Re-use of the WGT properties

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The Soviet troops in Germany (official name since 1988 West Group of Troops , abbreviated WGT ) used an area of ​​approx. 240,000 ha ; this roughly corresponds to the area of ​​the Saarland .

One of the prerequisites for the reunification of Germany as a member of NATO was the termination of the stationing of Soviet troops on German soil. Accordingly, it was agreed in Art. 4 of the Two-Plus-Four Treaty of September 12, 1990:

“The governments of the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics declare that the united Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics have agreed in contractual form the conditions and duration of the stay of the Soviet armed forces on the territory of today's German Democratic Republic and Berlin as well as the execution of the withdrawal of these armed forces, which will be completed by the end of 1994 in connection with the implementation of the obligations of the governments of the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, to which paragraph 2 of Article 3 of this Treaty refers will be."

This obligation was implemented with the Residence and Withdrawal Agreement (AAV). On the one hand it legitimized the temporary stay of Soviet troops in Germany and on the other hand regulated the circumstances of its termination.

Ownership

Of the 240,000 ha mentioned, approx. 226,000 hectares owned by the people . According to Art. 21 Unification Treaty, these areas became the  property of the federal government . The authorities of the Federal Property Administration , at local level the Federal Property Offices , were responsible for safeguarding the owner's rights and observing the owner's obligations as well as for the successive withdrawal in the course of the troop withdrawal .

Other owners had 14,000 hectares. According to Art. 2 of the Act of Approval for the AAV, the continued use by the Soviet troops was deemed to be premature assignment in terms of the Land Procurement Act . Regardless of the legal basis on which the Soviet state had claimed the land during the Soviet Occupation Zone or GDR times, legitimation was created for this - temporarily until 1994.

According to Art. 8 AAV, the Soviet troops had property owned by the state at their disposal free of charge. For the use of real estate owned by other persons or legal entities, it was regulated that the Soviet troops had to pay a usage fee through the German authorities . After the return by the Soviet side, the federal property offices handed over the property to the beneficiaries.

Environmental issues

Bomb scrap from the 16th Air Army on the Retzow military training area , 1993

Contaminated sites and ordnance placed a considerable burden on a large part of the WGT properties. On the one hand, this was due to the fact that some of these had been used for military purposes before 1945, and often before 1918. In some areas they had been contested in the final phase of World War II and all properties were ultimately shaped by intensive Soviet military use for 45 years. An extreme example of this is the so-called Bombodrom in Brandenburg, which was first contaminated by military use since 1945.

The Federal Environment Agency therefore commissioned IABG to carry out a comprehensive investigation of suspected contaminated sites. 15,000 suspected contaminated sites were identified for which further action was required. Around 16,500 emergency measures had been initiated by 1996. In addition, the federal government assumed most of the costs for waste disposal.

Another fate of the properties

Federal authorities, but in particular the Bundeswehr , checked the suitability of WGT properties for their purposes. If there was a federal requirement, the Federal Property Office handed over the property to the consumer by means of an administrative agreement, in the case of the Federal Armed Forces to the site administration . Otherwise, the objects were intended for sale. However, budgetary regulations (so-called budget notes) made it possible for the federal property offices to sell the properties at a reduced price (the reduction was up to 80% of the market value) to states, municipalities or other public institutions.

Federal offer to the federal states

At the beginning of the 1990s, the federal government offered the federal states to transfer the WGT properties that were no longer required for federal purposes and not yet sold to the respective federal states. The federal government assumed an attractive package that included both valuable inner-city plots such as B. in Potsdam , Dresden and Magdeburg as well as problematic polluted areas in structurally weak rural areas.

Brandenburg, Saxony and Thuringia

The states of Brandenburg , Saxony and Thuringia accepted the offer. Corresponding administrative agreements have been concluded between the federal government and them.

The main content of the administrative agreements are:

  • Transfer to the federal states free of charge
  • Reservation for possible federal requirements (e.g. related to the Sperenberg airfield )
  • Remain particularly heavily ecologically polluted areas with the federal government

In order to accelerate the change of ownership procedurally, the Allocation Supplementary Act was enacted as Article 17 of the Register Procedure Acceleration Act (RegVBG) of December 20, 1993 ( Federal Law Gazette I pp. 2182, 2232 ). Section 1 of this supplemented the Consent Act to the AAV to the effect that

  • federally owned former WGT properties,
  • which are no longer used according to the contract,
  • according to an agreement between the federal government and the state concerned
  • at the request of the state can be transferred to this by means of an allocation notification under the Asset Allocation Act .

The federal states passed laws on the administration and exploitation of the WGT properties taken over by the federal government.

Brandenburg

In 1994, Brandenburg set up the dependent special property Grundstücksfonds Brandenburg , which was dissolved on December 31, 2004 and transferred to the state budget.

For certain purposes worthy of funding, the properties were temporarily allowed to be sold at a reduced price.

Of the more than 100,000 hectares that the country has taken over, more than 93% have been used for civil purposes, according to the state. Aid from the EU , the federal government and the state was used for this purpose.

Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania did not accept the federal offer; In these countries, the Federal Property Administration privatized the properties, provided that there was no federal requirement.

Administrative regulations

  • Guideline of the TMLNU for the promotion of measures to treat contaminated sites in the Free State of Thuringia - Funding guidelines for contaminated sites -

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ BVerwGE 112, 274.
  2. ↑ Brandenburg: Administrative Agreement of June 20, 1994, announcement of August 11, 1994, Federal Gazette No. 196a of October 15, 1994.
  3. ^ Answer from the Thuringian Ministry of Economics, Labor and Technology. Retrieved July 9, 2016.
  4. ↑ Thuringia: Administrative Agreement of February 9, 1994, announcement of February 22, 1994, Federal Gazette No. 68a of February 22, 1994.
  5. ↑ Saxony: Announcement of November 26, 1993, Federal Gazette 1994 No. 11a.
  6. ↑ Saxony: Law on the Realization of Properties of the Western Group of Troops of December 17, 1993, SächsGVBl. 1993, p. 1256.
  7. ↑ Thuringia: Thuringian law on the utilization of the properties of the western group of the troops (Thüringer Liegenschaftsverwertungsgesetz - ThürLiegVerwG -) of September 27, 1994, GVBl. 1994, 1065.
  8. ↑ Brandenburg: Law on the Realization of Properties of the Western Group of Troops (WGT-LVG) of June 3, 1994, GVBl. I p. 170.
  9. ↑ § 2 WGT-LVG
  10. ↑ The Brandenburg Association of Towns and Municipalities is critical of this. ( Memento of the original from August 6, 2016 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stgb-brandenburg.de
  11. ↑ § 13a HG 1994 in the version dated December 21, 1993.
  12. ^ Conversion in Brandenburg. ( Memento of the original from August 6, 2016 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. Retrieved August 6, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mwe.brandenburg.de
  13. ↑ ThürStAnz 2002, 2499 (no longer in force since January 1, 2009).

See also