protect the “socialist human community.” This new type of informer
supplemented the body of well-established Inoffizielle Mitarbeiter
(unofficial collaborators) but possessed a far more circumscribed
knowledge of covert methods. Stationed principally in places of
work, residence, and leisure activities, the GMS numbered about
33,000 prior to the collapse of the GDR. Although originally in-
tended to serve as models of dedicated citizenship, they had become
over time almost indistinguishable from other MfS informers.GESTAPO. The acronym for the secret political police force of the
Third Reich, the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei) originated in the
efforts of the individual Nazi-controlled regional governments to
enforce strict ideological conformity following Adolf Hitler’s acces-
sion to power. In February 1933, the largest such force—based on
an earlier branch of the Berlin police—was formed in Prussia under
its prime minister, Hermann Göring. Two months later, it was re-
named the Geheimes Staatspolizeiamt or Gestapa (the acronym was
invented by a postal official designing a stamp that required a shorter
name and later evolved into the more common term). To emphasize
its separation from the traditional police force based in offices on the
Alexanderplatz, the main body of the new organization was moved to
the former school of applied arts at 8 Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse. A spe-
cial section devoted to the suppression of Bolshevism occupied the
house of the murdered communist revolutionary Karl Liebknecht.
By April 1934, SS chief Heinrich Himmler, an arch rival of
Göring, had gained control of the Gestapo and brought the units
in the other states under centralized command. A law of 10 Febru-
ary 1936 spelled out its broad mandate: “The secret political police
have the task of investigating and combating all activities that could
endanger the state throughout the entire country.” Structural changes
placed the Gestapo, led ostensibly by Heinrich Müller, alongside the
criminal police and border police in the Sicherheitspolizei headed by
Reinhard Heydrich. With the creation of the Reichssicherheits-
hauptamt in 1939, the Gestapo received the designation of Amt IV
and—due to ever increasing bureaucratic complexity—had to com-
pete and cooperate simultaneously with other security branches.
Despite the menacing reputation that it acquired, the Gestapo pos-
sessed a relatively small number of full-time personnel. Its network
136 • GESTAPO