The total takeover of GDR science by the political state party SED after the erection of the Berlin Wall, known as the “academic reform”, is described. Institutes only survive under the direction of a dominant party member of open competence, and all contacts between scientists and foreign countries are under the complete control of the increasingly overwhelmed authorities. The Ministry for State Security directed its weapons against young astronomers who were interested in art and science but not members of the party, whom it considered enemies of the state based on informations from circles of ambitious hidden contributors.