The Stasi Headquarters
The Ministerium für staatssicherheit, or Stasi for short, was the GDR Ministry of State Security. It operated from 1950 until 1989 with the headquarters located in the Lichtenberg district of Berlin. Its main purpose was to ensure that the population adhered to the strict Marxist-Leninist ideology of the GDR, and in most cases, they conformed – outwardly at least. For those who didn’t there were various methods of making sure that they did.
The blocks of offices connected to the Stasi in Lichtenberg employed around 7,000 people, and the man at the helm for much of this time was Erich Mielke who presided over the organisation from 1957 to 1987.
His headquarters at Ruschestrasse 103 was built in 1960, and if you’re as inquisitive as me, then you might want to come and take a look at where the East German equivalent of the Russian KGB operated from.
This building, known as House 1, was where decisions were made to implement the wishes of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the only political party in a one-party state.
The crude and heavy-handed tactics that were initially used to keep the East German people in line, such as arrest and torture, gave way in the 1970s to psychological harassment, which as the phrase suggests, was a more subtle way of persuading people to do as they were told. The purpose of this post though is not to highlight the activities of the Stasi, but to show you what the headquarters were like where they carried out their business.
House 1 opened to the general public on 7th November 1990. It’s now called the Stasi Museum, but I wouldn’t call it a museum as such because it’s more about the rooms where the Stasi operated from than anything else, and fortunately they have been left just as they were found.
The rooms are certainly not opulent, and even Mielke’s Suite was quite frugal, so at least the people who operated out of here lived in accordance with their beliefs – or they did while they were at work.
Although I said I didn’t regard it as a museum, there is one room that displays some gadgets and gizmos that were used by the Stasi in their clandestine espionage affairs. These exhibits may have been used for sinister purposes, but some of them were quite laughable too.
The complex is huge, but the museum isn’t, and it didn’t take long to see what there was to see. I finished up by taking a break in the café which still seemed stuck in the 1960s. Whether it was intentional or not I don’t know, but it had a cold war feel to it with unsophisticated home-made cakes and old- fashioned prices to match.
Now that I’ve seen where this feared organisation operated from, I wondered what it must have been like for members of the Anti-Stalinist Action Group (ASTAK) who barged their way in here on January 15th 1990, just a couple of months after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and took over the Stasi offices before all the incriminating evidence was destroyed. They ransacked the cupboards and filing cabinets from which they were able to retrieve around 111km of paper files, 1.7 million photos and 28,000 recordings.
Some of these items were on display at the Stasi Exhibition in Zimmerstrasse before it was closed down in 2014. Since my visit to both the exhibition and museum in 2013 the Stasi Records Office took control of the archives from ASTAK and moved into House 7.
It’s also been reported that the Stasi Records Office will soon be integrated into the Federal Archives, and I’ve no doubt that the dilapidated buildings that once housed the army of state spies will be ripe for redevelopment. I just hope they keep House 1 and Mielke’s headquarters exactly how it was left – so that people who think that Marxist-Leninist ideology was a great idea might just want to think again.
Originally posted 2021-05-20 14:46:58.
The idea of it being lewft as it was found it actually quietly brill…. whether that wa smean ot not.
It probably was deliberate and I was also glad that it was left that way.
Well I don’t think glass cases and exhibits etc would be right here at all.
No, but funnily enough there was a glass case with exhibts that included Stasi undercover aids for surveillance.
Heavens maybe they were active……….
LOL I did manage to escape though Shey.
You have no idea how glad I am re that. LOl
Ha Ha! and me.
I still haven’t been to this place. Thanks for the reminder.
(After German reunification, a colleague of mine in Frankfurt was outed as a Stasi spy. So conceivably they might have a dossier on me somewhere.)
It’s probably just as well that you didn’t know about his clandestine hobbies at the time then Don.
Great write up and photos, Malcolm! This is just the type of museum I’d love to visit. I also hope they preserve such buildings which incorporate the Stasi Museum — the lessons learned from this period in history are too important to be forgotten. I think I may have mentioned to you in another comment something about the movie, “The Lives of Others.” The movie is excellent and portrays the ways in which lives and emotions were destroyed under the ever watchful eye of the East German Stasi.
I’d be in there with you finding that place fascinating, Malc. Lovely write-up and photos. It seems to me that human nature means that extremes in politics, left and right, pretty much end up being the same thing.
You’re absolutely right of course Mike. If only the rest of the world would listen.
This is another one of your very interesting and informative posts, and of course, with great photographs. Communism is (because it still exists even in our government now, lamentably) the worst thing that could happen to a country. No communist country has ever been successful. Their citizens just want to flee at all costs and the state wants to enslave them for cheap labour at all costs as well. It does not work and it only looks agreeable when seen through a blog post on history. Hopefully we can all soon relegate all communism to history. Take good care Malc and enjoy the weekend, it is wine time in Spain (1900 hours), so
Cheers!
FBC.
Thank you for your input Francesc. You know I always value your point of view. You also know that I try to be fair-minded in my posts, but that doesn’t mean to say that I don’t have an opinion. As far as communism is concerned I think the system is flawed by believing that all people are equal but as we know some people are more equal than others. Those who were in charge of the system in the Eastern bloc still lived better than the proletariat, so that’s an example to me of how the system is flawed.
There’s always going to be corruption, for sure my friend, especially in a dictatorship. Have a good night Malc and enjoy a lovely weekend,
All the best,
FBC.
Thanks F. You too.
You’re welcome Malc.
Another interesting post with great pictures. I’ve never visited this building
Thank you for letting me pay a visit to that place with you
Thanks for joining me in the Stasi Headquarters Luisa. Not everybody would want to, but I’m glad you did 🙂
As I told you, I’ve never been there and every new discovery is a piece of knowledge that enriches me
That’s exactly how I feel too 🙂
🙏💜🙏
Another fascinating post. There is something perversely attractive about the utilitarian furniture and decor.
It’s certainly not ostentatious, but I agree that there’s an understated quality about the wooden furniture. Thanks for your continued support Stephen.
👍
I found it kinda fascinating myself. It was interesting to read how it was “stormed” by the protestors as the wall was going down and the recovery attempts at putting the shredded files back together. Well worth the visit – I think it was a freebie?
I think I paid a small entrance fee, but able to wander around at will. I think you now have to go on a guided tour, but I can’t be sure about that. Hopefully, we’ll be able to meet up for a beer soon, but at the moment I’m an invalid.
I liked the write-up and pictures. I hadn’t realized you also did posts beyond the UK. My husband tells me that older Americans want a fascist type leader (not sure I agree with him but Trump supporters do make me wonder) and the younger Americans want socialism.–I’m guess once they realize that someone (likely them) will have to help pay for it, that may change as they begin to earn more wages and own more property.
Thank you so much for taking a look at another of my posts. I think this one is my 28th on Berlin.
As for the politics, I think as people get older they see things differently than when they were young because they’ve experienced more of life, and also the world is constantly changing of course. It’s a subject I could talk about for hours – and have done 🙂