The History of the Stasi Quotes

“To make matters worse, the general secretary—by his own account—gauged the significance of Stasi reports by the extent to which they matched his own opinions, dismissing bad news on principle then remarking critically that he could read that in the Western press. State”
― Jens Gieseke, The History of the Stasi: East Germany's Secret Police, 1945-1990

“The experiences of other totalitarian dictatorships show that behind the centralized and hierarchical communication and decision-making structures, apparently so clearly ordered by way of Party or dictators’ decrees, lurked considerably more complex processes and structures. Under National Socialism there was a polycratic jumble of competing institutions and organizations (Wehrmacht, economy, NSDAP, SS). It was characteristic of Hitler to go long periods of time without making any clear-cut decisions or to circumvent these decisions by building new institutions. The”
― Jens Gieseke, The History of the Stasi: East Germany's Secret Police, 1945-1990