Theory, practice and consequences of Operative Psychology

PR-Abstract Theory, practice and consequences of Operative Psychology (P 33103) Project leader: Ass.-Prof. Dr. Dr. Martin Wieser, martin.wieser@sfu-berlin.de From 1965 until 1990 a subject was taught at the Juridical High School (a secret training centre for officers of the Ministry of State Security in the GDR) which officially never existed: Operative Psychology. More than a dozen members of the institute (many of whom had previously studied psychology in public universities in the GDR) researched and taught methods to identify and monitor "hostile-negative forces" (e.g., citizens who were active in the opposition), to fight the class enemy (e.g., through the so-called methods of "disintegration"), techniques of interrogation, and methods to "win" unofficial informants. Many thousand pages of documents that were created by the members of the institute are now archived at the Federal Ministry for the documents of the Stasi. For the first time this projects addresses the question which psychological terms, theories and models have played a particularly important role in operative psychology on a science-historical level, and how this role changed over the course of time. In addition to the archival investigation about the historical roots of operative psychology, this project also aims to shed light on the consequences of political persecution in the GDR in the present from a psychological-biographical perspective. Supported by Berlin-based counselling centres who help former victims of political persecution, biographical interviews will be conducted with individuals and groups who were affected by operative "action plans". They are supposed to be given the opportunity to voice their personal experiences and memories of traumatising and conflictual events, of powerlessness and guilt, but also of empowerment, solidarity and resistance, in order to not only become visible as a victim of the circumstances they lived in but also as actors of their own biography. The synthesis of scientific-historical and biographical research methods not only represents a novelty in the context of the hitherto little-researched complex of operative psychology, but also aims to contribute to the controversial and emotional collective culture of remembrance in reunified Germany. By analysing the historical roots, the theoretical, institutional and practical structure as well as the consequences of political persecution in the GDR, we hope to contribute to the present effects of political traumatization in reunited Germany.