来自维基百科，自由的百科全书 易翀 译
原文地址：https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zersetzung
Zersetzung （德语，不同的翻译有：分解，腐蚀，暗中破坏，生物降解或溶解）是一种东德秘密警察斯塔西的心理技巧，用来压制政治对手。这种“Zersetzung措施”在一本1976年的关于警察程序的指令框架中有所定义，在所谓“作战程序”的背景中使用。它们取代了乌布利希时代（Walter Ulbricht）的全面恐怖。Zersetzung压迫的实际操作由大量控制和心理操纵的秘密方法构成，操作对象包括目标的个人关系，为了实现这些操作，斯塔西依赖于它的非正式合作者网络（线人网络）、凌驾于各机构之上的国家权力以及作战心理学。斯塔西利用定向的心理攻击设法剥夺持异议者任何“敌对行动”的机会。
由于东德转变之后众多斯塔西文件的出版，Zersetzung的使用得到充分证实。大约数千或者10,000人是Zersetzung的受害者，其中5,000人遭受了不可逆性损伤。德国为这些受害者设立了补偿性养老金。
定义
斯塔西，或者全称国家安全部（德语：Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, MfS）在它1985年的政治特工词典中是这样定义Zersetzung的:
“... 为了有效地与颠覆活动作斗争，国家安全部所采用的一种操作方法，尤其是用于操作治疗。利用Zersetzung可以影响经营不同政治活动的消极敌对的个人，特别是他们倾向和信仰的消极敌对的方面，因此这些人被抛弃并且一点一点改变，同时，如果适用的话，敌对消极势力之间的矛盾和差异将会被会打开、利用和加强。
Zersetzung的目的是分裂、瘫痪、瓦解和孤立敌对消极势力，是为了预防性地阻碍敌对消极活动，为了极大限制或者完全制止他们，并且如果适用的话，为一次政治和意识形态的重建准备场地。
Zersetzung相当于“作战程序”和其它阻碍敌对集会的预防活动的一个直接构成元素。执行Zersetzung的主力军是非官方合作者（线人）。实施Zersetzung的前提是计划、准备、完成敌对活动的信息和重要证据，也包括Zersetzung的切入点。
Zersetzung必须是建立在事实的根源分析和具体目标的精确定义的基础上的。Zersetzung必须以一种统一的受监督的方式执行，它的结果必须记录下来。
Zersetzung的政治爆炸力提高了保密工作的要求。”
政治背景
德意志民主共和国（GDR 民主德国）在它存在的第一个10年里主要通过刑法压制政治反对派，指控他们煽动战争或者号召抵制。为了抵消1963年修建柏林墙导致的国际孤立，民主德国终止了司法恐怖。特别是从1971年埃里希·昂纳克时代（Erich Honecker）开始，斯塔西加紧了它抛开刑法惩罚异议分子行为的努力。关键动机是民主德国渴望国际认可，并且在1960年代末它渴望同西德改善关系。实际上民主德国致力于遵守联合国宪章和赫尔辛基协议，也包括1972年同联邦德国签订的基本条约，为了尊重人权，或者至少是表达这样的意图。德国统一社会党政权（东德政权）因此决定减少政治犯数量，实行不需要监禁或法庭判决的镇压作为补偿。
实际操作
斯塔西本质上把Zersetzung作为一种心理压迫和迫害的手段。它把作战心理学的研究成果配置进斯塔西法学院的方法中，并应用到政治对手身上，意图暗中削弱他们的自信和自尊。它设计Zersetzung行动，使目标遭遇反复失望来恐吓和动摇他们，通过干涉和破坏他们同他人的关系来使他们在社会上受到孤立，就如同是社会阻抑（social undermining）。斯塔西实施Zersetzung的目的是为了引发受害者的个人危机，使他们过于灰心丧气和心理苦恼以至于没有时间和精力来进行反政府活动。斯塔西故意隐藏他们作为行动策划者的角色。作家Jürgen Fuchs是Zersetzung的受害者，他写了自己的经历，其中他用“心理犯罪”和“一种针对人类灵魂的攻击”来形容斯塔西的所作所为。
