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Stasi headquarters in Berlin-Lichtenberg in January 2021
Image: Marcel Fürstenau/DWImage: Marcel Fürstenau/DW

Stasi

The secret police of former East Germany, the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Headquartered in East Berlin it was a repressive intelligence and secret police agency.

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News

October 29, 2024

Ikea to compensate East German prisoners for forced labor

Skip next section Reports & Analysis

Reports & Analysis

DW reporter Anooshay Abid walking next to remains of the Berlin Wall

35 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall

35 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall used to divide the German capital. DW shows you where you can still see some of its remains.
HistoryNovember 5, 202416:24 min
Black and white photo of women at sewing machines in the women's' prison in Hoheneck, 1990s

Victims of East Germany's dictatorship hope for compensation

Victims of East Germany's dictatorship hope for compensation

Ikea was among many companies that profited from forced labor in prisons under the former East German dictatorship.
PoliticsNovember 2, 2024
candles with the inscription '89

Leipzig marks the beginning of a peaceful revolution

Leipzig marks the beginning of a peaceful revolution

On October 9, 1989, East Germans in Leipzig set off a chain of events that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
HistoryOctober 9, 202401:15 min
Two GDR symbols: A flag of the GDR hanging on the Berlin Wall in 1990

East Germany: A failed experiment in dictatorship

East Germany: A failed experiment in dictatorship

Germany was divided between 1945 and 1990, but one can still feel it.
HistoryOctober 7, 2024
People stand with German flags in front of the Brandenburg Gate at night, in 1989

Defending the legacy of East Germany's peaceful revolution

Defending the legacy of East Germany's peaceful revolution

Three decades after German reunification, the anti-immigrant AfD is on the rise. Former rights activists are outraged.
PoliticsOctober 3, 202402:49 min
A black and white image of the Berlin Wall and Brandenburg Gate in December 1968

3 reasons the past still shapes eastern Germany today

3 reasons the past still shapes eastern Germany today

The popularity of the far-right AfD among voters in eastern Germany hints at a deep rift 35 years after reunification.
PoliticsAugust 27, 202401:32 min
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Skip next section In the spotlight

In the spotlight

A farmer dressed in yellow caresses the snouts of several pigs

Dutch farmer saves Germany's last socialist pigs

A Dutch farmer has rescued pedigree pigs from the former East Germany from the brink of extinction.
BusinessNovember 16, 202305:14 min
L-R: Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and John Lennon pose in a black-and-white photo from 1962.

The Beatles, beat music and East Germany

A new book describes the GDR regime's ambivalent relationship with beat music.
MusicOctober 24, 2023
A gynecologist chair with a close-up of the footrest.

In former East Germany, women sexually abused in clinics

East German authorities forcibly detained and abused women in sexual health clinics as a form of ideological control.
HistorySeptember 16, 2023
Volksaufstand in Ost-Berlin am 17. Juni 1953

Germany marks 70 years since anti-communist uprising

70 years ago, an uprising of 1 million people in communist East Germany (GDR) was crushed by Soviet tanks.
HistoryJune 17, 2023
Film still from 'Sam: A Saxon': a man in a uniform sitting in a retro couch, looking pensive.

The amazing story of East Germany's first Black policeman

"Sam: A Saxon," the first German production for Disney+, tells of a Black GDR policeman and media star turned fugitive.
CultureApril 26, 2023
East German child's room in museum

GDR censorship: What East Germans were allowed to read

The East German regime nurtured an educated and well-read society — but literature was heavily censored.
LiteratureNovember 7, 2022
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