the same spies/tactics since the cold war, but I'd be scared about other stuff than 'Marxism'. Right-wing populism for example. (I say this as neither)

[@invidatauro8922]

@@totaleNonale I have an experiment for to preform. Go on Twitter on two different accounts. On the first account, Praise both Stalin and Lenin. On teh Second praise both Hitler and Mussolini. Tell me what happens.

[@totaleNonale]

@@invidatauro8922 I don't use Twitter and I am pretty sure you get influenced quite a bit by russian bots and the like, but if all they did was convince people about marxism, I'd be much less worried about them...

[@danielnavarro537]

The difference from the Gestapo and the Stasi was the Gestapo wanted to make you think they were there. The Stasi on the other hand was there.

[@morris9974]

Fun fact: one of Willy Brandt’s closest advisors (Günter Guillaume) was a Stasi Agent. When this came out Willy Brandt resigned from his office as chancellor of Germany.

[@RonJohn63]

He should have known not to trust a Frog. (He had to be a Frog with that name...)

[@NoName-ig2jb]

A few years prior there was actually a vote of no confidence against Brandt. The only reason Brandt won was because the Stasi had bribed two CDU politicians to vote for him.

[@Edmonton-of2ec]

Forget not the tyranny of this Wall, nor the love of freedom that made it fall.... - Unknown, Graffiti on the Berlin Wall

[@some_guy7475]

Stasi coming for whoever wrote that

[@merrittanimation7721]

I misread the title as "How do the Stars Work" and thought this channel had lost it.

[@xyryyn]

Or it's a pilot for his sister channel, "Physics Matters"

[@merrittanimation7721]

@@xyryyn Using the old channel name it would be "Ten Minute Physics"

[@xyryyn]

@@merrittanimation7721 "1665, and Cambridge University is closed by the plague."

[@ravioli3807]

@@merrittanimation7721 There is already a channel called minutephysics.

[@GameyCat]

how the hell did you misread the title as "How do the Stars Work"???

[@MHN299]

David Hasselhoff at the Brandenburger Tor at the end - so much love for your details and background jokes!

[@SiVlog1989]

The Stasi shorthand makes more sense when you see it from the German spelling of the full name "Ministerium Für Staatssicherheit"

[@yarpen26]

Fun fact: to this day, SPD members are referred to as the Sozis (it was on this basis that the term Nazi was coined).

[@Jens_Heika]

I am worried. I just heard about the Stasi in an audiobook I was listening to, and as soon as I open KZbin that's the second video recommendation I get.

[@mbgal7758]

I love the way that eyes can be so expressive even though they’re just simple animations

[@DaisyGeekyTransGirl]

1984 and Orwell's prediction for the year was spot on for East Germany.

[@jk677]

No it wasn't. Eventho the Stasi was pretty bad, life itself was good. Nobody really could complain. I don't know anyone from my family, friends or relatives who ever complained about life in the DDR. There was solidarity amongst the people, nowhere to be found today. People got work, the streets where safe, there was enough food to eat healthy (but not extrem amounts like today).

[@spacemarinechaplain9367]

JK If that was the case then why did East Germany collapse so quickly in 1989? If it really was a great utopia, you’d think that there’d be some sort of attempt at preserving the then current system like in the Soviet Union in 1991.

[@jk677]

@@spacemarinechaplain9367 Why did east germany collapse so quickly? Unlike the USSR parties of the West where allowed in the DDR after 1989 (CDU, SPD and so on) And in west germany sat a chancellor who wanted that unification bonus for his biography and reelection (chancellor from 1982 - 1998). It was never intended to unify germany A bit more than half the people wanted the DDR to further exist, but reformed. That was the case in the east and West german population. Der Runde Tisch was like the voice of the people in the wendezeit and they proposed all the stuff for the further existing DDR But the parties of the west came and voted in a hassle for unification in 1990 The people where not asked The Volkskammer decided that on their own What also came into play was that in 1989 the leading party SED just gave up without any attempts to hold to power They laundered their money and changed their name twice All they did in that year from 1989 to 1990

[@spacemarinechaplain9367]

JK So they liked East Germany just not enough to actually do anything to preserve it? If people really like something, they tend to fight for it. Yet in the DDR,there was no such fight at least for the preservation of the status quo or even an independent East Germany.