尽管Zersetzung技巧在1950年代末已在事实上确立，但直到1970年代中期才以科学方法的形式定义下来，而且只有到1970年代和1980年代那时才开始系统地实施。很难确定有多少人被盯上，因为资料已经过相当大程度的、刻意的编辑掩盖；然而，众所周知的是，Zersetzung的手段在一定范围内变化，有很多不同部门实施它们。总的来说，存在这样一个比例，即每个被盯上的团体有4名或5名授权的Zersetzung操作员，每个被盯上的人有3名操作员。一些资料表明Zersetzung的“长期受害者”大约有5,000人。在斯塔西研究法学的学院里，发表的以Zersetzung为主题的论文数量是两位数。它也有一本50页的Zersetzung综合教学手册，其中包含众多斯塔西的实践案例。
实施机构
几乎所有斯塔西部门都参与了Zersetzung 行动，尽管斯塔西的柏林XX指挥部和地区及市政府分部办事处的领导是首要的。斯塔西首脑和XX营的职能是保持对宗教社团、文化与媒体机构、其它政党、民主德国很多隶属于执政党的大规模社会组织、体育、教育和卫生机构的监视 – 有效覆盖公民生活的所有方面。斯塔西利用了东德封闭的社会系统内部可供他们使用的手段，并把它的行为作为东德封闭社会系统环境的一部分。一个已建立的、有政治目的的合作网络为斯塔西提供了大量机会介入诸如制裁专业人士和学生这样的事情：把他们从协会和运动俱乐部中开除，偶尔让人民警察（Volkspolizei民主德国的准军事国家警察）拘捕他们，也安排拒绝发放他们去社会主义国家的旅行许可，或者安排在不需要签证的捷克斯洛伐克和波兰边境入境处拒绝给他们放行。各种各样的合作者包括地方政府分支机构、大学、职业管理机构、住房管理机构、公共储蓄银行以及在一些案例中的主管医师。斯塔西的三线（观察）、26营（电话和房屋监视）和M（邮政通信）部门为Zersetzung 手法设计提供了必要的背景信息，而32营则设法获取所需要的技术。
斯塔西与其它东方阵营国家的特务机关合作实施Zersetzung。举个例子，斯塔西在1960年代早期与波兰特务机关合作对付耶和华见证会（Jehovah's Witnesses）组织的分会，这在后来被称为“内部Zersetzung”（内部颠覆）。
对付个人
斯塔西在（持异议者的）活动前、活动中、活动后都会应用Zersetzung，或者以此替代监禁来惩罚被盯上的人。一般而言，“作战程序”的目的不是为了收集证据控告目标，也不是为了能够开启刑事诉讼程序。斯塔西更喜欢把“Zersetzung措施”在某种程度上视作一种不方便利用司法程序时所使用的手段，或者为了诸如民主德国国际形象这样的政治理由。在某些情况下，斯塔西试图故意引诱某个个体犯罪，例如Wolf Biermann（前东德诗人、创作型歌手）的情况：斯塔西用未成年人陷害他，希望他经不起诱惑，这样的话他们就能对他提起刑事指控。他们研究的用于这种指控的罪行是非政治的，例如持有毒品，毒品走私或者贩卖，盗窃，金融诈骗，以及强奸。
经证实的Zersetzung形式在1/76号指令中有所描述：
有系统地贬低目标的名声、形象和声誉，所用的信息资料一部分是真实的、可验证的和丢人的，而另一部分是假的、貌似可信的、难以反驳的以及同样丢人的；有系统地安排目标在社会和职业上的失败，目的是摧毁个人自信；[...]
