Zersetzung

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Zersetzung link (crime, tradecraft, social control, counterinsurgency)
File:Zersetzung.webp
Operational method by the STASI for repression aimed to systematically break down both alleged and actual opponents of the regime. There is no reason to believe any such thing would not be done by other actors today.

Zersetzung (zersetzen), literally meaning decomposition or disintegration, was a main method of covertly combating persons and groups of persons considered hostile-negative by the MfS.

History

According to the 1976 Guideline for the Processing of Operational Procedures the goal of Zersetzung was to fragment, paralyze, and disorganize opposing forces and to isolate them from each other and from the environment. In this way, "hostile" actions were to be prevented, restricted or stopped:

The targets of Zersetzung were mostly peace, ecology and human rights groups that were independent of the state, applicants for departure [those who wanted to move to the West], active Christians, as well as persons and organizations in the area of operation that the MfS suspected of political underground activity against the GDR.

According to Directive 1/76, measures of Zersetzung directed against individuals included "systematic discrediting of public reputation, standing and prestige on the basis of interconnected true, verifiable discrediting as well as untrue, credible, non-rebuttable and thus likewise discrediting statements" or "systematic organization of professional and social failures to undermine self-confidence."

In groups, the MfS attempted to create distrust, envy, rivalries and mutual suspicion and, in cooperation with other state organs, to paralyze them through job restrictions, occupational bans, conscription to military service or forced expatriations. Zersetzung often unfolded its effectiveness through the combined use of various measures in a prolonged campaign.

According to the directive, Zersetzung, described by Jürgen Fuchs as "quiet terror," was considered a "relatively independent way of concluding operational procedures" and thus served as a substitute for law enforcement measures, which in the Honecker era were often no longer politically expedient, especially in combating opposition figures for reasons of international reputation.

Concerns

A number of people in more recent times, some who were corporate whistleblowers, have reported methods used against them that have a very similar vibe.