In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the victorious Communist party decided to try out one of most ambitious population control programs ever attempted. The idea was simple, have the people police themselves. Reward all who were able to root out even the slightest waft of disloyalty toward the state and lock the culprits up. Of all of the social and economic experiments tried by the Communists this was far and away the most successful.
The poster boy for the program was called Stasi. Run by Ministry for State Security in East Germany (GDR) It was the most effective and repressive secret police agencies ever to have existed. Their motto was “Shield and Sword of the Party.” Its main task was spying on the population, primarily through a vast network of citizens turned informants. It arrested 250,000 people as political prisoners during its existence.
The Stasi employed about half a million people to help root out enemies of the state. It had hundreds of thousands of informers. Every business or plant had a Stasi informant. Spies reported every relative or friend who stayed the night at another's apartment. Tiny holes were drilled in apartment and hotel room walls through which Stasi agents filmed citizens with special cameras. Schools, universities, and hospitals were extensively infiltrated. It worked. The East Germans never had to worry about being overthrown by their own people because, very soon, none of these potentially dangerous people were left.