The History of the Stasi ─ East Germany's Secret Police, 1945-1990

Building upon the earlier archival work of historians, political scientists, and other researchers, the author presents a thematic history of communist East Germany's Ministry of State Security (the Stasi). Advancing the central argument that the Stasi was of great importance as a social, political, and economic agent in the lives of the people of the German Democratic Republic, chapters address: the origins and influences of the institution, the driving forces of its growth, the role of the unofficial collaborator in its work and in society, the extent and purposes of Stasi surveillance, the dynamics of resistance and repression, Stasi operations abroad, the final collapse of the Stasi in 1989-90, and the legacy of the Stasi in the culture of memory. Annotation c2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Jens Gieseke is head of the “Communism and Society” research department at the Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam, Germany. He previously worked for fifteen years in the research division of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records in Berlin. He co-edited Staatssicherheit und Gesellschaft (Gottingen, 2007); Handbuch der kommunistischen Geheimdienste in Osteuropa (Gottingen, 2008); and Die Geschichte der SED (Berlin, 2011).