The Stasi in the History of the Cold War
This paper explains the role played by the German Democratic Republic (GDR)’s Ministry for State Security in the history of the Cold War. It first explains how the Stasi maintained the Socialist Unity Party regime in power over a period of forty years. It shows how the Stasi over time developed features which made it different from the other security services of the Soviet Bloc. These features reflected the particular character of the GDR as part of a divided country and the personalities of the GDR’s leading security policy-makers. The paper examines the Stasi’s successes and failures as a state security ministry and demonstrates how they affected the course of the Cold War. The paper also assesses the Stasi’s foreign intelligence and external influence operations, which were carried out by its foreign intelligence department, the Main Reconnaissance Directorate, led by the celebrated spymaster Markus Wolf. It explores what effect, if any, these operations had on the course of the Cold War. The paper concludes by explaining how, overall, the Stasi affected the development of the Cold War and what lessons can be drawn from its history about the utility of security services in maintaining authoritarian regimes in power.
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This page was last updated on 14 March 2025
