Service for Germany
The Service for Germany (DD) was a voluntary barracked labor service that was set up in the GDR in 1952.
It was based on a "recommendation" by the Soviet Union in April 1952 and was primarily based on Soviet models and the Polish organization Służba Polsce (German Service for Poland ). The similarity with the Reich Labor Service of the German Reich was unmistakable. Just like the founding of the Society for Sport and Technology (GST) in the same year, the DD was intended to serve as rearmament in the GDR .
The DD was created as an " FDJ initiative " based on a resolution by the SED Central Committee based on a proposal by FDJ chairman Erich Honecker . The DD was then set up as "a kind of labor service for 17 year old boys and girls on a voluntary basis".
The official establishment took place on July 24, 1952 by an ordinance of the GDR Council of Ministers to create the DD.
organization
The DD was subordinate to the Ministry of the Interior , there was a main administration DD formed on August 1, 1952, under the direction of Gerhard Balzer , to which two brigades were assigned, which were further divided into brigade management, camp management, departments, each department 3 trains with 3 groups each were.
| Service for Germany | DVP | CIP | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | |||||
| Brigade man / brigadist | candidate | soldier | |||
| Brigadier | Sergeant | Private | |||
| Squad leaders / Unterführer / NCOs | |||||
| Squad leader | Constable | Sergeant | |||
| High Squad Leader | Sergeant major | sergeant | |||
| Main troop leader | Chief constable | Sergeant Major | |||
| Field masters / leaders / officers | |||||
| Sub-field master | Sub-commissioner | Sub-lieutenant | |||
| Field master | Commissioner | lieutenant | |||
| Oberfeldmeister | High Commissioner | First lieutenant | |||
| Main field master | advice | Captain | |||
| Brigade field master | Councilor | major | |||
| Brigade Oberfeldmeister | commander | Lieutenant colonel | |||
| Brigade chief field master | Inspector | Colonel | |||
| General field master / inspectors / generals | |||||
| General field master | Chief Inspector | Major general | |||
| General Oberfeldmeister | General Inspector | Lieutenant General | |||
| General Oberfeldmeister as head of the main administration | Chief of the German People's Police | Colonel General | |||
Calls
On August 8, 1952, the first advance detachments began their service. The voluntary commitment was valid for a period of six months. 66 camps were planned for the entire GDR, with 100,000 young people between the ages of 17 and 21 completing labor service per round.
Work took place for earthworks and as a handyman on large construction sites in the course of the establishment of the NVA, such as Prora and Eggesin , as well as the construction of the ironworks combine in Stalinstadt . In addition to the work, pre-military training was also planned. The training concept included basic military training, target practice, topography lessons, tactical terrain games and basic medical training for female members of the DD.
The aforementioned scope of planning was never achieved. Camps were mainly set up in the poor northeast of the GDR.
The establishment of the so-called Brigade 1 in the state of Mecklenburg came the furthest . In autumn 1952 the Prora, Altwarp , Karpin, Spechtberg / Neuhaus, Drögeheide , Stallberg camps and the temporary sub-camps Gumnitz, Scharfbrück, Spechthausen, Jagen, at the youth college at Bogensee , and at the Ferdinandshof train station existed here .
Brigade 2 was launched in the Fürstenberg (Oder) (Eisenhüttenstadt) area.
Dissolution of the DD
Overall, the DD proved to be uneconomical. Overall, the DD fell far short of expectations and at no time justified the material expenditure involved.
When it was founded in the summer of 1952, the DD was assumed to be a self-financing organization; all expenses, including the salaries of the functionaries, were supposed to be covered by the work . In 1952 the GDR spent 64 million DM, in 1953 another 7.4 million DM for the DD and ADD. The permanent staff alone cost 3.5 million marks, with 0.3 million DM, only 4% of the expenses directly benefited the young people via the daily allowance of 1 DM. The revenues of the labor service in 1952/53 amounted to a total of only 384,000 DM. That corresponded to a percentage of only 0.54% of the total expenditure.
Because of this inefficiency and the organizational and disciplinary difficulties that could not be overcome, all girls' camps were dissolved in November 1952 and the entire DD in January 1953. Another attempt followed in March 1953 in the form of ADD , Arbeits Einsatz Dienst für Deutschland. This service was directly linked to economic projects and businesses. Locations were u. a. the ironworks combine in Stalinstadt, Niederschachtofenwerk Calbe (Saale) , the large coking plant Lauchhammer and the Maxhütte (Unterwellenborn) . But even here the problems could not be overcome and the ADD was also dissolved on June 7, 1953 after another six months.
Further considerations for a labor service became obsolete with the introduction of general conscription in 1962.
literature
- Michael Buddrus : The organization "Service for Germany". Labor service and militarization in the GDR. Juventa, Weinheim, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-7799-1124-8
- Torsten Diedrich: In the service of the party. Handbook of the armed organs of the GDR. Links Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-86153-160-7
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Michael Buddrus: The organization "Service for Germany" (lit.)