Germany - Berlin - GDR-era Secretariat ministery office

Secretariat offices for the staff to Erich Mielke, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy. During Hitler's Third Reich, the Gestapo had one agent for every 2,000 citizens whereas the Stasi had approximately an spy for every 6.5. Here at the Stasi HQ alone 15,000 were employed plus the many regional stations. German media called East Germany 'the most perfected surveillance state of all time' - administered from this complex of offices.

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Filename: berlin_stasi_museum14-07-04-2013.jpg
Image Size: 4194x2796 / 1.8MB; stasi headquarters hq building complex secret police communist socialist east DDR GDR eastern germany berlin offices administration admin ministry official interior office design architecture decor aesthetic style equipment phone telephone communications contact anonymous anon workplace furniture desk secretariat fixtures nowadays today now communism political heritage history past era bygone old former party times regime oppression rule tyranny totalitarianism europe german socialism typewriter ministerium mfs staatssicherheit büro & an a at of for with and in or switchboard
Contained in galleries: Berlin

Secretariat offices for the staff to Erich Mielke, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', conducting one of the world's most efficient spying operations against its political dissenters during its 40-year old socialist history. Between 1950 and 1989, the Stasi employed a total of 274,000 people in an effort to root out the class enemy. During Hitler's Third Reich, the Gestapo had one agent for every 2,000 citizens whereas the Stasi had approximately an spy for every 6.5. Here at the Stasi HQ alone 15,000 were employed plus the many regional stations. German media called East Germany 'the most perfected surveillance state of all time' - administered from this complex of offices.