I like Stasi for local police acting on an anti-constitutional basis.
Agreed, but so few people know the Stasi well enough to get the reference. Everyone has heard of the KGB.
This is part of education. It raises questions, “Stasi? What’s that?”
“Oh, my dear child, let me tell you about the Soviet secret police.”
“Oh, my dear child, let me tell you about the Soviet secret police.”
...and watch their NPC eyes glaze over. ;-)
My NPCs like scary stories, and I’m a well-regarded spinner of yarns.
Stasi was East German, not Soviet
Let’s be pedantic.
East Germany was established by the Soviets and was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Soviet Union.
The Stasi were a “Soviet style” and “Soviet trained” secret police.
The phrase, itself, “let me tell you about the Soviet secret police” doesn’t mean I’m calling the German Stasi themselves the secret police, but instead offering a charming history of how they came to be and who their spiritual (and direct) ancestor was.
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