Before the Berlin Wall fell, Erich Mielke was the most feared man in East Germany. He created the East German "Stasi" and, for over four decades, ruled this most perfidious and effective secret service: 300.000 men, women and children, to control a population of 17 million. Fear was key to the efficiency of the Stasi, and Mielke was the master of fear.—Bettina Melzer