[@jk677]

@@spacemarinechaplain9367 We germans are just not stupid enough to fall into a civil war for a country Unification was still a dream the people had So it was accepted

[@narvuntien]

I went to the Stasi museum in (east) Berlin a couple of weeks ago. The messed up stuff the Stasi did, they would conduct psychological warfare on people getting them fired have, their friends and partners ostracise them and (particularly if innocent) the person would just not understand why they had such bad luck. The resistance movements operated out of churches which it was difficult for the government to interfere with, although it didn't stop the Stasi trying.

[@harrytheprince6951]

The Sandmann reference got me. Man the level of detail you put into a 10min. video is amazing.

[@youtubeaccount5153]

Or 3:35 minute video. But your point is 💯 spot on.

[@robertotheburrito6503]

Fun fact: One of Eva Braun’s Scottish Terriers was named Stasi.

[@Delightfully_Bitchy]

Must have been a hell of a guard dog.

[@tesco632]

They are everywhere now.

[@Henri.d.Olivoir]

Everyone asks "what did the stasi do", but never "how did the stasi do"

[@LOLERXP]

Everybody expects the Stasi

[@the_washingmachine1295]

1:18 that missing dark grey point in the middle hurts XD

[@KelarGridal]

Been really sick the last two days with a monster of a cold, been binge watching your videos again to keep my spirits up!

[@nicbahtin4774]

Twitter before Twitter

[@thecakeisalie6392]

The Chad Gestapo vs the Virgin Stasi

[@thetooginator153]

I really like how History Matters gets to the point quickly. This channel deserves all of its subscribers and views.

[@ThisGuitarIsAWeapon]

The police state running through the field of flowers animation literally made me lol

[@scanida5070]

0:34 Did nobody notice the Uno-Reversecard in Ulbricht‘s left hand?

[@Home-EdHistory]

Going from one extreme, to another.

[@Jj-fc3hg]

It's black or white

[@JonathanNilens]

SUPER LIKE!!!! I found that such a rough and uneasy topic has been animated in an entertaining and hilarious way. I haven't reached the end of the video, but I am living for the funny animations.

[@philcollinson328]

I always watch these vids and love the highly informative and brilliant narration..But the animation cracks me up...combined brilliance.

[@WolfHagenSdW]

Nice one with the Sandmann reference. :)

[@gerardasar9376]

I love that you're covering topics that are not as popular and well known

[@fernbedek6302]

Getting an ad on the end of the video about how to counter google and other tech companies listening and following your online history was an *interesting* juxtaposition.

[@ahmedmehana4579]

Anyone noticed that east Germany looks like Ireland

[@barraganimperator4420]

Yeah

[@matro2]

Both were partitions.

[@lightningfletch5598]

Kinda.

[@lilli9822]

no,why?it has a different climate and the landscape is completely different. Architecture also is different.Germans are not really like the Irish. Germans keep also their street very tidy and clean and they are perfectionist. The Irish...lol.

[@ahmedmehana4579]

@@lilli9822 I mean the shape on the map

[@fatdaddyeddiejr]

Great video. I've been to the Stasi Headquarters museum in Berlin. It shows some of the equipment they used. Also at the museum. They have all the records and files the Stasi had on it's people. So you can look up your name and see if they had any report filed on you. Check out the German movie "The Lives of Others." It takes place in the East Berlin. It's about a Stasi officer who is assigned to spy on an East German writer.

[@christianfreedom-seeker934]

Does anyone know if they were keeping tabs on Americans in West Germany? If they were...I might have a small file myself!