激发对未来看法的怀疑；激发团体内的不信任和相互怀疑[...]；设置空间和临时障碍使得团体成员不能或者至少很难相互联系[...]，比如[...]指派遥远的工作地。
—1976年1月“作战程序”发展 第1/76号指令
以间谍活动收集的情报为基础，斯塔西建立了“社会关系图”和“心理特征图”，并将其应用于Zersetzung的心理形式。他们利用个人特点，例如同性恋，也包括被盯人所应有的性格弱点
— 比如职业失败，父母失职，色情兴趣，离婚，酗酒，依赖药物，犯罪倾向，对某种收集或游戏的热情，或者与极右圈子有联系 — 或者甚至是对倾倒在熟人圈里的谣言感觉羞耻的掩饰。在斯塔西看来，Zersetzung措施和个性相结合是最有效果的；必须避免全部“照搬照抄”。
此外，Zersetzung方法包括公开的、隐藏的和伪装的间谍活动；拆信和窃听电话；侵犯私人财产；操纵车辆；以及甚至给食物下毒和使用假药。某些斯塔西的合作者（线人）默认了Zersetzung受害者的自杀。
还不能完全确定斯塔西利用X射线引起它对手的长期健康问题。即便如此，Rudolf
Bahro、Gerulf
Pannach和Jürgen
Fuchs三个重要的异议人士同时受到监禁，在两年的时间间隔内都死于癌症。与此同时，前民主德国斯塔西档案联邦委员会（BStU）的一项研究根据现存文件否认了像冒用X射线的这样的情况，并且只提到放射源孤立的无心的有害使用，例如为了标记文件。
斯塔西在目标毫不知情的情况下用目标的名义订购产品、拨打急救电话来恐吓他/她。为了威胁、恐吓目标或者使目标得精神病，斯塔西确保自己能进入目标的住宅，并且通过添加、去除和修改物品来留下它出现过的可见痕迹。
对付团体和社会关系
斯塔西通过匿名的信件、电报和电话来操纵友情、爱情、婚姻及家庭的关系，也包括用令人难堪的照片，方式方法经常改变。用这种方式，父母和子女通常会有条不紊地按步骤相互变成陌生人。为了挑拨冲突和婚外情，斯塔西会安排特工进行色诱。
对于团体Zersetzung，斯塔西利用非官方合作者（线人）渗透团体，有时候也会利用未成年人。反对派团体的工作受到永久反对提议的阻碍，而且当要做决定时，和非官方合作者这一方无法达成一致。为了在团体内部播下不信任的种子，斯塔西使人相信某些成员是非官方合作者；而且斯塔西还通过散布谣言和操纵照片伪造与‘非官方合作者’的不慎重举动，或者把目标团体的成员安置在行政职位使人相信这是非官方合作者活动的一种奖励。他们甚至通过赋予特权来唤起对某些成员的怀疑，例如住房或私家车。此外，只监禁某些团体成员也会产生怀疑。
措施的目标群体
斯塔西对个人和团体使用Zersetzung手段。民主德国的反对派有很多不同的来源，所以没有特别相同的目标团体。因此Zersetzung的策略计划会根据每个可知威胁的情况分别进行调整适应。不过斯塔西仍然定义了几个主要目标团体：
·
申请集体签证国外旅行的协会
·
批判政府的艺术家团体
·
宗教反对派团体
·
青年亚文化团体
·
支持以上团体的团体（人权与和平组织，那些辅助非法出境和叛逃活动的团体）
斯塔西也会偶尔利用Zersetzung对付那些被视为有害的非政治组织，例如望台协会（Watchtower Society）。
被Zersetzung行动盯上的名人包括Jürgen
Fuchs, Gerulf Pannach, Rudolf Bahro, Robert
Havemann, Rainer Eppelmann, Reiner Kunze, Gerd 和 Ulrike Poppe夫妇, 以及 Wolfgang
Templin。
民主德国反对者Wolfgang
Templin在意识到自己被盯上了之后，试图使西方记者注意到斯塔西Zersetzung活动的细节。1977年《明镜周刊》发表了分成5部分的一系列文章，“你会裂开！”，流亡人士Jürgen
Fuchs在文章中这样描述斯塔西的“作战心理学”。斯塔西试图抹黑Fuchs及相似文章的内容，轮番报道称Fuchs对其职能有一种妄想症的观点，意图使《明镜周刊》和其它媒体认为他正患有一种迫害情结。然而，斯塔西的辩解却被斯塔西自己的官方文档所驳斥，这些文档在东德巨变后接受了检查。
因为东德的一般人群和东德之外的人并不知道Zersetzung的本质和范围，所以那些受Zersetzung影响的人对斯塔西恶毒手段的揭露遭到一定程度的怀疑。很多人至今仍表示无法理解斯塔西的合作者怎么会参与如此不人道的行动。
