Inner German brandy smuggling
The brandy smuggling referred to here as internal German is exclusively the illegal shipment of brandy from a state warehouse of the Soviet sector, which began in 1948 during the Berlin blockade , was initially limited to West Berlin and expanded to the Federal Republic from 1949 .
Causes and purpose
After the currency reform in 1948 , which was also applicable in West Berlin , the Soviet Union attempted to use the Berlin blockade to induce the Western Allies to abandon the West Berlin sectors or to force them to be incorporated into the Soviet occupation zone . To support this attempt and at the same time to weaken West Berlin economically and fiscally, the smuggling of highly taxable goods, including 96% spirits , from the Soviet sector to the West was organized. The sale took place at much lower prices in hard currency, without tax burden and monopoly requirements, exclusively for shipment to the West.
Smuggling routes
Initially, brandy smuggling was limited to Berlin, where the risk of detection was low because the sector borders were still open . For the transport from East to West Berlin, mainly smaller, inconspicuous containers or secret tanks built into cars were used.
In the following year, brandy was also smuggled across the zone border into the zones of the Western Allies (soon to be the Federal Republic). Mostly 200 liter barrels were used for this. In order to rule out the risk of being discovered by customs and police in West Berlin, distribution centers were set up on transit routes to West Germany. In Michendorf , deliveries for transports on the Berlin – Hanover and Berlin – Munich motorways took place near the Drewitz border crossing , and in Friesack at the smuggling gas station on the B5 / F5 Berlin – Hamburg .
organization
Most of the smuggling was carried out by West Berliners. After the expansion to the Federal Republic, groups organized the smuggling of people who had become stateless due to the war. They bought the smuggled goods in Storkower Strasse, arranged for it to be taken over at the distribution centers and transported across the border, and monitored delivery to buyers beyond the zone border. Most of the time they were present at the delivery to collect the purchase price themselves and then to pay their helpers. Helpers were mainly smaller Berlin and West German haulage companies who were active in Berlin and interzonal traffic and generated additional income through the transport, as well as employed drivers, who thus gained additional income. On their vehicles, the barrels were hidden between or behind legal transport goods in such a way that they remained undetected at the West German checkpoints during the occasional visual inspection of the cargo. The checkpoints had no loading and unloading devices; in the interests of speedy Berlin and interzonal traffic, they only registered entry and monitored the time of re-exit from the Soviet Zone / GDR . Indeed, no transport of illegal brandy at the zone border has been discovered.
Sales of contraband
In the sales areas, the organizers regularly took over the distribution themselves, so that direct contact between carriers and customers (which could lead to the organizers being eliminated) was avoided. For this reason, the organizers mostly rented small trucks , onto which they had the contraband goods reloaded at truck stops or remote parking lots and with which the deliveries to the customers could also be carried out less conspicuously.
The buyers found nationwide spirits manufacturers who used smuggled goods for the manufacture of their products in addition to spirits that were properly obtained from the monopoly administration or registered there. Thanks to the use of smuggled goods that were bought at a lower price, they were able to offer their brandy products at lower prices. U. could arouse suspicion, or they achieved greater profits if the prices were the same, which made it easier to survive in the then highly competitive industry of spirits production.
Independently of the groups described above, a Berliner who had already become conspicuous through his smuggling across the sectoral boundaries continued his activity with the shipment of spirits to the Federal Republic. He transported it in spare truck wheels, in which he had tanks with a capacity of more than 110 l installed and also a bicycle tube that was supposed to simulate the correct air pressure in the event of a test.
Investigation
The investigation of the spirits smuggling under these circumstances was considerably more difficult. The West German authorities only achieved success after years. It was only possible thanks to an apprehension during an extradition in Hamburg and subsequent puzzle work by the customs investigation team. In the, the notifications of the control points, the speedometer discs of suspicious haulage companies, in the case of car rentals, rental contracts and routes of the rented small trucks as well as hotel stays of the organizers were evaluated and the correct remuneration of the suspected spirits manufacturers was compared with the extent of their production. The collected material was so overwhelming that partial confessions were initially made and the network of the organization was uncovered in the course of further lengthy investigations. In the case in which the smuggling of 100,000 liters of brandy and thus a loss of taxes of more than DM 1 million was proven, over 100 people were charged in a 895-page document.
coordination
Decisive for the successful fight against this smuggling and the smashing of the individual, among themselves z. The fact that the investigations pending in several places in the Federal Republic were taken over by the Hamburg public prosecutor's office and that the matter was also treated in a legally uniform manner, which was previously lacking in view of the different tax assessments of the offense, was missing.
In connection with the investigation, the operation of a secret distillery was uncovered in Hamburg .