Pass (Berlin Wall)

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A document issued by the GDR was referred to as a pass that allowed West Berliners to enter the eastern part of the city for a day after the wall was built .

Application form for a pass and permits for entry and exit

Pass Agreement

From December 1963, the legal basis for this was temporary permit agreements . The first was followed by three more in 1964, 1965 and 1966. A fifth did not come to an end. From 1966, the GDR only issued passes to West Berliners to visit relatives in the eastern sector in "cases of hardship".

It was not until June 1972 that the Four Power Agreement on Berlin enabled the West Berliners to enter East Berlin and the territory of the GDR, which had been closed to them since 1952. The prerequisite for the visitors was an authorization certificate issued by the GDR in West Berlin to receive a GDR visa .

Pass

The application for the passes was made in twelve pass offices in West Berlin, which were set up in gyms. The acceptance of the applications and the issuance of the passes were done there by "Einsatzgruppen" from East Berlin employees of the Deutsche Post . The staff, which had to be increased from 83 to 260 emergency services after a few days, was interspersed with unofficial employees (IM) from the Ministry for State Security (MfS). All emergency services were obliged to behave in a conspiratorial manner while on duty in West Berlin and to monitor one another. They were under full-time employees of the MfS, who disguised themselves as "group leaders" of the post. After the end of work, they were not allowed to return to their East Berlin apartments after the second permit agreement, but had to live together in an "object", whereby the group leaders had become "instructors". In the quarters, they continued to operate in camouflage vis-à-vis their supposed colleagues. The IM among the postal workers were not led by the group leaders or instructors, but by other full-time employees of the MfS.

Passes

The applications had to be brought to East Berlin every day to be processed by the People's Police and then by the MfS. Then the applicants had to go to their respective pass office again in West Berlin in order to receive the pass issued or a rejection. If the visitors lived in the border area of ​​the Wall, a meeting with the West visitor was only possible outside the border area.

literature

  • Steffen Alisch: "It is important to ensure that all are dressed warmly" . In: Zeitschrift des Forschungsverbund SED-Staat , 16/2004, pp. 17–25.

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