Ministry for State Security

Ministry for State Security
Ministerium für Staatssicherheit
Formation	8 February 1950
Dissolved	13 January 1990
Template:Longitem	91,105

The Ministry for State Security (MfS), also known as the Stasi, was the security service of the German Democratic Republic. It had more members than the regular police in the GDR but a lower budget than the West German secret police.^:98–99

Membership

In 1987, the MfS had a total of 91,105 members, including 11,000 national guard troops of the Wachregiment, almost 10,000 migration officers,^:99 and 1,418 domestic undercover agents (many of whom observed tourists and foreign diplomats). 2,232 Stasi members held full-time government offices, and 1,380 full-time agents monitored religious, cultural, and political activities.

530 agents worked on opening mail. They were only able to intercept 1% of the 30 million packages sent to the GDR every year. 430 agents bugged telephones or rooms, and many of them spied on foreigners.

Informants

About 600,000 people (4% of the population) knowingly gave information to the MfS. Only 174,000 were officially listed as informants.

Arrests

The MfS usually tried to persuade people not to commit crimes instead of allowing them to do so and then arresting them.^:100 However, it did arrest about 2,500 people every year.

Of the arrests made by the MfS between 1985 and 1988, 50% were for trying to illegally emigrate to the west, 20% were for threatening government employees, 20% were for working for West German organizations, 5% were for treason (spying, sabotage, etc.), and only about 0.1% were for insulting the state or its leaders.^:109–10