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Volkspolizei

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The Volkspolizei (German for "People's Police") was the national police of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), whose officers were commonly nicknamed VoPos, although GDR citizens called the Volkspolizei "VP", "Bullen (Cops)" or even "die Grünen" (the green guys, because of the green police uniform); the name "VoPo" was created by a West German newspaper (Bild-Zeitung). Formed following the end of World War II and abolished after German reunification, Volkspolizei officers were trained like soldiers and were thus more of a gendarmerie or a constabulary. They were highly effective in enforcing the policies of the East German government.

Organization

Volga Volkspolizei Car

The Volkspolizei, as well as fulfilling traditional police duties such as investigation and traffic control, also worked closely with the Stasi and had their own network of informants that would crosscheck information gathered by Stasi informants, and vice versa.

Unlike the West German police forces, the Volkspolizei was a national police force and was directly administered by and was directly subordinate only to the Ministry of the Interior. It was run like a second army, with corresponding ranks and use of military drill.

Though this prevented corruption, it also greatly restricted the discretionary freedoms of its officers, meaning that some crimes remained unsolved because the perpetrators escaped while investigating officers needed to go through lengthy and complicated bureaucratic procedures.

Rather than the civil service status that West German police enjoyed, each Volkspolizist had a personal contract with the government, though they were well paid, and were guaranteed an apartment in a nice suburb of a large city, and special shops for them and their families.

Main Administration of the People's Police

Headed by a Police Colonel-General (Generaloberst der VP) with a Lieutenant-general (Generalleutnant der VP) as Chief of staff, the Main Administration is the Headquarters of the Volkspolizei. It contained the following Departments:

Regional Commands

Recruitment

To be a standard Volkspolizei officer, an East German needed to have at least a tenth grade education, have completed vocational training (see education in East Germany) and served in the army. A history of political loyalty and frequent attendance of communist meetings was also a must.

After joining, a recruit would go through a 5-month course, mostly consisting of political indoctrination and legal theory. The recruit would then complete a 6-month practical internship. Those aspiring to be investigators would receive further training.

Any Volkspolizei officer could receive further criminological training if he wished to at the Humboldt University in East Berlin.

Though vastly different from Western police forces in most respects, the reasons Volkspolizei officers gave for joining the force were the same as any Western policemen: a desire to work with people, idealism, family tradition, belief in the system (though in this case the system in question differed) and the wish to serve one's country.

Effectiveness

File:Frauanders.jpg
A GDR postage stamp commemorating 25 years of the Volkspolizei

When the army and the Volkspolizei erected the Berlin Wall in 1961, it was declared by the East German leadership that it would protect East Germany against what were represented as the negative elements of Western society, particularly fascist sympathizers (the wall was officially called the "anti-fascist protection rampart") and help on the way to a crime-free workers' state.

This partially came true. In comparison to West Germany, East Germany had almost no crime. This was largely because the Volkspolizei and the Stasi were ruthless in their pursuit of real and alleged criminals and did not have to follow the same procedures as Western police forces.

This low crime level changed, just as the leaders said it would, when the Wall fell in 1989. The unfamiliarity of the Volkspolizei with what were everyday occurrences in the West meant that the Volkspolizei were suddenly hit with crimes they were neither equipped nor trained to solve after 1989. In Leipzig, for example, cases of serious theft rose 540% from 1989 to 1990.

History

Foundation

The Volkspolizei was effectively founded just following World War II, when the Soviet Union established central police forces in the regions of Germany it occupied (in violation of the agreements at the Yalta Conference and the Potsdam Conference). The SVAG approved the arming of community-level police forces on October 31, 1945.

The name Volkspolizei began to be used in 1946. In August of that year, the Volkspolizei was placed under the control of the German Administration of the Interior. The first Volkspolizisten were mostly former Wehrmacht officers who had converted to communism, as well as former German members of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War.

It is not completely clear why the Soviet Union founded the Volkspolizei. The establishment of a force made up of Germans would imply that a sovereign German state would be on the way; however, Joseph Stalin had no intention of pursuing this goal any further, at least in 1946.

It has been speculated that the Soviets attempted to mould East German society so as to be similar to the Soviet Union's. In the Soviet Union, uniformed troops assigned to tactical groups to combat counterrevolution were subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior, and the Volkspolizei was organised in the same fashion.

