The establishment of state surveillance and the formation of the oppression apparatus

The emergence of the German dictatorship in the epoch of totalitarian systems was closely linked to the construction of an all-encompassing surveillance apparatus, which aimed to unconditionally secure the rule of a single party. In the post-war period, under the aegis of the Soviet occupying power and the leadership there, a system of fear was formed that deeplysocial life encroached. This process began long before the state was officially proclaimed and manifested itself in the gradual establishment of a secret police acting on the pattern of neighboring eastern countries. The following explanations shed light on the roots, legal concealments and the diverse methods of this institution, which reflect the everyday life of the people.sustainably shaped.

The beginnings of the security policy reorganization

As early as late December of the year, when the country’s political division was finally sealed, a high-ranking delegation from the ruling party complied with the Soviet dictator’s request. The creation of a main department for the protection of the economy and the democratic order was agreed. This new authority was directly appointed to the leadership of the German Administration of the Interiorsubordinate. Since the spring of the same year, the occupying power and the party have assumed a permanent separation of the German territories. The ideology imported from the East pursued the clear goal of establishing a state order based on the model of the people’s democracies there.

The dissolution of the previous criminal police

In Moscow, it was decided that the existing criminal police would need to be cleaned and better trained. The previous department was dissolved and replaced by a new structure under direct control of the Soviet bodies. The tasks included defending against acts of sabotage, protecting property and combating illegal organizations. This decision was made inMay of the same year implemented by the gradual spin-off of the old department from the criminal police. The construction work in the occupation zone was carried out by a man who later became the head of the secret police to gain sadness.

The influence of foreign show processes

After the official founding of the state in the autumn of that year, the party leadership pushed for an upgrade of the secret police to become an independent ministry. A leading ideologue of the party shortly before swearing the alleged dangers that threatened the new state through external and internal enemies. He referred to a show trial in the Hungarian capital, which was alleged toomnipresence of spies and saboteurs should prove. The Western powers and their alleged helpers would do everything to prevent the new state from consolidating. Former secret service agents and traitors are used to harm the economy and penetrate the ranks of the Workers’ Party.

The elevation of vigilance to civil duty

From these processes, the conclusion was drawn that the alertness of the enemies of the system should not rest for a moment. The party leadership recommended that the interior minister convert the previous headquarters into an independent ministry. This step was justified with the alleged endangerment of the state by agents and saboteurs. The population was about thePress informed and called for active help. Vigilance was raised to the highest virtue, as the enemy could allegedly be lurking everywhere in the family, in the company or in the churches.

The staffing of the management level

The Provisional People’s Chamber decided to form the new ministry and the management positions were quickly filled. The minister and his state secretary had rich experience in secret service work. Before their deployment in a European civil war, they had completed a comprehensive training in the East. The minister had previously been in the service oflocal party and their secret service. Both were elected to the party’s top committee at the party congress, which underlined their immense power.

The universal orientation of the surveillance state

The new ministry was universalist from the start and fulfilled a double function. It acted as a spy service to the outside world and at the same time took on the role of a political secret police inside. Since the institution acted as an investigative and prosecution authority, she was able to prosecute any unpleasant statement. First of all, the constitution wasto punish boycott falters and other offenses. The law and case law were not to control state power, but only to support party politics.

The legal concealment of arbitrariness

The old Reich Penal Code was initially valid, with the gaps being filled by a broad application of the constitution. Later, new state security regulations were issued that provided the ministry with legal responsibilities for its investigations. The criminal offenses were summarized in comprehensive catalogs which punish any deviation from the state course.put. The state security employees were authorized to arrest opponents of the regime themselves and to take them to their own detention centers. These detention sites were operated in all district towns and in central facilities of the capital.

The breaking up of organized resistance

After the judicial conviction, the prisoners were transferred to regular penal institutions, which formally were subordinate to another ministry. There was also a special detention center where political prisoners were sent to continue to work on them operationally. In the early years, the work focused on fighting the organized opponent. These included theOffices of established parties, trade unions and committees, and Western broadcasters. The Western secret services were also the constant focus of the investigators.

The staging of public show trials

Inside, it was necessary to silence anyone who represented different political opinions. Deviants were presented as secret agents or saboteurs and treated accordingly. In the early years, the leadership staged public show trials against private entrepreneurs and contacts from western broadcasters to deterrence. The preparation of these processes was incumbentThe secret police, while the screenplay for the main hearing was created by a department of the party headquarters. This department suggested the party leader the sentence, which then arbitrarily decided on the fate of the accused.

The persecution of religious communities

The show trial served as an educational tool through which the leadership shared their view of the world with the subjects. Other fields of activity included the fight against recognized churches and religious communities. Atheism and anti-religiousness shaped the system from the beginning to its end. A small religious community in particular was persecuted because theyParticipation in elections and military service refused. This refusal was considered an attack on the state order and severely punished.

The annihilation of the private economy

The remaining remains of the private sector should be eradicated by means of a draconian commercial criminal law. A law to protect the public property enabled the rigorous disciplining of workers and peasants. Within a very short time, a large number of people were overdrawn with cases of draconian prison sentences. This procedure was for intimidation andthe final collectivization of the economy. Private initiative was systematically criminalized and branded as sabotage.

The cleaning of your own ranks

In the course of internal party purges, a central control commission took investigations into former comrades and dissenters. These commissions should only do preliminary detective work and hand over politically incriminated elements to the secret police. The real task was to transform the party into a dissidence immunized instrument of theto support leadership. At the party conferences, the demand was made to increase vigilance and to throw alleged agents out of the ranks. The findings of foreign show trials and the alleged activities of emigrants were referred to.

The Sorbian minority surveillance

In view of the alleged nationalist activities, it was decreed that the settlement areas of a certain minority had to be worked on in particular. The impetus for this was given by a report by the management of a Sorbian umbrella organization to the regional party leadership. In it, the events of the post-war period were described and supposed opponents of the social reorganization were namedled. They were representatives of the old national elite, as well as clergymen and innkeepers. There was a warning that these elements would only do their pest work through whisper propaganda.

The creation of specific catalogs of measures

This report was sent to the secret police headquarters via the responsible department of the party headquarters. The employees used it to create a specific catalog of measures for regional administration. Continuous reporting was ordered in this matter. From this point on, the intellectuals of the minority were increasingly caught by the investigators. thatSystem of surveillance left no corner of society unaffected and pursued every suspicion with great harshness.