Transport police

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In August 1961 Horst Schumann honored members of the transport police for their work in the construction of the Berlin Wall.

The transport police ( Trapo ) was the railway police of the German Democratic Republic . As an armed body on the premises of the Deutsche Reichsbahn, it was responsible for security and surveillance.

tasks

The transport police monitored all major train stations and checked passengers on domestic trains near the border with the Federal Republic of Germany . Another task was to accompany the transit trains that ran between the Federal Republic and West Berlin. Before the construction of the Wall in Berlin 's Controls were S-Bahn -Verkehrs in the western part of the city also carried out by the Transport Police - the entire railway network in Greater Berlin the German National Railroad, which at that time also operated the tram shelter to 1993rd

The transport police were also present at football matches to avoid disruptions.

Organizational history

The railway police that existed within the Deutsche Reichsbahn had been disbanded by the occupying powers at the end of the Second World War . Looting and railroad robberies in post-war Germany quickly led to a need for law enforcement officers in the field of goods transport, especially the railways. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) initially relied on the unresolved railway protection, which was reinforced with additional railway workers. However, the members of this service did not have any police force. The railway protection offices were located in the eight Reich Railway Directorates of the Soviet occupation zone , the highest authority was thus the Central Administration for Transport. This structure was confirmed by an order of the General Director of the Reichsbahn on October 25, 1945. At the pan-German level, the Allied Control Council formally decided on May 10, 1946 that a proper railway police organization should be rebuilt to secure military supplies and the supply of the population in all occupation zones.

With order no. 212 of July 30, 1946, the SMAD created the "German Interior Administration" as the highest authority for all police services in the Soviet occupation zone, following the example of the Soviet militia . The previous Main Railway Protection Office and the Main Water Protection Office with four Water Protection Offices were combined in the Railway and Water Police Department . The railway protection became a regular railway police, the structure of the departments was adapted to that of the local police. The eight offices were subordinated to inspections and guards at the level of the Reichsbahnamt. The railway police were divided into railway criminal police with 345 and railway protection police with 5125 officers.

In 1949 the police were reorganized within the German Administration of the Interior, which was to become the Ministry of the Interior (MdI) shortly afterwards with the establishment of the German Democratic Republic . In a newly established main administration of the German People's Police , the railway and water police were combined to form the main transport police department with the protection police, criminal police and water protection departments. The previous railway police offices were people's transport police offices. From January 1950, non-uniformed train escort commands were used.

In 1952, the waterway police were spun off from the transport police and 39 transport police offices now assigned to the Reichsbahnamt were created. From January 1953 to January 1957 the main transport police department under Otto Auerswald was subordinate to the Ministry or State Secretariat for State Security , where it briefly belonged to the newly created Central Security Administration in 1956/57. Then she came back to the Ministry of the Interior and remained a branch of the People's Police until 1990. In 1954 the transport police were restructured. In place of the transport police offices, initially 14, from 1955 again eight sections corresponding to the Reichsbahndirections were created. The troop, which was now divided into companies , trains and groups independently of the Reichsbahn structure, and which was increasingly trained and organized militarily, comprised 8,900 police officers. The actual railway police service was only provided at larger train stations; the focus of the tasks shifted to military strategic object protection. Three quarters of the staff were employed here, 6.5% in the train escort, 5.3% in the criminal police and 12.6% in passenger stations and in the administration. In order to reduce this excess weight again, the structure of the transport police offices and districts was reintroduced in 1959.

With the introduction of compulsory military service in the GDR in 1962, service in the transport police was legally regarded as alternative military service , so that a three-year voluntary service could be performed in eight newly created transport police companies ( see: People's Police Readiness ). In addition, as reserves, volunteer helpers of the transport police were recruited from Reichsbahn employees in train strength and the object protection for so-called objects of category II working class fighting groups in company strength were assigned. This was intended to ensure the fulfillment of the tasks of the transport police to secure the march through and the supply of the armed forces of the Warsaw Pact in the state of defense while at the same time reducing the peacekeeping strength: in 1967 the transport police comprised about 6,900 men.

In 1970, the sections were dissolved and transport police offices assigned to the districts and subordinate to the chiefs of the district authorities of the German People's Police were created. The transport police maintained several schools, the central school was in Nordhausen.

On March 1, 1990, the personnel strength was 5600 police officers and 800 conscripts in the operational companies, in 1989 the personnel strength of the railway police of the German Federal Railroad was 2700 for comparison. With the accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic, the transport police were on September 30, 1990 with a strength of 2008 Man dissolved, approx. 1700 men were taken over into the "Railway Police in the Federal Border Guard" according to the provisions of the Unification Treaty. On April 1, 1992, the Federal Border Police , later the Federal Police , took over the tasks of the railway police throughout Germany .

guide

Head of the Transport Police Department

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ MfS-Lexikon: Main Department of Transport Police