The East German regime was relatively good for the people, it provided the highest standard of living of any East Bloc country, including the U.S.S.R. Its leadership consisted of anti-Nazi Germans, some of whom had escaped to Moscow during the war, and unlike the West German political leadership, was not tainted by any Nazi-era associations. Naturally, the West German government, an ally of the imperialist Western Powers, tried to infiltrate and sabotage the DDR (East German state) and the Stasi were required to guard against all such subversion. The snooping and snitching were necessitated by the subversive activities of the NATO countries. On the whole, the Stasi was a positive force for good; the targets of the investigations, the subjects of the Stasi files, were not imprisoned, tortured or executed.
OTOH, the victims of Nazi snitches WERE arrested, tortured and/or executed.
So while I have to admit that the Stasi encouraged informants much as did the Gestapo, the huge difference between the fates of the targets of their investigations indicates that the Stasi "snooping" was much more benign.
