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Topic 3 - Repression and Control - Coggle Diagram
Topic 3 - Repression and Control
Stasi
All attempts to delay the victory of socialism would be suppressed.
This was why it had such a complex network of informers who enabled it by 1989 to keep files on 6 million citizens – 33% of the population.
Surveillance
phone tapping, video surveillance and agents following suspects.
They even bottled smells of suspects to give to tracker dogs.
Informers
Possibly 500,000 people worked in this capacity at some time in their lives or 1/30 of the population.
Motivation was varied – it might be greed, desire for promotion at work, a feeling of power over others, personal grudges, blackmail by the authorities, or ideology.
Prisoners and Interrogation
They opened a series of prisons and labour camps.
People were taken there to be interrogated and had psychological pressure such as threats and family arrests put on them.
One woman was sentenced to 4 years hard labor when she was involved in an escape programme.
Propaganda
the use of parades, media, promotion of national pride through sporting success and so on.
There were celebrations of labor days, anniversaries of the creation of the GDR, homages to early communist pioneers and martyrs
The FDJ, in particular, was encouraged to participate in festivals and torchlight parades.
In the 1950s officials often complained that parade crowds were sparse and participants were unenthusiastic.
Newspapers
The GDR had 38 newspapers read by 8.3 million of its citizens
66% of them were controlled directly by the SED.
The main SED newspaper was Neues Deutschland with a circulation of a million.
Censorship
post in the FRG was censored and telephone calls were tapped
Art was expected to follow the “Socialist realism” model
In 1952 alone, 8 million books were purged.
The Leipzig Municipal Library removed 59,000 of its 69,000 stock
FDJ (Free German Youth)
only officially approved youth organisation
Its role was mainly the political indoctrination of the young
In 1983, over 1 million members attended holiday camps while others did useful community work