199. In the GDR, the abbreviation “Stasi” referred to …

Answer options

1. the parliament.
2. the Ministry for State Security.
3. a ruling party.
4. the Ministry of People’s Education.

Explanation

“Stasi” referred to the Ministry for State Security (MfS), the secret-police backbone of the SED dictatorship from 1950 onward. It conducted pervasive surveillance via a vast network of unofficial collaborators, pursued political persecution and “Zersetzung,” and penetrated key sectors of the security apparatus. In the Basic Law’s liberal constitutional order, such practices violate human dignity (Art. 1 GG), privacy and inviolability rights (e.g., Arts. 10, 13 GG), and the principle of proportionality; intelligence services are subject to parliamentary and judicial oversight (G10 Act, Parliamentary Control Panel, Federal Constitutional Court). After 1990, the Stasi Records Act and rehabilitation laws enabled reckoning, access to files, and limited criminal accountability (including the border-guards trials).