由于“法无明文规定者不为罪”的原则，即使在1990年后，Zersetzung在整体上仍然没有被视为非法，法庭无法对参与计划和实施Zersetzung的行为采取行动。因为Zersetzung作为一种犯罪的具体法律定义不存在，只能报告一些这种手段的个人案例。即使是根据民主德国的法律，为了避免限制条款的情形，侵犯行为需要在其行使之后马上向民主德国当局报告。很多受害者经历了额外的困难，即斯塔西并没有被认定是个人伤害和不幸的始作俑者。记载Zersetzung方法的官方文档常常在法庭上无效，而且斯塔西销毁了很多详述Zersetzung实际执行的文件。
根据1990年康复法案中第17章a项的条款，Zersetzung操作的幸存者没有接受经济补偿的资格，除非他们曾被拘留过至少180天。可证实的因被斯塔西作为目标受到系统性影响而导致职业相关损失和/或健康损害的案例，可以通过一部涉及解决侵权的法律追究，和根据行政法提出职业康复或康复的诉求一样。这些法律规定推翻了民主德国政府机构的某些行政规章并且证明它们违反宪法。这符合1950年战争受害者救济法案中详细规定的社会平衡支付的条件。养老保险金和收入损失的平衡支付也适用于受持续迫害至少三年并且诉求者能够证明有必要的案例。
然而，以上例子中，无论是提供斯塔西侵蚀受害者健康、私人财产、教育和职业领域的证据，还是得到斯塔西应该对Zersetzung操作直接造成的个人损害（包括精神伤害）负责的官方承认，受害者已经历过的种种困难依然在阻碍着他们寻求正义。
技巧在现代的使用
俄罗斯秘密警察FSB（俄罗斯联邦安全局）据报道称使用聚众围攻（mobbing）的技巧对付外国外交官和记者。2015年6月，Glenn
Greenwald出版的NSA（美国国家安全局）文件披露英国情报机构GCHQ 的JTRIG 团体隐蔽地操纵网上社区。这与JTRIG 的目标一致：通过败坏他们名声来“破坏、否认、贬低和瓦解”敌人，植入虚假信息以及关闭他们的通讯交流。
See also 请参阅
拓展阅读
- Annie Ring.
After the Stasi: Collaboration and the Struggle for Sovereign
Subjectivity in the Writing of German Unification. 280 pages,
Bloomsbury Academic (October 22, 2015) ISBN
1472567609.
- Max
Hertzberg. Stealing the Future (The East Berlin Series)
(Book 1), 242 pages, Wolf Press (August 8, 2015), ISBN
0993324703.
- Josie
McLellan. Love in the Time of Communism: Intimacy and Sexuality in
the GDR. 250 pages, Cambridge
University Press (October 17, 2011), ISBN
0521727618
附原文：
Zersetzung
From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zersetzung
Zersetzung (German; variously translated
as decomposition, corrosion, undermining, biodegradation or dissolution)
was a psychological technique of the East
German secret police, the Stasi, and was used
to silence political opponents. The "measures of Zersetzung",
defined in the framework of a directive on police procedures in 1976,[1] were
used in the context of so-called "operational procedures" (in
German Operative Vorgänge or OV). They replaced
the overt terror of the Ulbricht era.
