Zersetzung (nonfiction)
Zersetzung (German; variously translated as decomposition, corrosion, undermining, biodegradation or dissolution) is a psychological technique originally devised and used by the East German secret police, the Stasi, to silence political opponents.
The goal was to destroy secretly the self-confidence of people, for example by damaging their reputation, by organizing failures in their work, and by destroying their personal relationships.
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, (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".
Operations were designed to intimidate and destabilize victims 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. The Stasi intentionally concealed their role as mastermind of the operations.
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.
In the name of the target, the Stasi made little announcements, ordered products, and made emergency calls, to terrorize him/her. 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.
The Stasi manipulated relations of friendship, love, marriage, and family by anonymous letters, telegrams and telephone calls as well as compromising photos, often altered. In this manner, parents and children were supposed to systematically become strangers to one another.
In the News
Fiction cross-reference
Nonfiction cross-reference
External links:
- Zersetzung @ Wikipedia
- How East Germany's Stasi tried to drive activists insane, and how they resisted @ Boing Boing