Explanation: In the GDR, also known as East Germany, a strict Soviet-style regime was run. The country's secret police - the Stasi - were, in particular, renowned for just how thoroughly they monitored even ordinary citizens, bugging homes and gaslighting dissidents, employing both native Germans and Soviet KGB advisors.

This comic uses that, compared with the fact that Alexa (a modern voice-activated AI assistant for home use) and Alexei (a Russian masculine given-name) sound similar, to make a joke about asking the Stasi to play some music for them while they work.

[–] synapse1278@lemmy.world 22 points 4 months ago

I recommend visiting the Stasi Museum to anyone visiting Berlin. It's inside the preserved Stasi headquarters from back then, you can see some interesting gadgets they used to spy on citizens, very creative retro-tech used for terribly sinister purposes.

[–] mumblerfish@lemmy.world 24 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Not sure if true, but a Romanian I was working with said that their phones were randomly monitored. At some point his mom and some friend was talking over the phone and they are like "when is the next bus for the town now again?" and the agent goes "they go every 30 minutes today" or similar into their phone call.

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 17 points 4 months ago

I believe that's an old joke from the period, though the Romanian Securitate did monitor people and phonecalls to an even greater degree than the German Stasi did.

[–] fckreddit@lemmy.ml 18 points 4 months ago (1 children)

More things change, more they stay the same.

[–] ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 months ago

https://song.link/s/2nGFzvICaeEWjIrBrL2RAx

[–] AbnormalHumanBeing@lemmy.abnormalbeings.space 17 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Oh, was it planned to post this on the 17th of June? Or just an interesting coincidence?

[–] PugJesus@lemmy.world 12 points 4 months ago

Just an interesting coincidence, I'm afraid! I'm time blind af, lol

[–] rustydrd@sh.itjust.works 5 points 4 months ago

To anyone wanting to know more about what it was like, I recommend watching The Lives of Others if you haven't already.

[–] lritter@mastodon.gamedev.place 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

@PugJesus ah, one of these ideas we all laugh at before someone says "actually alexa" upon which some say "obviously duh" and others think to themselves "hmmmmmm. well shit."

[–] tml@urbanists.social 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

@PugJesus Fun, except that Alexei is not a German name. Not very likely that a Stasi official (or neighbour volunteering on surveillance duty) would have been called Alexei. Alex on the other hand is a German name.

That just sounds like a misconception that the German Democratic Republic would have been administered by "the Soviets". Sure, the USSR had lots of influence ("Von der Sowjetunion lernen heißt siegen lernen" etc), but the Stasi was staffed by East Germans.

Yes, I am fun at parties.