The practice of
repression in Zersetzung comprised extensive and secret
methods of control and psychological manipulation, including
personal relationships of the target, for which the Stasi relied on its network
of informal collaborators,[2] (in
German inoffizielle Mitarbeiter or IM), the
State's power over institutions, and on operational psychology. Using targeted
psychological attacks the Stasi tried to deprive a dissident of any chance of a
"hostile action".
The use of Zersetzung is
well documented due to numerous Stasi files published after East Germany's Wende.
Several thousands or up to 10,000 individuals are estimated to have become
victims[3]:217 5,000
of whom sustained irreversible damage.[4] Pensions
for restitution have been created for the victims.
Definition
The Stasi, or Ministry
for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, MfS) by its full
name, defined Zersetzung in its 1985 dictionary of political
operatives as
"...a method
of operation by the Ministry for State Security for an efficacious struggle
against subversive activities, particularly in the
treatment of operations. With Zersetzung one can influence
hostile and negative individuals across different operational political
activities, especially the hostile and negative aspects of their dispositions
and beliefs, so these are abandoned and changed little by little, and, if
applicable, the contradictions and differences between the hostile and negative
forces would be laid open, exploited, and reinforced.
The goal of Zersetzung is
the fragmentation, paralysis, disorganization, and isolation of the hostile and
negative forces, in order to preventatively impede the hostile and negative
activities, to largely restrict, or to totally avert them, and if applicable to
prepare the ground for a political and ideological reestablishment.
Zersetzung is equally an immediate constitutive
element of "operational procedures" and other preventive activities
to impede hostile gatherings. The principal forces to execute Zersetzung are
the inofficial collaborators. Zersetzung presupposes
information and significant proof of hostile activities planned, prepared, and
accomplished as well as anchor points corresponding to measures of Zersetzung.
Zersetzung must be produced on the basis of a
root cause analysis of the facts and the exact definition of a concrete
goal. Zersetzung must be executed in a uniform and supervised
manner; its results must be documented.
The political
explosive force of Zersetzung heightens demands regarding the
maintenance of secrecy."[5]
Political context
During its first
decade of existence the German Democratic Republic (GDR)
subdued political opposition primarily through the penal code,
by accusing them of incitement to war or of calls of boycott.[6] To
counteract the international isolation of the GDR due to the construction of
the Berlin
wall in 1963, judicial terror was abandoned.[7] Since
the debut of the Erich Honecker era in 1971 in particular, the Stasi intensified its efforts
to punish dissident behaviors without using the penal code.[8] Important
motives were the GDR's desire for international recognition and rapprochementwith
West Germany
at the end of the 1960s. In fact the GDR was committed to adhere to the U.N.
Charter[9] and
the Helsinki accords[10] as
well as theBasic Treaty, 1972 signed with the Federal
Republic of Germany,[11] to
respect human rights, or at least it announced its intention as such. The
regime of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany thus
decided to reduce the number of political prisoners, which was compensated for
by practicing repression without imprisonment or court judgements.[12][13]
In practice
The Stasi used Zersetzung essentially
as a means of psychological oppression and persecution.[14] Findings
of operational psychology,[15] were
formulated into method at the Stasi's College of Law (Juristische Hochschule
der Staatssicherheit, or JHS), and applied to political opponents in an effort to
undermine their self-confidence and self-esteem. Operations were designed to
intimidate and destabilise them by subjecting them to repeated disappointment,
and to socially alienate them by interfering with and disrupting their
relationships with others as in social undermining. The aim was to induce personal
crises in victims, leaving them too unnerved and psychologically
distressed to have the time and energy for anti-government activism.[16] The
Stasi intentionally concealed their role as mastermind of the operations.[17][18] Author Jürgen
Fuchs was a victim of Zersetzung and wrote about his
experience, describing the Stasi's actions as “psychosocial crime”,
and “an assault on the human soul”.[16]
Although its
techniques had been established effectively by the late 1950s, Zersetzung was
not defined in terms of a scientific method until the mid-1970s, and only then
began to be carried out in a systematic manner in the 1970s and 1980s.[19] It
is difficult to determine how many people were targeted, since the sources have
been deliberately and considerably redacted; it is known, however, that tactics
varied in scope, and that a number of different departments implemented them.
