When was the stasi founded

In May , Stasi spies accidentally took photographs of a senior member of their own team leaving and entering a house that had been put under surveillance in Neubrandenburg.

It emerged the man had used the same building to maintain an extramarital affair with a colleague in the secret police. One cache of pictures documented the story of a year-old Soviet soldier who spent four and a half years hiding in a hole in the ground in rural Brandenburg after deserting from his East German barracks. Another series of photographs shows a young couple from Dresden with a six-month-old child, who had tried to escape to the west in the boot of a car.

These aimed to prove the alleged espionage activities of the person under arrest for western intelligence services and underground organizations.

Nor did the Stalinist mind adopted during industrialization accept production stoppages as result of worn-out or overloaded machines, but rather wanted to expose them as hostile acts of sabotage.

Staff and infrastructure were not yet sufficient to set up local offices in new urban and rural districts and East Berlin, but by March local offices existed. With the "intensification of the class struggle" the full-time apparatus was nearly doubled in from about 4, end of to about 8, employees.

The MfS leadership consisted almost entirely of long-standing Communists, among them experienced underground fighters such as Minister Zaisser. But it has not been without disputes about what kind of access should be granted to the archives and what restrictions should be placed on researchers and journalists.

Private individuals are allowed to see their Stasi files, but they can only be released to academics or reporters when the subject of the file agrees. Archivists can release information about whether any evidence exists of collaboration with the Stasi by individuals who occupied prominent social or political positions. More general files on operations and internal Stasi matters are accessible. Search Search. Home United States U. Africa 54 - November 11, VOA Africa Listen live.

VOA Newscasts Latest program. These bunkers also acted as communications intercept centres. The bunkers were totally self sufficient with there own generators, ventilation and filtration plant, water purification plant, dormitories, kitchen and a medical bay. They employed a complex system or air locks that were designed to allow survival for up to 40 personnel for 7 - 14 days following a nuclear or chemical attack.

Plan of a typical Stasi bunker. Drawn by Nick Catford.