This was accomplished primarily through the use of a network of civilian informants who contributed to the arrest of approximately , people in East Germany. Known as "the shield and the sword of the party", the Stasi locked up opponents of the regime. Officers tortured prisoners by isolating them, depriving them of sleep and using psychological tricks such as threatening to arrest relatives.
Its operatives also maintained contacts in West Germany and throughout the western world ; and are alleged to have occasionally cooperated with West German far-right terrorist groups, such as the Hepp-Kexel-Group. The Stasi had its headquarters in East Berlin , with an extensive complex in Berlin-Lichtenberg and several smaller facilities throughout the city. Erich Mielke , the Stasi's longest-serving chief, controlled the organisation from to β 32 of the 40 years of the GDR's existence.
The HVA, under the leadership of Markus Wolf from to , gained a reputation as one of the most effective intelligence agencies of the Cold War. After the German reunification of β, some former Stasi officials were prosecuted for their crimes, [ 8 ] and the surveillance files that the Stasi had maintained on millions of East Germans were declassified so that all citizens could inspect their personal files on request. The Stasi was founded on 8 February The Stasi held this status until November , when it was restored to a ministry.
As intelligence chief, Wolf achieved great success in penetrating the government, political and business circles of West Germany with spies. In , Wolf retired and was succeeded by Werner Grossmann.
Although Mielke's Stasi was superficially granted independence in , the KGB continued to maintain liaison officers in all eight main Stasi directorates at the Stasi headquarters and in each of the fifteen district headquarters around the GDR. Due to their close ties with Soviet intelligence services, Mielke referred to the Stasi officers as " Chekists ". The KGB used 'low-visibility harassment' [ 14 ] in order to control the population, and repress politically incorrect people and dissidents.
