This shot of me and my grandson Kirill was taken in
2012 at the entrance to the Museum of Stasi in Leipzig.
The Ministry for State Security (German:Ministerium für Staatssicherheit), commonly known as the Stasi, was the
official state security service of the German Democratic Republic or GDR
(informally known as East
Germany). It has been described as one of
the most effective and repressive intelligence and secret police agencies in
the world.
The Stasi was headquartered in East Berlin, with an extensive complex in
Berlin-Lichtenberg and several smaller facilities throughout the city. The
Stasi motto was "Schild und Schwert der Partei" (Shield and Sword of
the Party), that is the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany. Although Stasi
was superficially granted independence in 1957, until 1990 the KGB continued to
maintain liaison officers in all eight main Stasi directorates, each with his
own office inside the Stasi's Berlin compound,
and in each of the fifteen Stasi district headquarters around East Germany, including Leipzig. Collaboration was so close that the
KGB invited the Stasi to establish operational bases in Moscow
and Leningrad
to monitor visiting East German tourists. In 1978 KGB officers in East
Germany were granted the same rights and powers they
enjoyed in the Soviet Union.
For a
glimpse of life in Leipzig during the Cold War, many
tourists visit the Stasi
Museum, which documents
the work of the secret service in the former GDR. Set in an original Stasi
administration office, the museum gives fascinating and chilling insights into
the function, methods and history of the secret service; you can see original
surveillance equipment, police documents, letters, photos, a prison cell, and even
an odor archive of suspects (yellow napkins in a glass jars).
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