Operative Psychology

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The " Operative Psychology " was a research and teaching subject at the Law School (JHS) of the Ministry for State Security (MfS) of the GDR . This dealt with "the phenomena, conditions, regularities and the psychological experience and the psychological control of the behavior and actions of people in the political-operational work of the MfS". The knowledge gained in this way was used for the targeted recruitment and "stabilization" of employees as well as for the systematic " decomposition " of political opponents of the SED regime.

Chair

The Chair for Operative Psychology, founded in 1965 by the Ministry for State Security, emerged from the "Working Group on Operative Psychology" at the Chair for Marxist-Leninist Philosophy and was initially supported by their staff, none of them psychologists at the beginning. The number of employees increased from initially four to nine. It wasn't until 1969 that the first qualified psychologist was hired. Later care was taken to fill the chair with specialists.

"Operative Psychology" as a subject

Initially, psychological knowledge played no role during the training at the law school. The first manuscript that can be found, which outlines the tasks and basic features of psychology within the MfS, dates back to 1960. The chair, founded in 1965, was incorporated into the “Political-operational Special Discipline” section. At the latest with the entry into force of the MfS guideline No. 1/76 for the development and processing of operational processes (OV) , factors for influencing the personality development of people gained in importance. Research and teaching in "operational psychology" were practical and application-oriented. The "Operative Psychology" did not unearth fundamentally new psychological knowledge, but dealt primarily analytically with the use of known methods. The students were given basic knowledge of psychology. Research results on feelings, needs and relationships of people, but also findings from group analysis and interpersonal phenomena such as trust, bonds and leadership should be used for decomposition measures. “Operational Psychology” was a compulsory subject at the State Security Law School. The share of the total share in the course was 131 of 2,615 teaching hours. A total of around 10,000 MfS officers at JHS have attended courses in psychology. It was possible to acquire a doctoral degree with studies in "operational psychology" . The linguistic style and the expression of the doctoral theses were often polemical and propagandistic and sometimes kept so simple that the diction was more like journalistic representations than scientific papers. There were hardly any concrete instructions on how to implement operational psychology. The MfS was unable to meet its self-imposed scientific claim, because apart from vague statements and copied general psychological statements, operational psychology did not produce any scientific achievements of its own. All of the important criteria for scientific-psychological work, such as empirical studies, theoretical substructure, possible falsifiability of hypotheses, openness and freedom from values were hardly met.

Use and consequences of "operative psychology"

The knowledge acquired during the training to become a MfS-certified lawyer was used directly as a practical means of “fighting enemies”. The aim was to use psychological means to influence people in such a way that “they are shaken and gradually changed or contradictions and differences between hostile-negative forces are caused, exploited or reinforced” in order to create “fragmentation, paralysis, disorganization and isolation hostile-negative forces ”. The "operative psychology" had the task of "undermining a person's self-confidence and self-esteem, [creating] fear, panic, confusion, [causing] a loss of love and security and fueling disappointment". In the case of political opponents, life crises should be caused that unsettled them so much and stressed them psychologically that they lost the time and energy for activities hostile to the state . The MfS as the mastermind behind the measures should not be recognizable to the victims. Psychological means should help "to recognize and influence the psyche of the enemy more precisely" in order to gain "knowledge about thoughts or feelings, typical behaviors and psychological properties of the opponent, which are valuable clues for his exposure and liquidation, influencing, decomposition and monitoring" deliver, receive.

Even during interrogations, methods of "operative psychology" were used to "stimulate the willingness of people to give evidence in the investigation work". Noises and light effects were also used to create insomnia, anxiety or disorientation. In addition, the "operational psychology" was used by the management officers when working with unofficial employees (IM) in order to recruit new employees and build trust.

In the victims of decomposition measures based on “operative psychology”, psychosomatic illnesses and post-traumatic stress disorders can often be identified to this day . The writer Jürgen Fuchs therefore also spoke of "psychosocial crimes" and an "attack on the human soul". The psychotherapist Klaus Behnke described these methods as "psychological torture ".

aims

Measured against its goals, operational psychology dealt most often with the enemies , with which it shows its orientation against people. Four goals that should contribute to the implementation of operational psychology within the Stasi were named:

