ZERSETZUNG

A technique of psychological warfare developed in East Germany by the Ministry for State Security (Stasi) and applied by Western intelligence agencies to repress political opponents in contemporary Europe. Zersetzung serves to combat alleged and actual dissidents through covert means, using secret methods of abusive control and psychological manipulation to prevent anti-government activities. People are commonly targeted on a pre-emptive and preventive basis, to limit or stop activities of dissent that they may perform, and not on the basis of crimes they had actually committed. Zersetzung methods are designed to break down, undermine, and paralyze people behind "a facade of social normality" in a form of "silent repression"