32. Total Surveillance
Trained by the Soviets, East Germany’s Stasi soon exceeded their KGB patrons in their diligence to root out subversives who posed a threat to the state’s “socialist dream”. With over a quarter million formal and informal employees, plus another half million informants – in a population of about 17 million – the Stasi achieved what might have been the highest ratio of secret-police-to-citizen ratio in history.
The goal was total surveillance, and the Stasi got closer to it than anybody else. Its army of officials, analysts, and technical specialists was deployed across East Germany, to plant and monitor hidden microphones and cameras. As a result, there was hardly a workplace, educational institute, or public space, that was free of eavesdropping ears and prying eyes. It was creepy, but creepier yet was the practice of Zersetzung, or “decomposition” – a type of psychological warfare to isolate, then demoralize, perceived troublemakers.