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A 'Bodil' passive eavesdropping transmitter from Bulgaria powered by a phone line, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party', (Photo by In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images)

A 'Bodil' passive eavesdropping transmitter from Bulgaria powered by a phone line, an exhibit in 'Haus 1' the ministerial headquarters of the Stasi secret police in Communist East Germany, the GDR. Built in 1960, the complex now known as the Stasi Museum. Before the fall of the Wall, it was a 22-hectare complex of espionage whose centrepiece is the office and working quarters of the former Minister of State Security, Erich Mielke who considered their role as the 'shield and sword of the party',  (Photo by In Pictures Ltd./Corbis via Getty Images)