Firm - The Inside Story of the Stasi

Zusatztext Bruce's empirical findings are extremely interesting. Informationen zum Autor Gary Bruce is Associate Professor of History at the University of Waterloo and author of Resistance with the People: Repression and Resistance in Eastern Germany, 1945-1955. Klappentext Based on previously classified documents and on interviews with former secret police officers and ordinary citizens, The Firm is the first comprehensive history of East Germany's secret police, the Stasi, at the grassroots level. Focusing on Gransee and Perleberg, two East German districts located north of Berlin, Gary Bruce reveals how the Stasi monitored small-town East Germany. He paints an eminently human portrait of those involved with this repressive arm of the government, featuring interviews with former officers that uncover a wide array of personalities, from devoted ideologues to reluctant opportunists, most of whom talked frankly about East Germany's obsession with surveillance. Their paths after the collapse of Communism are gripping stories of resurrection and despair, of renewal and demise, of remorse and continued adherence to the movement. The book also sheds much light on the role of the informant, the Stasi's most important tool in these out-of-the-way areas. Providing on-the-ground empirical evidence of how the Stasi operated on a day-to-day basis with ordinary people, this remarkable volume offers an unparalleled picture of life in a totalitarian state. Zusammenfassung The Firm is the first book to trace the history of the Stasi at a district level, the level closest to the population. Based on previously inaccessible secret police files and interviews with former members of the East German security apparatus, it provides an unparalleled picture of life in a totalitarian state. Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction 1: In the Service of the Firm: Full-Time Stasi Employees 2: The Candidate: Stasi Informants 3: In the Line of Sight: Stasi Operations Against Residents of Districts Gransee and Perleberg 4: The Stasi in Everyday Life 5: The Downfall Conclusion ...

Product details

• Authors: BRUCE, Gary Bruce, Gary (Associate Professor Bruce, Bruce Gary
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 26.08.2010
• EAN: 9780195392050
• ISBN: 978-0-19-539205-0
• No. of pages: 264
• Series: Oxford Oral History Series; Oxford Oral History Series; Oxford Oral History
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Non-fiction book > History; HISTORY / Europe / Germany, Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000, European History, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Intelligence & Espionage, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Geopolitics, Later 20th century c 1950 to c 1999, Espionage & secret services, Espionage and secret services, The Cold War, c 1945 to c 2000 (Post-war period), East Germany, Ddr, Cold wars and proxy conflicts, HISTORY / Wars & Conflicts / General