State Security Informants and Surveillance in Communist Systems

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

One of the tactics used by Communist rulers in Europe and Asia to maintain tight control over their societies was the development of informer networks. In every Communist country, state security forces relied on blackmail, ideological appeals, and material incentives to recruit informants. They also deliberately fostered the perception that "informers are everywhere." Although archival research has shown that informers were not as ubiquitous as often assumed, the perception of ubiquity took hold in all Communist states. The panelists will highlight this dynamic in Bulgaria, Chiba under Mao, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, the USSR, and Yugoslavia.

Sub Unit

• History: 1945-1990

Roundtable Speakers

• Nadia G. Boyadjieva, Balkan Studies Institute BAS (Bulgaria)

• Martin Kostadinov Dimitrov, Tulane U

• Douglas E. Selvage, Humboldt U Berlin (Germany)

• Vít Smetana, Inst of Contemporary History CAS (Czech Republic)

• Amir Weiner, Stanford U