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There is also a steady stream of propaganda in Germany concerning the Stasi. (Just like references to Iran and Russia in American media--never good, at best neu
by esbranson 12y ago
There is also a steady stream of propaganda in Germany concerning the Stasi. (Just like references to Iran and Russia in American media--never good, at best neutral, usually negative. There are actually positive stories on China now, though they be few.) I'm sure Germany considers such news "socially conscious" but in reality its just "propaganda".
The reference makes it relevant to Germans' ongoing political instruction.
- tobltobs 12y agoThe reason for the mostly negative news about the Stasi might be that the Stasi didn't do any good?
- bildung 12y agoThe reason for the mostly negative news about the Stasi might be that the Stasi didn't do any good? I don't think GP opposes that. But in recent years there really are noticable efforts to construct Stasi and other aspects of the GDR as the prototypical evil. There are e.g. redefinitions of nazi museums to "museums about the history of the German dictatorships", equalizing Stasi with the Gestapo etc. Note that this shift in the political discourse has no corresponding shift in the academic discourse among historians. Of course both were dictatorships, but that's about where the similarities end. The Stasi did not systematically sack thousands of dissidends and tortured them to death. Methodologically Stasi is more similar to the current BND: The focus was on gathering intelligence, infiltrating dissident groups and "Zersetzung" of dissident individuals.