Overall there was a ratio of four or five authorised Zersetzung operators
for each targeted group, and three for each individual.[20] Some
sources indicate that around 5,000 people were “persistently victimised”
by Zersetzung.[4] At
the College of Legal Studies, the number of
dissertations submitted on the subject of Zersetzung was in
double figures.[21] It
also had a comprehensive 50-page Zersetzung teaching manual, which
included numerous examples of its practice.[22]
Implementing
institutions
Almost all Stasi departments
were involved in Zersetzung operations, although first and
foremost the lead of the Stasi's directorate XX (Hauptabteilung XX) in Berlin, and its
divisional offices in regional and municipal government. The function of the
head and Abteilung XXs was to maintain surveillance of religious communities; cultural and
media establishments; alternative political parties; the GDR's many
political establishment-affiliated mass social organisations; sport; and education and health services -
effectively covering all aspects of civic life.[23]The
Stasi made use of the means available to them within, and as a circumstance of,
the GDR's closed social system. An established, politically motivated
collaborative network (politisch-operatives Zusammenwirken, or POZW)
provided them with extensive opportunities for interference in such situations
as the sanctioning of professionals and students, expulsion from associations
and sports clubs, and occasional arrests by the Volkspolizei[17] (the
GDR's quasi-military national police). Refusal of permits
for travel to socialist states,
or denial of entry at Czechoslovakian
and Polish border crossings where no visa
requirement existed, were also arranged. The various collaborators (Partnern
des operativen Zusammenwirkens) included branches of regional government,
university and professional management, housing administrative bodies,
the Sparkassepublic savings bank, and in some cases head
physicians.[24] The
Stasi's Linie III (Observation), Abteilung 26
(Telephone and room surveillance) and M(Postal communications)
departments provided essential background information for the designing
of Zersetzung techniques, with Abteilung 32 procuring
the required technology.[25]
The Stasi
collaborated with the secret services of other Eastern Bloc countries to
implement Zersetzung. One such example was the Polish secret
services co-operating against branches of the Jehovah's Witnesses organisation in the
early 1960s, which would come to be known[26] as
"innere Zersetzung"[27] (internal
subversion).
Against
individuals
The Stasi applied Zersetzung before, during, after, or instead of
incarcerating the targeted individual. The "operational procedures"
did not have as an aim, in general, to gather evidence for charges against the
target, or to be able to begin criminal prosecutions. The Stasi considered the
"measures of Zersetzung"
rather in part as an instrument that was used when judiciary procedures were
not convenient, or for political reasons such as the international image of the
GDR.[28][29] In
certain cases, the Stasi attempted meanwhile to knowingly inculpate an
individual, as for example in the case of Wolf Biermann: The Stasi set him up with
minors, hoping that he would allow himself to be seduced, and that they could
then pursue criminal charges.[30] The
crimes that they researched for such accusations were non-political, as for
example drug possession, trafficking in customs or currencies, theft, financial
fraud, and rape.[31]
The proven forms of Zersetzung are
described in the directive 1/76:
a
systematic degradation of reputation, image, and prestige in a database on one
part true, verifiable and degrading, and on the other part false, plausible,
irrefutable, and always degrading; a systematic organization of social and
professional failures for demolishing the self-confidence of the individual;
[...] stimulation of doubts with respect to perspectives on the future;
stimulation of mistrust or mutual suspicion among groups [...]; putting in
place spatial and temporal obstacles rendering impossible or at least difficult
the reciprocal relations of a group [...], for example by [...] assigning
distant workplaces. —Directive No. 1/76 of January 1976 for the development of
