Central evaluation and information group

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The Central Evaluation and Information Group (ZAIG) was a service unit of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR, which was formed in 1953 after the uprising of June 17th . She regularly prepared secret mood and situation reports intended for the party and state leadership as well as individual information on special occurrences.

Foundation and task

The uprising of June 17th was a traumatic experience for the SED . While there was talk of a "fascist coup attempt " organized by the West, the Ministry for State Security also reacted. Its minister, Wilhelm Zaisser , was deposed and expelled from the SED. At the same time, the State Security under its new boss Ernst Wollweber formed an information group, initially comprising four posts, in order to better provide the party leadership with opinions from the population and to be able to deal politically with events such as the June uprising.

The ZAIG provided the party and state leadership as well as the management of the MfS with current reports and assessments of the situation as well as information about special incidents. She coordinated information processing within the ministry and further developed information processing.

By 1989, the ZAIG had grown to 423 employees, an unusual growth even for MfS conditions, the cause of which can be explained by the great importance of the ZAIG. Over the years it had developed into one of the departments responsible for defense tasks.

Structure of the ZAIG

In 1989 ZAIG was divided into the following areas

  • Area 1: Evaluation and information
  • Area 2: Control, official regulations, planning
  • Area 3: IT
  • Area 4: Development and maintenance of the information and evaluation system
  • Area 6: public relations and tradition maintenance

Edition

Since 2009, the authority of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi Records has published the ZAIG's domestic reports in full in the edition Die DDR im Blick der Stasi . The reports appear for each year in a selection in book form and also in full in the form of a database on an enclosed CD-ROM. Gradually, the reports will also be made available on the Internet at www.ddr-im-blick.de, so that full-text research across all years is possible. The volumes were presented together with contemporary witnesses who are mentioned in the reports themselves, for example the 1976 class with the songwriter Wolf Biermann , who was expatriated from the GDR that year , the 1988 class with the songwriter Stephan Krawczyk , the 1961 class with the Singer and actress Eva-Maria Hagen and the former governing mayor of West Berlin Klaus Schütz as well as the 1977 born with Ulrich Schwarz, the GDR correspondent for Der Spiegel magazine at the time .

Web links

literature

  • Henrik Bispinck (edit.): The GDR in view of the Stasi 1977. The secret reports to the SED leadership, Göttingen 2012.
  • Henrik Bispinck (arr.): The GDR as seen by the Stasi 1956. The secret reports to the SED leadership, Göttingen 2016
  • Matthias Braun / Bernd Florath (edit.): The GDR in view of the Stasi 1981. The secret reports to the SED leadership, Göttingen 2015.
  • Roger Engelmann (edit.): The GDR in view of the Stasi 1953. The secret reports to the SED leadership. Göttingen 2013.
  • Bernd Florath (arrangement): The GDR in the eyes of the Stasi in 1965. The secret reports to the SED leadership, Göttingen 2014.
  • Bernd Florath (edit.): The GDR in the eyes of the Stasi 1964. The secret reports to the SED leadership, Göttingen 2017.
  • Frank Joestel, Roger Engelmann : The central evaluation and information group. (= Anatomy of the State Security. MfS-Handbuch), Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-942130-20-2
  • Frank Joestel (edit.): The GDR in the eyes of the Stasi 1988. The secret reports to the SED leadership, Göttingen 2010.
  • Daniela Münkel (edit.): The GDR in view of the Stasi 1961. The secret reports to the SED leadership, Göttingen 2011.
  • Siegfried Suckut (Hrsg.): The GDR in the eyes of the Stasi 1976. The secret reports to the SED leadership, Göttingen 2009.
  • Roger Engelmann , Bernd Florath, Helge Heidemeyer, Daniela Münkel , Arno Polzin, Walter Süß , Das MfS-Lexikon . 3rd updated edition, Berlin 2016. Ch. Links Verlag, ISBN 978-3-86153-900-1 , p. 386, online version .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dierk Hoffmann: Otto Grotewohl (1894-1964). A political biography. Oldenbourg, Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-486-59032-6 , p. 544
  2. ↑ BStU press release of November 21, 2012, accessed on February 20, 2013
  3. ↑ BStU press release of November 21, 2012, accessed on February 20, 2013