The Ministry for State Security founded

On 8 February 1950 a law in the GDR establishes the Ministry for State Security (MfS) – better known by the contraction „Stasi“. Its primary assignments consists of „creating the conditions and taking measures for assuring the security of the state, consolidating the power of the state and upholding public order“. All areas of espionage, counter-espionage and control of its own population becomes the responsibility of the MfS, which quickly develops into a surveillance and repression apparatus feared at home and abroad. The Stasi devotes particular attention to controlling border traffic and hindering „flight from the republic“.

© Christ Gigantic authority with more than 3000 rooms: the Stasi headquarters in Normannenstraße, East-Berlin

The ministry enjoys far-reaching powers, including executive authority, in its choice of methods and even resorts to abduction and murder. Since the MfS has to answer only to the leadership of the SED, it is characterized figuratively as the „shield and sword of the Party“. Wilhelm Zaisser is appointed first Minister for State Security, and Erich Mielke becomes his assistant. In 1990, the GDR’s final year, the Stasi will employ 91,000 permanent employees as well as 180,000 informers, so-called IMs (unofficial associates).