Telephone tapping in the Eastern Bloc

Telephone tapping in the countries of the Eastern Bloc was a widespread method of the mass surveillance of the population by the secret police.^[1]

History[]

In the past, telephone tapping was an open and legal practice in certain countries. During martial law in Poland, official censorship was introduced, which included open phone tapping. Despite the introduction of the new censorship division, the Polish secret police did not have resources to monitor all conversations.^[2]

In Romania, telephone tapping was conducted by the General Directorate for Technical Operations of the Securitate. Created with Soviet assistance in 1954, the outfit monitored all voice and electronic communications inside and outside of Romania. They bugged telephones and intercepted all telegraphs and telex messages, as well as placing microphones in both public and private buildings.^[3]

Fiction[]

The 1991 Polish comedy film Rozmowy kontrolowane (Monitored Conversations)^[4] capitalizes on this fact. The title alludes to the pre-recorded phrase "Rozmowa kontrolowana" ("The talk is being monitored") a person repeatedly hears during a phone conversation.^{[citation needed]}^[5]^[6]

The 2006 film The Lives of Others concerns a Stasi captain who is listening to the conversations of a suspected dissident writer in a bugged apartment with equipment including telephone-tapping.^{[citation needed]}^[7]

References[]

^ Secret Police Files from the Eastern Bloc: Between Surveillance and Life Writing (NED - New ed.). Boydell & Brewer. 2016. ISBN 978-1-57113-926-9. JSTOR 10.7722/j.ctt1kzccdr.
^ Martial Law in Poland Archived 2007-10-14 at the Wayback Machine (in Polish)
^ Holland, Max (2006-08-21). "A Review of: "Krzysztof Persak and Lukasz Kaminski, editors:A Handbook of the Communist Security Apparatus in East Central Europe, 1944–1989"". International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. 19 (2): 365–367. doi:10.1080/08850600500483871. ISSN 0885-0607. S2CID 152510727.
^ Rozmowy kontrolowane at IMDb
^ Kruk, Dawid, Dagmara Mętel, and Andrzej Cechnicki. "A paradigm description of virtual reality and its possible applications in psychiatry". Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii= Advances in Psychiatry and Neurology.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Haltof, Marek (1997). "Everything for sale: Polish national cinema after 1989". Canadian Slavonic Papers. 39 (1–2): 137–152. doi:10.1080/00085006.1997.11092147. ProQuest 274694186 – via ProQuest.
^ Harper, Kate (2010). "Surveillance and Redemption in'The Lives of Others'". Screen Education. 59: 111.

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[1] Secret Police Files from the Eastern Bloc: Between Surveillance and Life Writing (NED - New ed.). Boydell & Brewer. 2016. ISBN 978-1-57113-926-9. JSTOR 10.7722/j.ctt1kzccdr.

[2] Martial Law in Poland Archived 2007-10-14 at the Wayback Machine (in Polish)

[3] Holland, Max (2006-08-21). "A Review of: "Krzysztof Persak and Lukasz Kaminski, editors:A Handbook of the Communist Security Apparatus in East Central Europe, 1944–1989"". International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence. 19 (2): 365–367. doi:10.1080/08850600500483871. ISSN 0885-0607. S2CID 152510727.

[4] Rozmowy kontrolowane at IMDb

[5] Kruk, Dawid, Dagmara Mętel, and Andrzej Cechnicki. "A paradigm description of virtual reality and its possible applications in psychiatry". Postępy Psychiatrii i Neurologii= Advances in Psychiatry and Neurology.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[6] Haltof, Marek (1997). "Everything for sale: Polish national cinema after 1989". Canadian Slavonic Papers. 39 (1–2): 137–152. doi:10.1080/00085006.1997.11092147. ProQuest 274694186 – via ProQuest.

[7] Harper, Kate (2010). "Surveillance and Redemption in'The Lives of Others'". Screen Education. 59: 111.

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show v t Secret police agencies in the Eastern Bloc
Gulag Iron Curtain Telephone tapping in the Eastern Bloc Berlin Wall Inner German border
Soviet Union	Extraordinary Commission (Cheka) State Political Directorate (GPU) Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB) People's Commissariat for State Security (NKGB) Ministry of State Security (MGB) Committee for State Security (KGB)
People's Socialist Republic of Albania	Directorate of State Security (Sigurimi)
People's Republic of Bulgaria	Committee for State Security (DS)
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic	State Security (StB)
German Democratic Republic	Ministry for State Security (Stasi)
Hungarian People's Republic	State Protection Authority (ÁVH)
Polish People's Republic	Ministry of Public Security (MBP and UB/SB)
Socialist Republic of Romania	Department of State Security (Securitate)
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia	Department of National Security (OZNA) Department of State Security (UDBA) Counterintelligence Service (KOS)

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Telephone tapping in the Eastern Bloc

Contents

History[]

Fiction[]

See also[]

References[]