"operational procedures".[33]
Beginning
with intelligence obtained by espionage, the Stasi established
"sociograms" and "psychograms" which it applied for the
psychological forms of Zersetzung. They exploited personal traits,
such as homosexuality, as well as supposed character weaknesses of the targeted
individual — for example a professional failure, negligence of parental duties,
pornographic interests, divorce, alcoholism, dependence on medications,
criminal tendencies, passion for a collection or a game, or contacts with
circles of the extreme right — or even the veil of shame from the rumors poured
out upon one's circle of acquaintances.[34][35] From
the point of view of the Stasi, the measures were the most fruitful when they
were applied in connection with a personality; all "schematism" had
to be avoided.[34]
Moreover,
methods of Zersetzung included espionage, overt, hidden, and
feigned; opening letters and listening to telephone calls; encroachments on
private property; manipulation of vehicles; and even poisoning food and using
false medications.[36] Certain
collaborators of the Stasi tacitly took into account the suicide of victims
of Zersetzung.[37]
It
has not been definitely established that the Stasi used x-rays to provoke
long-term health problems in its opponents.[38] That
said, Rudolf Bahro, Gerulf Pannach, and Jürgen Fuchs, three important
dissidents who had been imprisoned at the same time, died of cancer within an
interval of two years.[39] A
study by the Federal Commissioner for the Records of the State Security Service
of the former GDR (Bundesbeauftragte für die Unterlagen des
Staatssicherheitsdienstes der ehemaligen Deutschen Demokratischen Republik or BStU)
has meanwhile rejected on the basis of extant documents such as fraudulent use
of x-rays, and only mentions isolated and unintentional cases of the harmful
use of sources of radiation, for example to mark documents.[40]
In
the name of the target, the Stasi made little announcements, ordered products,
and made emergency calls, to terrorize him/her.[41][42] To
threaten or intimidate or cause psychoses the Stasi assured itself of access to
the target's living quarters and left visible traces of its presence, by
adding, removing, and modifying objects.[31]
Against
groups and social relations
The Stasi
manipulated relations of friendship, love, marriage, and family by anonymous
letters, telegrams and telephone calls as well as compromising photos, often
altered.[43] In
this manner, parents and children were supposed to systematically become
strangers to one another.[44] To
provoke conflicts and extramarital relations the Stasi put in place targeted
seductions by Romeo agents.[30]
For the Zersetzung of
groups, it infiltrated them with unofficial collaborators, sometimes minors.[45] The
work of opposition groups was hindered by permanent counter-propositions and
discord on the part of unofficial collaborators when making decisions.[46] To
sow mistrust within the group, the Stasi made believe that certain members were
unofficial collaborators; moreover by spreading rumors and manipulated photos,[47] the
Stasi feigned indiscretions with unofficial collaborators, or placed members of
targeted groups in administrative posts to make believe that this was a reward
for the activity of an unofficial collaborator.[30] They
even aroused suspicions regarding certain members of the group by assigning
privileges, such as housing or a personal car.[30] Moreover,
the imprisonment of only certain members of the group gave birth to suspicions.[46]
Target groups for measures
The Stasi used Zersetzung tactics on individuals and groups.
There was no particular homogeneous target group, as opposition in the GDR came
from a number of different sources. Tactical plans were thus separately adapted
to each perceived threat.[48] The
Stasi nevertheless defined several main target groups:[17]
·
associations of people making collective visa
applications for travel abroad
·
artists' groups critical of the government
·
religious opposition groups
·
youth subculture groups
·
groups supporting the above (human rights and
peace organisations, those assisting illegal departure from the GDR, and
expatriate and defector movements).
