Ministerium für Staatssicherheit

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Event Date:	Event Title:	Event Description:
02/08/1950	Foundation of the Stasi	The Stasi was created on Feb 8, 1950 with Wilhelm Zaisser as the chief officer and Erich Meilke as his deputy officer. The Stasi was established as official state security service of East Berlin and a loyal ally to the Solviet Union.
06/01/1953	Wilhelm Zaisser replaced by Walter Ulbricht	After the June 1953 uprising Wilhelm Zaisser tried to forcefully remove Socialist Unity Party General Secretary Walter Ulbricht from office. Because of this Ulbricht threw him out of office and had him replaced by Ernst Wollweber.
06/16/1953	Strike Leads to 1953 Uprising	Strike by construction workers in Berlin led to the 1953 uprising. Radio hosts in West Berlin broadcasted news of this which only brough about riots in East Germany.
06/17/1953	Citizens Protest Government	400,000 protesters gather in East Berlin demanding Soviets leave and government be replaced, with many other protests throught all of East Germany. Stasi ans Solviet Poilice organizations and Troops forcefully suppress the riots.
03/01/1956	East Germany forms National People’s Army	The National People's Army was considered to be the most advanced army in the Warsaw Pact because (since East Germany was in the middle of the Cold War) the army was battle-ready at all times.
01/01/1957	Wollweber Resigns	In 1957, after disputes with Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker, Ernst Wollweber resigns and his position was succeeded by his deputy officer, Erich Meilke.
01/01/1957	Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung Established	Also in 1957, The Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung (General Reconnaissance Administration) was established, with Markus Wolf as its head officer. The HVA served as the foreign intelligence section of the Stasi. Wolf was allowed to infiltrate the west german government with spies, which was a great success for the Stasi as a whole.
08/13/1961	Construction Starts on the Berlin Wall	The Berlin Wall (when completed) stretched more than 87 miles and included barbed wire snares, guard towers, anti-vehicle trenches, and many other tacticts to prevent people from crossing from either side.
05/03/1971	Walter Ulbricht Resigns	Walter Ulbricht resignes and is replaced by Erich Honecker
05/03/1971	Telephone Service restored between East and West Germany
12/01/1972	East and West Germany sign Basic Treaty	The Basic Treaty was a big ste for East and West Germany because it meant that (for the first time) they recognized each other as sovereign states.
04/01/1974	East Germany Defeats West Germany at World Cup
08/01/1983	SS-23 Nuclear Missiles deployed in East Germany
11/09/1989	Fall of the Berlin Wall	The Berlin Wall fell as a result of the peaceful revolution of 1989 in which german citizens protested against the authoritarian government regieme of the GDR. It was the fall of the wall that ultimately led to the fall of the GDR roughly a year later.
11/29/1989	Stasi ordered to stop spying on East Germans
10/30/1990	Deutsche Einheit (German Unity)	The long process of reunification of germany finaly came to and end. Germans still celebreate this day every year.
01/01/1992	Stasi files opened to Public	German citizens can (even still today) request to see their Stasi file. The process however takes almost two years (from the time of application to the time the person can actually sit down and read their file).
Timespan Dates:	Timespan Title:	Timespan Description:
01/01/1950 to 12/31/1989	Over 275,000 Stasi Emplyees	The Breakdown (roughly): -2,000 Unofficial Collaborators -13,000 Soldiers -2,200 GDR Officers -174,000 Unofficial Informants inside GDR -1,600 Unofficial Informants inside West Germany -About 10,000 of the above informants were under the age of 18 Because of the destruction of a lot of Stasi files, the above numbers are the documented people. Historians have estimated that, in reality, there were probably close to 500,000 Stasi informers (2 million with temporary informers acounted for)!