Mielke's Men and Women

Although the Ministry for State Security (MfS) has been in the public eye as a central instrument of power in the GDR since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, very little is still known today about the full-time employees of this secret service. As the shield and sword of the party, the 78,000 professional soldiers and officers in the MfS district offices, regional administrations, and the Berlin headquarters formed the backbone of the SED regime. How did ordinary people come to join this apparatus, work there long-term, integrate into its structures, and thereby stabilize it? What were their motivations and values? What was their daily life like in the service of state security? What happened to them after the dissolution of the MfS and the collapse of the GDR? How do they themselves assess their MfS past?.