Web of Surveillance: East German Snitching Went Far Beyond the Stasi

[unhappycamper]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/east-german-domestic-surveillance-went-far-beyond-the-stasi-a-1042883.html



Everyone knows about the Stasi and the extent to which it spied on the East German populace. But that was only a small part of the informing that went on. New research shows that snitching was vastly more common than previously thought.

Web of Surveillance: East German Snitching Went Far Beyond the Stasi
July 10, 2015 – 05:05 PM
By Peter Wensierski

One day in September 1987, the phone rang at the headquarters of the Volkspolizei, East Germany's police force, in the town of Döbeln, not far from Dresden. On the other end of the line was the voice of an unknown man.

"Good evening. I have some information for you. Grab a pen!"
"I'm listening."
"Ms. Marianne Schneider is traveling on Wednesday, Sept. 14, to West Berlin for a visit. She doesn't intend to return."
"And who are you?"
Silence.
"You would like to remain anonymous?"
"Yes."
"What is the basis for your information?"
"She said so, to her closest friends."

Then, the mysterious caller hung up. And Marianne Schneider* had a problem. Officials immediately revoked her travel permit and began monitoring her phone and mail in addition to questioning her neighbors and friends.

This story is one of spies and informers of the kind that were largely ignored by historians of the German Democratic Republic (DDR) until recently -- because they were spies and informers that were not connected to the Stasi, as East Germany's feared Ministry for State Security was popularly known. Instead, they were totally normal citizens of East Germany who betrayed others: neighbors reporting on neighbors, schoolchildren informing on classmates, university students passing along information on other students, managers spying on employees and Communist bosses denouncing party members.

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. "If you see something, say something"

Back in Bush-wahh era, Der Homeland Security was recruiting Chamber of Commerce members all over the country to be alert them to anyone who acted...suspicious. One of the blessings of the Patriot Act.
Then we got the "See something, say something" thing from..Napolitano, in 2010.

I don't think there is a boomer alive who did not think of the Stasi when DHS was created.

[Paladin]

2. If you haven't seen "The Lives Of Others," please do so.

Brilliant movie about life in E. Germany under Stasi control. Watch for the scene where the naïve playwright goes to see what records were accumulated on him by Stasi over the years.....