[@kylemohs8728]

Commies: Join the party or go to gulag. Everybody: Fine! *30 years later* Everybody: I'm not actually loyal to the party, and it's time things changed. Commies: *Surprise Pikachu face*

[@tosterm]

Kyle Mohs now that’s one dead meme, and way to jump on the anti-commie gang. you’re so unique

[@kylemohs8728]

Being anti genocidal dictatorship and pro freedom is apparently something to be called out for. Lighten up dude it's a joke.

[@quisqueyanguy120]

@@kylemohs8728 He's probably a commie, so he will never get the joke.

[@robertjarman3703]

@@kylemohs8728 East Germany wasn't really genocidal. Not really any groups to actually murder off anymore. Not did they actually starve. It was just repressive to challenge the leadership or to get out west.

[@HayabusaPaul]

@@user-xg5ts3pb3x It will never happen because of a thing called human nature which is something Marxists have a habit of underestimating.

[@shanshui1991]

It is absolutely breathtaking how efficient the Stasi was. People often forget that they managed to pplace an agent as the right hand of Willy Brandt, the social democrat chancellor of West Germany in the 60s. Although, the police officer who shot the youth activist Benno Ohnesorg which initiated the 68 movement in Germany was in fact an agent of the Stasi (although it is debated if that had anything to do with him killing the activist).

[@VengineerGER]

Am I glad my parents kept a low profile. These guys were crazy

[@pridelander06]

2:23 "Russians Go Home" written on the Berlin Wall. "Life of Brian" Reference?

[@megashark0305]

People called russkies, they go to Moscow?

[@cannonball666]

"But what did the Russians ever give us!?" "They gave us orders"

[@MisterFoxton]

@@cannonball666 "And over 300000 jobs in the form of a secret police!" But apart from that what did they ever do for us? Nothin'!

[@Cjnw]

Schwanzus Schwanzus Longus❗

[@looinrims]

Reminds me of the Hungarian Revolution

[@notthatyouasked6656]

I went into East Berlin twice in late 1985; once with a bus tour and once on my own. When I went on my own, I was walking along Unter den Linden when someone approached me and started talking to me in German. Now, I looked like a typical tourist, not a local, and for obvious reasons, there weren't a lot of German-speaking tourists in East Berlin at the time, so that was a big red flag. I do speak German and had conversed with the East German officials on my way into East Berlin. The interesting part was that the conversation was not "how do you like our country" sort of thing. This guy said straight out he had family in the West and needed to get a message to them, and could I help. I had to assume that either this guy was Stasi or we were being observed by Stasi, so I wasn't about to cooperate and told him I was sorry, but it was impossible. He was hard to shake but eventually he gave up. I wonder if I have a thin Stasi file somewhere!

[@4mathieuj]

These vids are getting better amd better!

[@bababuyiekaban7942]

A true story I heard that after the wall collapse one woman found out from the retrieved documents that her beloved husband was spying on her for years. She was so flabbergast and heartbroken that she divorced him shortly thereafter.

[@scanida5070]

There was actually a very famous Stasi tactic in which Stasi officers, so called „Romeos“, would try to win over West-German woman who worked in important institutions like the BND (West-Germany‘s secret intelligence agency). Of course, all the love was faked and many women were left heartbroken, some even committed suicide.

[@lordgarion514]

I think you mean a story you heard that they claim is true. Whether or not it's true, is probably a little hard to prove. Not that I actually doubt that happening. Probably a couple of times at least.

[@superyamky]

Damn

[@tisFrancesfault]

The stasi ware an incredibly capable intelligence organisation. One of the best thing it had was citizens themselves choosing to betray friends and family to the stasi.

[@andrewsitu5107]

Makes them perfect to tackle the issue of extremist terrorism.

[@prion42]

So basically they invented crowdsourcing.

[@a2falcone]

"Best" wouldn't be my word of choice, but I get your point.

