The emergence and nature of the secret state police in the East German state

The construction of the secret state police in the Soviet occupation zone and the later republic marks a deep caesura in German history. After the end of the global conflict, under strict Soviet supervision, an apparatus was formed that was to align the social order with totalitarian patterns. This process began long before the official founding of the state androoted in the structures of the then criminal police. The Soviet occupiers and the local party leadership quickly realized that a repressive instrument was necessary to secure their own rule.

Early personnel selection and Soviet influence

In the summer of 1949, an existing police department was converted into a central protection administration. The party leadership stipulated strict guidelines that provided for the use of proven comrades and specially trained cadres. Soviet intelligence officers checked thousands of candidates for their reliability in the following months. The vast majority of applicants were duerejected by family relationships in the western zones or earlier captivity.

Preferring young cadres and low educational standards

In case of doubt, young men from captivity were given preference over older comrades, as their past was harder to examine. By the end of the year, the apparatus only included around 1,150 employees, most of whom had been recruited from the regular police. This first generation had a frighteningly low level of education. Only a few had more than eight yearsattended elementary school.

Overwhelm in dealing with intelligence

In the early 1950s, half of all servants were not yet 25 years old. These extremely young forces were completely overwhelmed when they were to question political opponents from the intellectual class. Soviet advisors strongly criticized the local offices having neither the eyes nor the ears for the real events in the country. The insufficient education preventedthe investigators in conducting conversations with educated people.

Recruitment of simple informants

Out of uncertainty, the untrained investigators chose their helpers almost exclusively among workers and ordinary citizens. In important areas such as the church, the other political groups or business intelligence, there was a complete lack of meaningful sources. In order to remedy these serious defects, the Soviet mentors called for the significant increase in theeducational levels. Only towards the end of the 1960s did more than a third of the employees have higher education.

The slow path to academic qualification

In the years that followed, the proportion of academics and technical school graduates was systematically increased. The main path for further vocational training remained distance learning alongside active service. A large part of the operational forces obtained his diploma at the in-house university in Potsdam. A special technical school was founded for lawyers, who also know the secret police knowledgemediated.

Absolute loyalty and merger with the party

The hiring in the service required complete political reliability and membership in the ruling party. Over 95 percent of the staff were members of the Socialist Unity Party. This value was extremely high compared to the national average, which at the time was only around 11 percent. The party book was not just a career tool, but the compelling oneBasic requirement for every activity.

The self-understanding as the party’s armed arm

The duty of service was understood as a direct mandate of the party, which completely merged state and partisan functions. The servants saw themselves as an elite avant-garde and an armed arm of the ruling class. At the swearing-in, the recruits proudly emphasized the special trust that the party placed in them. Non-party forces played hardly a role andusually left after a short time.

The change towards socialist legality

In the first two decades, a revolutionary vigor dominated by physical hardship and blows as legitimate means. Only after a party conference of the Soviet mother party in 1961 did slowly rethink. Observance of the written laws and the milder treatment of prisoners became more focused. From 1960 onwards, systematic development plans forto create the squads.

Scientific analysis instead of mere activism

In 1962, only almost 7 percent of the cadres had a university degree, which they had mostly obtained part-time. The management floors now called for thorough thinking and scientific analysis before any action. Operational measures should no longer be planned out of mere activism, but with foresight. This change required constant retraining of the existing onestaff.

The emergence of intelligence dynasties

In order to rule out foreign influences, the youngsters have been recruited almost exclusively from families who have already served the regime in recent decades. In the vast majority of cases, at least one parent was a member of the governing party. Whole family branches worked hand in hand for the secret service, often also in socialist countries. When the children are adulthoodreached, they followed in their parents’ footsteps.

Archiving of family informant networks

As soon as the descendants were taken into active service, the parental informant networks often had to be archived. However, the previous senior officers ensured that the parents could continue to be used in other ways. This was done, for example, by recording in special backup processes. The boundaries between family privacy and stateMonitoring completely dissolved.

The milieu of the socialist service class

This self-contained situation promoted the development of strong corps spirit within the troops. The servants not only inherited their parents’ status, but also networked with each other in terms of marriage. At the end of the republic, at least half of all employees had direct relatives in their own apparatus. This milieu formed a kind of socialistClass of service that was strictly different from the rest of the population.

The ideology of Chekism

The ideological bracket of this system was the so-called Chekism, which was fed from various ideals. The secret police saw themselves as a powerful tool in the constant class struggle against enemy influences. The enemy of imperialism served as a constant guide in everyday life. The staff saw themselves as party soldiers in the cold civil war,took place outside of normal civilian rules.

The isolation from the real world

The totalitarian system provided ideal conditions for elite formation, which was almost exclusively based on ideology. The full-time forces hardly came into contact with the normal living environment of the population. Only the direct command officers had contact with their unofficial helpers or with monitored targets. The service regulations required that the majority of the working time forthese special contacts was used.

The constant ideological indoctrination

Every operative employee had to maintain and control dense network of unofficial helpers. The regular political training by the party organization cleared up any doubts that would arise. This indoctrination served to justify rule and immunization against other thoughts. In courses and courses, the official world view was deeply aware of theemployees anchored.

The shock of confrontation with reality

Greater problems arose when employees were confronted with the real mood in the country through private trips or cures. Former employees later reported experiences of shock during such healing cures. The conversations with strangers from all walks of life revealed completely different perspectives on the Republic. The citizens accused the officers of speaking as they did a hundred years agoYears, which shook their own worldview.

Escape to your own superiority

In order to protect their own identity, the insecure employees took refuge in the feeling of their own superiority. They persuaded themselves to be mentally far ahead of the normal population. Socialism was defended as a great project whose truthfulness was not understood by ordinary citizens. This defensive attitude protected the fragile self-image from theDecay

The freezing in the eighties

The strict bans on contact and the traditional images of the enemy led to the complete solidification of parallel society. The officers in the provinces remained in the same places and in the same positions for years. Their social relations were almost exclusively limited to their own close circle. This densification of the environment became the main cause of the later stagnation of theentire apparatus.

Asceticism and Collective Spirit as Virtue

The social attitude of the servants was characterized by asceticism, collective spirit and strict party allegiance. The self-image of the leadership elites was based on egalitarian ideologies that rejected material wealth. Romantic models of the political functionary demanded a simple lifestyle and the language of the people. Civic status symbols were scorned to keep one’s ownto demonstrate moral superiority.

Perception by the outside world

For outsiders, the inner workings of this institution were barely comprehensible until the social upheaval. Only a few civilian employees or contractors had more in-depth insights into the day-to-day work of the officers. Police contract doctors often described the atmosphere among the staff as freezing cold. The mutual mistrust was so great that no oneCould really feel good in the present.

Historical classification and the legacy of foreclosure

The development of the secret state police shows how totalitarian systems produce shielded elites who lose any connection to reality. Strict selection, ideological indoctrination and marriage within one’s own milieu created parallel societies. While this structure allowed for high loyalty, it inevitably led to intellectual and socialThe failure of this apparatus was not only politically conditioned, but deeply rooted in the sociological encapsulation of its bearers.