Under Erich Mielke's leadership, the Stasi employed 85,000 full-time domestic spies and 170,000 civilian informants (German: Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter) (IMs).
East Germans coined a term to describe the Stasi's pervasive surveillance of the population "All-Covered". (
German: Flächendeckend).
For this reason, Anna Funder has referred to East Germany as, "the most perfected surveillance state of all time."

According to John Koehler, "...the Stasi's tentacles probed every aspect of life.
Full-time officers were posted to all major industrial plants.
Without exception, one tenant in every building was designated as a watchdog reporting to an area representative of the Volkspolizei...In turn, the police officer was the Stasi's man.
If a relative or friend came to stay overnight, it was reported.
 Schools, universities and hospitals were infiltrated from top to bottom.
German academe was shocked to learn that Heinrich Fink, professor of theology and vice-chancellor of East Berlin's Humboldt University, had been a Stasi informer since 1968.
After Fink's Stasi connections came to light, he was summarily fired.
Doctors, lawyers, journalists, writers, actors, and sports figures were co-opted by Stasi officers, as were waiters and hotel personnel.
Tapping about 100,000 telephone lines in East Germany and West Berlin around the clock was the job of 2,000 officers... Churchmen, including high officials of both Protestant and Catholic denominations, were recruited en masse as secret informants.
Their offices and confessionals were infested with eavesdropping devices.
Even the director of Leipzig's famous Thomas Church choir, Hans-Joachim Rotzsch, was forced to resign when he was unmasked as a Spitzel, the people's pejorative for a Stasi informant."

In an interview with journalist Anna Funder, an ex-Stasi officer recalled, "Most often, people we approached would inform for us.
It was very rare that they would not.
However, sometimes we felt that we might need to know where their weak points were, just in case.
For example, if we wanted a pastor, we'd find out if he'd had an affair, or had a drinking problem--things that we could use as leverage.
Mostly though, people said yes."

On Mielke's orders, and with his full knowledge, Stasi officers also engaged in arbitrary arrest, kidnapping, brutal harassment of political dissidents, torture, and the imprisonment of tens of thousands of citizens.

In a 1991 interview, Jewish Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal said, "The Stasi was much, much worse than the Gestapo, if you consider only the oppression of its own people.
The Gestapo had 40,000 officials watching a country of 80 million, while the Stasi employed 102,000 to control only 17 million."
Under Erich Mielke's leadership, the Stasi employed 85,000 full-time domestic spies and 170,000 civilian informants (German: Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter) (IMs). East Germans coined a term to describe the Stasi's pervasive surveillance of the population "All-Covered". (German: Flächendeckend). For this reason, Anna Funder has referred to East Germany as, "the most perfected surveillance state of all time."
According to John Koehler, "...the Stasi's tentacles probed every aspect of life. Full-time officers were posted to all major industrial plants. Without exception, one tenant in every building was designated as a watchdog reporting to an area representative of the Volkspolizei...In turn, the police officer was the Stasi's man. If a relative or friend came to stay overnight, it was reported.  Schools, universities and hospitals were infiltrated from top to bottom. German academe was shocked to learn that Heinrich Fink, professor of theology and vice-chancellor of East Berlin's Humboldt University, had been a Stasi informer since 1968. After Fink's Stasi connections came to light, he was summarily fired. Doctors, lawyers, journalists, writers, actors, and sports figures were co-opted by Stasi officers, as were waiters and hotel personnel. Tapping about 100,000 telephone lines in East Germany and West Berlin around the clock was the job of 2,000 officers... Churchmen, including high officials of both Protestant and Catholic denominations, were recruited en masse as secret informants. Their offices and confessionals were infested with eavesdropping devices. Even the director of Leipzig's famous Thomas Church choir, Hans-Joachim Rotzsch, was forced to resign when he was unmasked as a Spitzel, the people's pejorative for a Stasi informant."
In an interview with journalist Anna Funder, an ex-Stasi officer recalled, "Most often, people we approached would inform for us. It was very rare that they would not. However, sometimes we felt that we might need to know where their weak points were, just in case. For example, if we wanted a pastor, we'd find out if he'd had an affair, or had a drinking problem--things that we could use as leverage. Mostly though, people said yes."
On Mielke's orders, and with his full knowledge, Stasi officers also engaged in arbitrary arrest, kidnapping, brutal harassment of political dissidents, torture, and the imprisonment of tens of thousands of citizens.
In a 1991 interview, Jewish Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal said, "The Stasi was much, much worse than the Gestapo, if you consider only the oppression of its own people. The Gestapo had 40,000 officials watching a country of 80 million, while the Stasi employed 102,000 to control only 17 million."
Erich Mielke