Date Thesis Awarded

5-2024

Access Type

Honors Thesis -- Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelors of Arts (BA)

Department

History

Advisor

Tuska Benes

Committee Members

Jennifer Gülly

Amy Limoncelli

Abstract

The East German Border Police (Deutsche Grenzpolizei) was the organization responsible for patrolling the borders of the German Democratic Republic from its creation in 1946 until its transformation into the Border Troops of the GDR (Grenztruppen der DDR) and reorganization as part of the National People's Army (Nationale Volksarmee) in 1961. The organization had the dual task of preventing "Republikflucht," the illegal migration of East German citizens to West Germany, and acting as the first line of defense in the case of an attack from West German forces. The ruling Sociality Unity Party of Germany (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands) conceived of the Grenzpolizei as the paramilitary vanguard of the sovereignty of East Germany and the SED's brand of socialist ideology. Accordingly, its personnel was supposed to consist of politically conscious volunteers, motivated to serve out of patriotism and ideological zeal.

However, not all members of the Grenzpolizei fit this mold. Between 200 and 300 members of the Grenzpolizei deserted to the West every year, ironically committing the crime of "Republikflucht" which they were supposed to prevent. This thesis uses archival sources -- the investigations and meta-analyses of desertions produced by the Central Administration of the East German Border Police and the Ministry for State Security -- to explore the "microhistories" of the border guards who fled to the West between 1948 and 1959. By reading state files "against the grain," this thesis attempts to reconstruct a top-down "people's history" of the deserters, placing them in their historical and social contexts.

Ultimately, this thesis posits that a significant cohort of the Grenzpolizei’s recruits joined the force for pragmatic reasons while maintaining no loyalty towards the East German state. Those who deserted to the West were driven to flee in equal measure by the exigencies of their personal lives, from which the easily traversable German-German border provided a means of escape, and their frustrations with the material conditions of life in East Germany. Meanwhile, the SED -- which conceived of Republikflucht as a crime and act of betrayal -- tended to characterize desertion as a moral failing and blame it on exogenic factors and influences. This thesis highlights the tension between these narratives and examines its implications for the nature of dictatorship in East Germany.

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