Surveillance and Suppression - the History of the GDR State Security. The Ministry for State Security of the GDR was not only a feared secret police and an effective intelligence service, but over forty-five years it evolved into a vast conglomerate in matters of security, surveillance, and suppression. Jens Gieseke traces the arc from high Stalinism in the late 1940s to the remnants of the Stasi in reunified Germany. He examines the driving forces behind the expansion and the repercussions of this army operating behind the scenes on everyday life and state affairs.