Customs administration of the GDR

Publicans and drug sniffer dog of the customs administration of the GDR in use, end of November 1989

The customs administration of the GDR was a state body of the GDR , which was responsible for the state control of all goods , foreign exchange and money traffic according to the customs law, the foreign exchange law and the monetary traffic regulation. Its forerunner was the "Office for Customs and Control of Goods Movement (AZKW)" established on August 28, 1952. The customs administration was created in 1962 after the wall was built and was under the Ministry of Foreign Trade until October 3, 1990 .

Organization and legal basis

Service pennant for vehicles of the customs administration

Structure of the customs administration in the GDR

Manual for the customs service of the GDR

The customs administration had 9,510 employees who were led by the chief inspector in the main administration in Berlin-Grellstrasse ( Prenzlauer Berg ).

It consisted of:

• the head office,
• the 8 district administrations in district cities of the GDR: Rostock , Potsdam , Berlin , Frankfurt (Oder) , Magdeburg , Erfurt , Leipzig and Dresden ,
• the 61 border customs offices, 15 inland customs offices, 14 post offices and 20 customs investigation offices.

The education and training of the relatives took place in the institute of the customs administration of the GDR " Heinrich Rau " (from 1965 to December 31, 1980 technical school of the customs administration of the GDR) in Plessow . This training facility was headed by Dieter Rutsch from 1972 to 1988 and Horst Bischoff from 1988 to 1990 .

On April 21, 1950, with the law for the protection of intra-German trade, the control of all goods and means of payment crossing the German border was taken over by the Office for the Control of Goods Movement (AKW). On March 28, 1962, the Customs Act of the German Democratic Republic (Customs Act) was passed.

The armed and appropriately trained forces of the customs administration were among the armed organs of the GDR .

Customs administration and MfS

As an organ of the Ministry of Foreign Trade, the customs administration was controlled by the Department XVIII (HA XVIII) of the Ministry for State Security (MfS) through the management of unofficial employees (IMs) in general and officers on special assignments (OibEs) in key positions.

At border crossing points (GÜSt) the employees of the customs administration worked closely with the passport control unit (PKE) of Main Department VI of the MfS.

Awards

On May 12, 1967, the Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal of Merit of the Customs Administration of the German Democratic Republic was donated.

In 1972 the award of Honored Employee of the Customs Administration of the German Democratic Republic was donated, which was awarded up to ten times a year and endowed with 5,000 marks.

Others

In the emblem of the East German customs administration - two writhing snakes around a staff - is a representation of Hermes rod (caduceus).

literature

• Jörn-Michael Goll: Controlled controllers. The importance of the customs administration for the “politically operative” work of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR (= writings of the Hannah Arendt Institute for Research on Totalitarianism . Vol. 44). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-525-36920-3 .
• Handbook for Customs Service (GDR) - Office for Customs and Control of Goods Movement; Verlag Die Wirtschaft Berlin (1960); Permit number 195/133/60

Web links

Commons : Customs administration of the GDR  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Commons : Office for Customs and Control of Goods Movement (AZKW)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• The customs administration of the GDR at Runde Ecke Leipzig
• The customs administration of the GDR close to GDR

Individual evidence

1. ^ Determination of pension entitlements and entitlements from a special pension system of the armed organs of the former GDR. (No longer available online.) Federal Office of Administration, formerly in the original ; Retrieved March 26, 2009 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  
2. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: HA XVIII on bstu.bund.de , accessed on April 11, 2009
3. ↑ according to the exhibition board in the German Customs Museum , Hamburg
4. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated February 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.