Patrick Major - Behind the Berlin Wall: East Germany and the Frontiers of Power

B E H I N D T H E B E R L I N WA L L

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Behind the Berlin Wall

East Germany and the Frontiers of Power

PAT R I C K M A J O R

Great Clarendon Street, Oxford

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Patrick Major 2010

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First published 2010

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Data available

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Major, Patrick.

Behind the Berlin Wall : East Germany and the frontiers of power / Patrick Major.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 9780199243280

1. Germany (East)History. 2. Germany (East)Politics and government. 3. Germany (East)Social conditions.

4. Power (Social sciences)Germany (East)History. 5. Berlin Wall, Berlin, Germany, 19611989.

6. WallsSocial aspectsGermany (East)History. 7. BoundariesSocial aspectsGermany (East)History.

8. Germany (East)BoundariesGermany (West) 9. Germany (West)BoundariesGermany (East) 10. Cold War. I. Title.

DD282.M35 2009

943 .1087dc22

2009026991

Typeset by Laserwords Private Limited, Chennai, India

Printed in Great Britain

on acid-free paper by

MPG Books Group, Bodmin and Kings Lynn

ISBN 9780199243280

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

To my father, John Major (19362009), my first historian

Acknowledgements

My thanks go to the many people who have helped in the archives on this long project, above all Volker Lange of the Bundesarchiv Berlin, whose untimely death saddened me greatly. I wish also to thank the Nuffield Foundation and the University of Warwicks Humanities Research Centre for their financial support, as well as colleagues Colin Jones and Margot Finn for reading the manuscript, and Leo Schmidt for checking one chapter. Various German friends put up with the Wall, and put me up too, including Ralf Haselow and Katrin Rump, Susanne and Johannes Gaebler, Ute Engelhardt, and Katrin and Annika Eickmann. I wish also to thank all those who agreed to interviews, but appear here anonymized.

Throughout, my parents, John and Rosemary, have followed the project with

interest and been a pillar of support. Above all, I thank my wife Jennifer, who helped me over the final wall.

Contents

Cold War Berlin.

xiv

Republikflucht by area, 195061 (as percentage of regional populace).

6061

Republikflucht by age and sex, 195260 (monthly).

Movements across the open border, 194961 (monthly).

Republikflucht among the intelligentsia, 195361 (monthly).

Republikflucht by social group, 195261 (monthly percentages).

Visas, Republikflucht and petitions, 195061 (monthly).

Republikflucht via Berlin and the Demarcation Line, 195061 (monthly).

GDR tourist trips to the eastern bloc, 196089.

Travel and emigration from East to West Germany, 196188.

Emigration applicants by area, 198489 (as percentage of local population). 213

AZKW

Amt fr Zoll und Kontrolle des Warenverkehrs (Office of Customs

and Excise)

BAB

Bundesarchiv Berlin

BAK

Bundesarchiv Koblenz

BArch

Bundesarchiv (Federal Archive)

BDVP

Bezirksbehrde der Deutschen Volkspolizei (Regional Authority of

the German Peoples Police)

BfV

Bundesamt fr Verfassungsschutz (Federal Office to Defend the

Constitution)

BL

Bezirksleitung (Regional Leadership)

BLHA

Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv (Brandenburg State Main

Archive)

BMG

British Military Government

BMfgF

Bundesministerium fr gesamtdeutsche Fragen (Federal Ministry of

All-German Affairs)

BMfIB

Bundesministerium fr innerdeutsche Beziehungen (Federal Min

istry of Inner-German Relations)

BPA

Bezirksparteiarchiv (Regional Party Archive)

BPKK

Bezirksparteikontrollkommission (Regional Party Control Commis

sion)

BPO

Betriebsparteiorganisation (Works Party Organization)

BStU

Bundesbeauftragte/r fr die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes

der ehemaligen DDR

BT

Bezirkstag (Regional Parliament)

BuVo

Bundesvorstand (Federal Executive)

BV

Bezirksverwaltung/Bezirksvorstand (Regional Administration/

Executive)

DBM

Dokumentationszentrum Berliner Mauer

x

Abbreviations

DDR

Deutsche Demokratische Republik (German Democratic Republic)

DVP

Deutsche Volkspolizei (German Peoples Police)

EZA

Evangelisches Zentralarchiv

FDGB

Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund (Free German Trade Union

Federation)

FDJ

Freie Deutsche Jugend (Free German Youth)

HU

Humboldt-Universitt (Humboldt University)

HV

Hauptverwaltung (Main Administration)

HVDVP

Hauptverwaltung der Deutschen Volkspolizei (Main Administration

of the German Peoples Police)

IA

Innere Angelegenheiten (Internal Affairs)

KL

Kreisleitung (District Leadership)

KMS

Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz)

KMU

Karl-Marx-University Leipzig

KPKK

Kreisparteikontrollkommission (District Party Control Commis

sion)

LAB

Landesarchiv Berlin (State Archive Berlin)

LAM

Landesarchiv Merseburg

LPO

Leitende Parteiorgane (Leading Party Organs)

MdI

Ministerium des Innern (Ministry of the Interior)

MdJ

Ministerium der Justiz (Ministry of Justice)

MfHV

Ministerium fr Handel und Versorgung (Ministry of Trade and

Supply)

MfK

Ministerium fr Kultur (Ministry of Culture)

MfS

Ministerium fr Staatssicherheit (Ministry of State Security)

MLHA

Mecklenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv (Mecklenburg State Main

Archive)

MZAP

Militrgeschichtliches Zwischenarchiv Potsdam (Military History

Interim Archive Potsdam, now housed at Freiburg)

NF

Nationale Front

Abbreviations

xi

NVA

Nationale Volksarmee (National Peoples Army)

NVR

Nationaler Verteidigungsrat (National Defence Council)