Mass surveillance in East Germany

East Germany, known formally as the "German Democratic Republic" or the "Deutsche Demokratische Republik", was an Eastern Bloc state from 1949 to 1990.

[2] Also, people were interned as "spies" for suspected opposition to the authoritarian regime, e.g. for contacts to organizations based in the Western occupation zones, on the basis of Article 58 of the Soviet penal code dealing with "anti-Soviet activities".

[5] While nominally controlled by the young East German government, in practice, K-5 operated as a sub-unit of the Soviet KGB.

[6] On 8 February 1950, East Germany saw the establishment of the Ministry for State Security (Ministerium für Staatssicherheit), commonly known as the Stasi.

[10][11][12][13][14][15] People in East Germany were subjected to a variety of techniques, including audio and video surveillance of their homes, reading mail, extortion, and bribery.

[17] The US National Security Agency (NSA) built one of its largest listening stations on top of Teufelsberg hill in the British sector of West Berlin, allegedly part of the global surveillance network ECHELON.

The NKVD special camps in Germany 1945–50 included the former Buchenwald (1983 photo)
Map showing the division of East and West Germany until 1990, with West Berlin in yellow.
Some of the radomes of the former NSA listening station on top of the Teufelsberg
In January 1990, demonstrators broke into the Stasi headquarters.