University of New Orleans ScholarWorks@UNO University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations Dissertations and Theses Fall 12-20-2017 Stasi Brainwashing in the GDR 1957 - 1990 Jacob H. Solbrig Jacob H. Solbrig, [email protected] Jacob Hagen Solbrig Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td University of New Orleans, New Orleans, [email protected] Part of the Applied Ethics Commons, Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Commons, Bioethics and Medical Ethics Commons, Continental Philosophy Commons, Cultural History Commons, Eastern European Studies Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, European History Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, Experimental Analysis of Behavior Commons, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine Commons, Intellectual History Commons, Modern Literature Commons, Multicultural Psychology Commons, Oral History Commons, Other German Language and Literature Commons, Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons, Other Political Science Commons, Philosophy of Mind Commons, Political History Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Psychiatry Commons, Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy Commons, Psychological Phenomena and Processes Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Social History Commons, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies Commons, Theory and Criticism Commons, and the Theory and Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Solbrig, Jacob H. and Solbrig, Jacob Hagen, "Stasi Brainwashing in the GDR 1957 - 1990" (2017). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 2431. https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2431 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by ScholarWorks@UNO with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights- holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UNO. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Stasi Brainwashing in the GDR 1957 - 1990 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of New Orleans in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History by Jacob H. Solbrig B.A. Louisiana State University, 2007 December 2017 Acknowledgements The author acknowledges the contributions of former East Germans and their valuable experiences without which this research could not have been possible. He thanks Dr. Siegmar Faust and Dr.Frank Eigenfeld for their vital contributions to the work. He is grateful to the graduate committee: Dr. Gunter Bischof, Dr. Robert Dupont, and Dr. Marc Landry for their advice and mentorship. He wishes to acknowledge also the editing aid of his mother, Dr. Wendy J. Hajjar, and partner in life Rachel Calix RN. ii Table of Contents Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv Introduction ......................................................................................................................................1 Stasi Brainwashing in the GDR 1957 - 1990 ...................................................................................5 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................37 Appendix I .....................................................................................................................................40 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................................41 Vita .................................................................................................................................................45 iii Abstract This thesis examines the methods used by the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), more commonly known as the Stasi, or East German secret police, for extraction of information from citizens of the German Democratic Republic for the purpose of espionage and covert operations inside East Germany, as it pertains to the deliberate brainwashing of East German citizens. As one of the most efficient intelligence agencies to ever exist, the Stasi’s main purpose was to monitor the population, gather intelligence, and collect or turn informants. The scope and breadth of the techniques and data compiled for use by the Stasi were exhaustive, and the repercussions of their use are still being felt and discovered twenty-five years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. This study aims to show the lasting effects brainwashing had on former informants and the Stasi’s victims. Keywords: cold war, European history iv Introduction The Staatssicherheit, or Stasi, were the state security police force for East Germany. Described as the most effective and oppressive intelligence agency that has ever existed, its motto was “the Shield and Sword of the Party” referring to the communist Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, (SED). It lasted from February, 1950 to January, 1990 and employed over 274,000 people, lasting for 40 years. The Stasi brainwashed citizens of the German Democratic Republic to collect incriminating information and to act as spies for the SED. Ultimately the Stasi packaged these deeds to the public as a patriotic duty for the greater good—but it was anything but patriotic. In many cases the relationships between Stasi agents and their informers blurred the line, with agents posing as friends and colleagues and even lovers.1 The Stasi carried out Government Sanctioned observation on the people of the GDR for over 30 years with the intention of discouraging dissent amongst the population, manipulating, and ultimately controlling the minds of its citizens. In an elaborate scheme of information collection and archiving, Stasi officials fed fragments of data back to the State Security Ministry. Using the most contemporary evidence available in English, the data reported here points to the fact that brainwashing had lasting effects still felt by Germans today. Tensions ran high between the East and the West early in the 20th century, dating back to the period after World War I when major world powers began to redraw sovereign borders. The Berlin Wall became the Cold War line dividing Germany physically and ideologically, and spies increasingly played an important role for the East German government. Stasi members were instructed to use coercion methods learned from their Russian counterparts; since the 1950s they 1 Barbra Miller, Narratives of Guilt and Compliance in Unified Germany: Stasi Informers and their Impact on Society (New York: Routledge, 2002), 60-62. 1 had been adapting many of their strategies.2 Fearing the outbreak of another war, hard liners pushed to keep operations in East Germany as covert as possible, retreating into a Cold War stance favored by the Kremlin, which had long sanctioned covert operations when dealing with the West.3 During the Korean War (1950-1953) American soldiers were captured by the Chinese and subjected to various methods of coercive indoctrination which helped to explain why they defected from the United States. After being interviewed upon their return to the United States, it was discovered that they had been victims of experimental psychological techniques. They had been brainwashed. John Frankenheimer’s (1962) film The Manchurian Candidate, and Arthur Koestler’s Darkness at Noon (1940), depict such brainwashing techniques.4 The portrayal of Rubashov’s recollections during Stalin’s purges indicates the extent to which he was steeped in Communist indoctrination. This illustrates that the Soviets were experimenting with such techniques before World War II to try to control the words and ideas of their captives as well. This is the first time that the expression used to describe the concept of thought reform we have come to know as “brainwashing” in the West.5 The term brainwashing has many permutations. Among them are “coercive indoctrination,” “thought reform,” “menticide,” “psychological warfare,” or “brain warfare,” and “programming,” to name just a few. Scholars use them interchangeably to describe the same phenomena of techniques developed to control a victim’s actions or reactions.6 For the purposes 2 Oleg Kalugin, Spymaster: My 32 Years in Intelligence and Espionage Against the West (New York: St. Martin Press, 1994), 10. 3 Ibid. 4 The Manchurian Candidate, Directed by: John Frankenheimer. New York: MGM, 1962, VOD. 5 Susan Carruthers, Cold War Captives: Imprisonment, Escape, and Brainwashing (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009), 174-175. 6 Robert Lifton, Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of 'Brainwashing' in China (Chapel Hill: UNC Press Books, 1989), 4-6. 2 of this paper the author uses the term Brainwashing to describe all tactics used by the Stasi for mass manipulation. By controlling the information they were given, East German people were subject to the will of their Stasi oppressors. Consequently, life in East Germany became like living in an elaborate correctional facility. It was no secret that the Kremlin wanted to remake East Germany as the model of a socialist utopia. When