By November 1946, the Volkspolizei had more than 45,000 officers. In that same month the SVAG authorised the creation of the Border Police, 3,000 men who were charged with preventing mass emigration into West Germany. In December, the Transportpolizei was established.

Oath

The official oath that all Volkspolizei officers swore is:

Ich schwöre,
meinem sozialistischen Vaterland, der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik und ihrer Regierung allzeit treu ergeben zu sein, Dienst- und Staatsgeheimnisse zu wahren und die Gesetze und Weisungen genau einzuhalten.
Ich werde unentwegt danach streben, gewissenhaft, ehrlich, mutig, diszipliniert und wachsam meine Dienstpflichten zu erfüllen.
Ich schwöre,
daß ich, ohne meine Kräfte zu schonen, auch unter Einsatz meines Lebens, die sozialistische Gesellschafts-, Staats- und Rechtsordnung, das sozialistische Eigentum, die Persönlichkeit, die Rechte und das persönliche Eigentum der Bürger vor verbrecherischen Anschlägen schützen werde.
Sollte ich dennoch diesen meinen feierlichen Eid brechen, so möge mich die Strafe der Gesetze unserer Republik treffen.

[1]

English translation:
I swear,
to be loyal to my socialist fatherland, the German Democratic Republic and its government at all times, to keep official and state secrets, and to strictly obey laws and instructions.
I will unswervingly strive to fulfill my official duties conscientiously, honestly, courageously, vigilantly and with discipline.
I swear,
that I will, without preserving my forces, under risk of my life protect the socialist social, state and legal order, the socialist property, the personality, the rights and the personal property of the citizens against felonious attacks.
If I nevertheless break this, my solemn oath, I shall be confronted with the punishment of the laws of our republic.

Purges

Stamp Of transport polizei

In the spring of 1949, the SVAG ordered that the Volkspolizei be purged of all "undesirable officers". This included anybody who had served in the Wehrmacht, anybody who had been a prisoner of war in the West, anybody who had come to East Germany as refugees from former German territories that had been placed under Polish or Soviet control, and anybody with relatives in West Germany.

People not deemed sufficiently committed to the communist cause were also dismissed. With these purges, the SVAG created a force that was, politically, steadfastly loyal. To further instill the correct politics into Volkspolizei officers, the Main Administration of Training was established in 1949. These training courses were run by communist heroes such as Spanish Civil War veteran Wilhelm Zaisser, and the man who would later become East Germany's Minister of Defence, Heinz Hoffmann.

By 1950, East Germany, though officially still without an army, was able to muster a well organised and well armed security force, and with the establishment of the Volkspolizei came the foundations of the future Nationale Volksarmee.

Uprising of 1953

The first major use of the Volkspolizei in a crisis situation was on June 17, 1953, when workers in East Berlin rioted because of the raising of work quotas without an increase in salary. This led to mass demonstrations and strikes across East Germany. Backed by Red Army tanks, the Volkspolizei broke the strikes and killed about 50 people.

1948-1990

In 1953, the DVP has the Sportvereinigung (SV) Dynamo as the sports club of the Ministry of Interior of the GDR. On August 17, 1961, the Volkspolizei shot and killed a man trying to escape over the Berlin Wall into West Germany, Peter Fechter.

The last East German law regarding the organisation of the police was passed in 1968, saying that the duty of the policeman was not only the aversion of danger, but also "the protection of socialist achievements, of free life and the creative work of mankind".

This very broad definition effectively raised the Volkspolizei to executives of state power, able to use the law to justify nearly any action. After the fall of East Germany, the Vopo system went out of business.

Following reunification

Following German reunification, the new German government began a massive overhaul of its police force, starting with officers formerly in the employ of the Volkspolizei.

As the modi operandi of the West and East German police forces differed vastly, Volkspolizei officers had to be retrained and taught the basic principles of West German justice, division of power and monopoly of power.

For example, many Volkspolizei officers were shocked to find out that they were no longer allowed to perform searches without an official court warrant.

Even in the 21st century, there is much social stigma connected with being a former "VoPo", and the blame of having been on the "wrong side" during the Cold War is often leveled against many ex-Volkspolizei officers to this day. Ex "VoPo"s are often on the receiving end of condescension from former West German officers.

Many police chiefs will hesitate before sending ex-Volkspolizei officers into demonstration situations, as the intensive training in violently breaking demonstrations Volkspolizei officers received may come back instinctively [citation needed].

References

  1. ^ Polizei
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