The Stasi also occasionally used Zersetzung on non-political organisations
regarded as undesirable, such as the Watchtower Society.[49]
Social and juridicial process
Once aware of his own status as a
target, GDR opponent Wolfgang Templin tried, with some success, to bring
details of the Stasi's Zersetzungactivities
to the attention of western journalists.[50] In
1977 Der Spiegel published a five-part article series,
“Du sollst zerbrechen!” ("You're going to crack!"), by the
exiled Jürgen Fuchs, in which he describes the Stasi's “operational
psychology”. The Stasi tried to discredit Fuchs
and the contents of similar articles, publishing in turn claims that he had a paranoid view
of its function,[51] and
intending that Der Spiegel and other media would assume he was
suffering from a persecution complex.[50][52] This,
however, was refuted by the official Stasi documents examined after Die Wende (the political power shift in the GDR
in 1989-90).
Because the scale and nature of Zersetzung were unknown both to the general
population of the GDR and to people abroad, revelations of the Stasi's
malicious tactics were met with some degree of disbelief by those affected.[53] Many
still nowadays express incomprehension at how the Stasi's collaborators could
have participated in such inhuman actions.[53]
Since Zersetzung as a whole, even after 1990, was not
deemed to be illegal because of the principle of nulla poena sine lege (no penalty without law), actions
against involvement in either its planning or implementation were not enforceable by the courts.[54] Because
this specific legal definition of Zersetzung as a crime didn't exist,[55] only
individual instances of its tactics could be reported. Acts which even
according to GDR law were offences (such as the violation of Briefgeheimnis,
the secrecy of correspondence) needed to have been reported to the GDR authorities
soon after having been committed in order not to be subject to a statute of
limitations clause.[56] Many
of the victims experienced the additional complication that the Stasi was not
identifiable as the originator in cases of personal injury and misadventure.
Official documents in whichZersetzung methods
were recorded often had no validity in court, and the Stasi had many files
detailing its actual implementation destroyed.[57]
Unless they had been detained for at
least 180 days, survivors of Zersetzung operations, in accordance with §17a of a 1990 rehabilitation act (theStrafrechtlichen
Rehabilitierungsgesetzes, or StrRehaG),
are not eligible for financial compensation. Cases of provable, systematically
effected targeting by the Stasi, and resulting in employment-related losses
and/or health damage, can be pursued under a law covering settlement of torts (Unrechtsbereinigungsgesetz,
or 2. SED-UnBerG) as
claims either for occupational rehabilitation or rehabilitation under
administrative law. These overturn certain administrative provisions of GDR
institutions and affirm their unconstitutionality. This is a condition for the
social equalisation payments specified in the Bundesversorgungsgesetz (the war victims relief act of 1950).
Equalisation payments of pension damages and for loss of earnings can also be
applied for in cases where victimisation continued for at least three years,
and where claimants can prove need.[58] The
above examples of seeking justice have, however, been hindered by various
difficulties victims have experienced, both in providing
proof of the Stasi's
encroachment into the areas of health, personal assets, education and
employment, and in receiving official acknowledgement that the Stasi was
responsible for personal damages (including psychic injury) as a direct result
of Zersetzung operations.[59]
Modern use of techniques
Russia's secret
police, the FSB, has been reported to use mobbing techniques
against foreign diplomats and journalists.[60] In
June 2015, NSA files published by Glenn
Greenwald revealed details of the JTRIG group at
British intelligence agency GCHQ covertly manipulating online communities.[61]This
is in line with JTRIG's
goal: to "destroy, deny, degrade [and] disrupt" enemies by
"discrediting" them, planting misinformation and shutting down their
communications.[62]
See also
Further reading
- Annie Ring.
After the Stasi: Collaboration and the Struggle for Sovereign
Subjectivity in the Writing of German Unification. 280 pages,
Bloomsbury Academic (October 22, 2015) ISBN
1472567609.
- Max
Hertzberg. Stealing the Future (The East Berlin Series)
(Book 1), 242 pages, Wolf Press (August 8, 2015), ISBN
0993324703.
- Josie
McLellan. Love in the Time of Communism: Intimacy and Sexuality in
the GDR. 250 pages, Cambridge
University Press (October 17, 2011), ISBN
0521727618
