StB

In the former Communist state of Czechoslovakia, State Security (Czech:Státní bezpečnost or StB, Slovak:Štátna bezpečnosť or ŠtB), was a plainclothes secret police force that was at once an investigative agency, an intelligence agency, and a counterintelligence agency. Any activity that could possibly be considered antistate fell under the purview of State Security.

From 1965on, the National Security Corps (Czech:Sbor národní bezpečnosti or SNB, Slovak: Zbor národnej bezpečnosti or ZNB) comprised 2 police forces:

• Public Security (Czech: Veřejná bezpečnost, Slovak: Verejná bezpečnosť or VB), which was a uniformed force that performed routine police duties throughout the country.
• State Security (Czech:Státní bezpečnost or StB, Slovak:Štátna bezpečnosť or ŠtB) was the secret police.

Public Security and State Security units were deployed throughout the country and had headquarters at regional and district levels; there were 10 kraje and 114 districts in 1987. Public Security forces also established sections in rural areas. Both forces were under the ostensible supervision of the ministries of interior of the Czech and Slovak Socialists Republics. However, there seemed to be no question that operational direction of the security forces emanated from the Ministry of Interior at the federal level and that the two ministries of the component republics had administrative rather than supervisory functions.

The StB's most prominent spy was Alfred Frenzel, who infiltrated West Germany during the 1950s.

External links

Library of Congress country study of Czechoslovakia (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cstoc.html)