[@kingt0295]

What was the incentive? Were they generously rewarded for turning in mates or was it just a friendly pat on the back lol

[@rixille]

STASI was a terrorist organization, of course they had people snitch for them.

[@murgoot3336]

My favorite verified story was the 80s formation of the group that stole used clothing to be stored for DNA and tracking. Sarcastically dubbed the Panty Sniffer Brigade by US Army military intelligence I knew

[@andrewsitu5107]

Lol

[@ttun100]

The Stasi would put a piece of the used clothing with the person sent on it in a jar to have their dogs be able to sniff them out if they tried to hide or run.

[@michellesheppard9253]

That's like the US to label stuff sarcastically like that lol

[@alec0062]

now they planted a gps on every one in their pants pockets

[@fliegerschmeisser]

2:07 That picture on the blackboard is so freakin clever

[@oliversherman2414]

I love your channel keep up the great stuff

[@infantjones]

The idea that the Stasi mainly spied on East Germans is largely incorrect. While such spying absolutely did occur and at a fairly large scale (though nowhere near the scale of modern intelligence gathering operations, such as through the NSA) more resources were devoted to spying in West Germany, especially in West Berlin. This was in part due to it being easier to spy in East Germany than West Germany, so operations across the border were more resource intensive, but a large amount of West German informants and collaborators contributed greatly as well. Besides just agents and informants, there were many more tap-listeners assigned to West German lines than Eastern ones. Funnily enough, West Berliners were effectively more likely to be tapped than East Berliners at any given time. Documents on informants in West Germany were some of the first destroyed in the Stasi file burnings when the DDR collapsed, as the exposing of the West German spy network would have far more dire consequences than from that in the East. However, from what survived it's known there were at least 12,000 informants in West Berlin alone, including over 500 actual agents, while for elsewhere it's known there were around 150 agents in Bonn, many of which were embedded in fairly high positions within political parties. These were a mix between agents managing informants and special mission agents. There were around 170,000 Stasi informants in East Germany for comparison. This also doesn't get into how many of these were occasional informants rather than being "full time", most weren't full time but were "registered" more or less.

[@hypercomms2001]

I went to the Stasi headquarters in East Germany after the wall went down, It is the most frightening but bizarre place I visited

[@agpps4usabattlefieldinfini576]

Love to learn about history thank you for posting

[@draganescuconstantin2380]

Kind of a similar story with Romania's communist era secret service "Securitatea", in the sense that after the communist regime fell a lot of the higher ups were not held accountable for their actions (even if some of the allegations were of straight up torture), and the files were swept under the rug.

[@varana]

In East Germany, the files weren't swept under the rug, though. In the last days, the Stasi tried to destroy as many documents as possible, but was often prevented from doing so by activists occupying their buildings. After reunification, a special agency was created that collected, restored, archived, and analysed the surviving documents. Every citizen of the GDR (not sure about West Germans) could apply to read their documents (and still can).

[@fragsnake]

This means that Germany at least can aknowledge the parasites. In Communist Bulgaria the secret police was called DS - (Darzhavna Sigurnost or translated State Security). Opressive apparatus that did it's job so good that the old generation can't stop rambling how great and magnificent were the socialist times almost 30 years later after the fall of the wall. Just as the Romanian friend said, here their documents as well are swept under the rug. And somehow when a politician is exposed, they conveniently disappear or the judges keep a blind eye.

[@geddinixan255]

@@varana ..if there were any.. but just there arent any yet they dont know. They were observated by friends and family. Some will never no whos records send them to prision.

[@iamthinking2252_]

@@varana though in terms of downers… - place where Stasi files is being read will be subsumed under Federal Archives - some ex-Stasi were employed at archival place for all those Stasi files (reason given that the archive is all too complex) - Manual reconstruction of shredded files at current rates of funding will take 375 years to complete - Researchers have developed a computer system that can automatically identify and match shredded pieces. The German government has refused to fund it.