  1. Fine machining
  2. Working with full-time cadres
  3. Work with IM
  4. Working on the image of the enemy and dealing with hostile ideologies

literature

  • Babett Bauer: Control and Repression - Individual Experiences in the GDR 1971–1989. Göttingen 2006.
  • Klaus Behnke: Decomposition Measures - The Practice of "Operational Psychology" by the State Security Service and its traumatic consequences. In: Ulrich Baumann, Helmut Kury (Hrsg.): Politically motivated persecution - Victims of SED injustice (= criminological research reports from the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, Vol. 84). Freiburg i. Br. 1998.
  • Jürgen Fuchs, Klaus Behnke: Decomposition of the soul: Psychology and psychiatry in the service of the Stasi. Hamburg 1995, ISBN 3-88022-365-3 . New edition, Hamburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-931705-35-0 .
  • Sandra Pingel-Schliemann: Zersetzen - Strategy of a dictatorship (= series of publications of the Robert Havemann Archive, Vol. 8). Berlin 2003.
  • Holger Richter: The operational psychology of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR. Frankfurt am Main 2001, ISBN 3-933050-72-3 .
  • Stefan Trobisch, Klaus Behnke: cause panic and consternation. The practice of "operational psychology" of the State Security Service and its traumatizing consequences. In: Memorial for the Victims of Political Violence Moritzplatz Magdeburg et al. (Hrsg.): The past does not let us go. Conditions of detention of political prisoners in the Soviet Zone / GDR and their health consequences. Berlin 1997, pp. 165-188.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from Sandra Pingel-Schliemann: Zersetzen - Strategy of a dictatorship (= series of publications of the Robert Havemann Archive, Vol. 8). Berlin 2003, p. 202.
  2. ^ Holger Richter: The operational psychology of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR. Cape. 7, p. 311.
  3. ↑ P. Felber: The subject of psychology and the importance of psychology for the work of the Ministry for State Security , MfS JHS VVS Z. Tgb.-Nr. 145/60, BStU ZA JHS K 468.
  4. ^ Holger Richter: The operational psychology of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR. Mabuse-Verlag 2015. p. 311.
  5. ^ Ministry of State Security: Guideline No. 1/76 for the Development and Processing of Operational Processes (OV). January 1, 1976, accessed on June 18, 2020 (reproduced on stasi-mediathek.de). Guideline No. 1/76 for the development and processing of operational processes from January 1, 1976. Documented in Roger Engelmann, Frank Jostel: Basic documents of the MfS. In: Anatomy of the State Security - History, Structure, Methods. Berlin 2004, p. 285f.
  6. ↑ See Pingel-Schliemann: Zersetzen , p. 201.
  7. ↑ Operative Psychology. (pdf; 103 kB) In: Zersetzung.net. March 2, 2010, accessed August 27, 2010 .
  8. ↑ Cf. Klaus Behnke: Zersetzunglösungen - The practice of "operational psychology" of the State Security Service and its traumatizing consequences , in: Ulrich Baumann / Helmut Kury (ed.): Politically motivated persecution - victims of SED injustice , criminological research reports from the Max- Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, Vol. 84, Freiburg i. Br. 1998, p. 381.
  9. ↑ See Holger Richter: The Operative Psychology of the Ministry for State Security in the GDR , Frankfurt a. M. 2001, p. 193.
  10. ^ Pingel-Schliemann: Zersetzen , p. 202 and 211, as well as Richter: Psychologie , p. 212.
  11. ^ Karl C. Mayer: Glossary: ​​Zersetzen. In: neuro24.de. April 9, 2012, accessed August 7, 2010 .
  12. ^ Günter Förster: The Law School of the MfS. In: Anatomy of the State Security - History, Structure, Methods , Vol. III / 6. Berlin 1996, p. 7f.
  13. ^ Holger Richter: The operational psychology of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR. In: Holger-Richter.de. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019 ; accessed on June 18, 2020 .
  14. ↑ Gisela Schütte: The invisible wounds of the Stasi victims. In: welt.de . August 2, 2010, accessed June 18, 2020 .
  15. ^ Holger Richter: The operational psychology of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR. Mabuse-Verlag 2015. pp. 308f.
  16. ↑ a b Ministry for State Security (ed.): Dictionary on political-operational work, 2nd edition (1985), keyword: "Zersetzung", p. 464.
  17. ↑ a b Pingel-Schliemann: Zersetzen , p. 188.
  18. ↑ Sandra Pingel-Schliemann: Lautlose forms of destruction - Zersetzunglösungen des MfS , in: Deutschlandarchiv 35 (2003), p. 235.
  19. ↑ a b MfS JHS VVSo001 - 106/68 BStU ZA JHS 24 470.
  20. ↑ From the curriculum of the Potsdam-Eiche Law School, quoted in n. Klaus Behnke: Learning objective: Zersetzung , in: Jürgen Fuchs / Klaus Behnke: Zersetzung der Seele - Psychology and psychiatry in the service of the Stasi , Hamburg 1995, p. 20.
  21. ↑ See Babett Bauer: Control and Repression - Individual Experiences in the GDR 1971–1989 , Göttingen 2006, pp. 89f.
    Like a puppet . In: Der Spiegel . No. 13 , 1995 ( online - Mar. 27, 1995 ).
  22. ↑ Psychology in the service of the Stasi. In: Arte.tv. Archived from the original on April 13, 2010 ; accessed on June 18, 2020 (interview with Klaus Behnke ).
  23. ^ Holger Richter: The operational psychology of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR. P. 312.