Zersetzung, or degradation, was a form of psychological covert op performed against political dissidents. In cased where imprisonment or assassination would be too overt, the Stasi developed a method of discrediting their detractors by inducing extreme paranoia and psychosis, thereby making them lose their ability to spread their messages. There is documentation to suggest that roughly 5,000 people were subjected to this torture during the 41 years the nation was on the map.
Aside from the common surveilance and monitoring, the Stasi employed a series of devious gaslighting attacks to induce paranoia. Here are some examples:
- entering a targets house and rearranging furniture slightly
- taking items from their trash and putting them back where they originally were
- replacing the target's tea or coffee with another type
- replacing salt and pepper with flavorless alternatives
- repeatedly calling their home and hanging up as soon as the subject picked up the phone
These little acts over time would stoke hear and paranoia to the point where many started behaving so abnormally that they lost public supporters. Many outright committed suicide. This still remains a stain of the reputation of Germany, and the extensive documentation makes it nearly impossible for any denier or sympathizer to refuse the existence of such heinous policies.
