Inhalt
This catalogue offers a representative overview of the Stasi Museum’s permanent exhibition “State Security in the SED Dictatorship”, presented in House 1 of the former headquarters of the GDR Ministry for State Security (MfS).
The catalogue, like the exhibition, is divided into five topics, presenting the history of the MfS in the historical context of the SED dictatorship in the GDR and providing information about the means and methods of the Stasi. It uses case studies to illustrate how people became victims of this elaborate repressive apparatus and explains the motives and motivations of the official and unofficial employees.
The „Minister’s Level”, where the offices of long-time Stasi Minister Erich Mielke were located, forms the core of the exhibition. The work of the State Security Service was centred around this corridor of offices and conference rooms, which have been largely preserved in their original state. It was from here that Mielke organized the control and surveillance of his own people and the suppression of oppositional efforts. All activity here was aimed at maintaining the SED’s power. And the MfS was prepared to use any means to achieve this. The Stasi was nevertheless unable to prevent the collapse of the SED state and thus its own end as well. On 15 January 1990, thousands of demonstrators forced the end of the State Security at the headquarters. The site has since been developed into a place for historical research and education.
This catalogue, like the exhibition, was produced as part of a cooperation between the Stasi Museum‘s sponsoring association, ASTAK e. V., and the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service of the Former GDR (BStU).
This publication is also available in a German and a Spanish edition.
Zum Autor/Herausgeber
Bundesarchiv/Stasi-Unterlagen-Archiv
(Hg.)
ASTAK e.V. - Antistalinistische Aktion Berlin-Normannenstraße e.V.
(Hg.)
Trägerverein des Stasi-Museums im Haus 1 des Ministeriums für Staatssicherheit
