From Surveyor to Servant: The Democratisation of the Police (With Reference to the Brandenburg Police, Germany)

Footnotes

INTRODUCTION

1. Germany is a federal country, and as such is divided into sixteen federal states, the German name for these being (Bundes)land [plural= (Bundes)länder].

2. The other new Bundesländer are Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen. They are known as the 'new Bundesländer' to distinguish them from the 'old Bundesländer', which formed the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) until reunification in 1990.

3. The Grundgesetz (GG) is the German constitution, which came into power in May 1949 and is valid until the day when a new constitution for the whole of the reunited Germany comes into power.

4. Bund = Federation. All the Länder as a whole political entity. Matters which concern the Bund concern the whole German nation and not merely individual Länder. The Bund is only responsible directly for customs and border protection (article 73, number 5 of GG), air traffic regulation (article 73, number 6 of GG), cooperation of criminal police, i.e. the Bundeskriminalpolizei and international crime-fighting (article 73, number 10, a to c of GG). Otherwise, the individual Länder take the main policing role.

5. The Wende is the name given to the general process of change in Germany shortly before, during and after the events of late 1989. Wende literally means 'turn' or 'turning point'.

6. These concepts are set out in the Musterentwurf eines einheitlichen Polizeigesetzes des Bundes und der Länder (model outline of a uniform police law for the Bund and the Länder) from 25th November 1977.

7. The GDR (German Democratic Republic, or East Germany) was created in 1949 from the area under Soviet occupation after the Second World War and ceased to exist after the reunification of Germany in 1990.

8. SED = Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands = United Socialist Party of Germany. This was the state party in the GDR.

CHAPTER ONE

9. Deutsche Volkspolizei = German People's Police.

10. 'The organ of united Socialist state power in the GDR.'

11. Minister des Innern = Home Secretary / Minister of the Interior.

12. Abschnittsbevollmächtigte = Authorized Sector Agents.

13. PDS-LL = Partei des Demokratischen Sozialismus-Linke Liste = Party of Democratic Socialism-List of the Left.

14. Posten- und Revierdienst = Post and beat service.

15. "It is easier for totalitarian regimes to suppress violence and criminality, all the more so if the country is surrounded by wall and barbed wire."

16. Neues Forum/Argus = New Forum/Argus. A faction in Brandenburg which contains the (former) pressure movement, together with the 'green' group.

17. MfS = Ministerium für Staatssicherheit = Ministry of State Security. More commonly known as the Stasi.

18. The Einigungsvertrag (Treaty of Union), signed on the 31st August 1990, basically transferred the Grundgesetz and law of the old Bundesländer to the new Bundesländer, allowing for certain exceptions, where a straight transfer of law would be impractical, difficult, or impossible.

19. FRG = Federal Republic of Germany. Now the name of the whole of reunified Germany, from 1949 until 1990, this was the official name of West Germany.

20. See appendix A.

21. See appendix B.

22. "Taxi drivers in the new Bundesländer are, in places, technically better equipped (better cars, better communications equipment and greater esprit de corps among colleagues) than the proper police."

23. Innenminister = Minister of the Interior.

24. "There were not seventeen million resistance fighters in the GDR." The point being made here is that very few citizens of the GDR actually fought actively against the political system. The population of the GDR was approximately seventeen million.

25. The Gemeinsames Landeskriminalamt (Collective Criminal Investigation Department), replaced by each new Land's own criminal investigation department after its law on police organization, acted as a collection point for information on criminal activity.

26. The Personalkommission (personnel commission) had the task of validating the completed questionnaires and interviews of former Volkspolizei officers, and of choosing those they considered as suitable for work in the Brandenburg police.

27. Inoffizielle Mitarbeiter = Unofficial Colleague(s). These aided the MfS in its work.

CHAPTER TWO

28. The Landtag is the parliament in each German Land and has power of legislation over certain issues concerning its own Land.

29. Polizeiorganisationsgesetz = Police Organizational Law.

30. "In the east and west (of Germany), confidence in the police from the Left and the Right has diminished... Are the custodians of the law incapable of protecting themselves and the public?"

31. Konferenz für Innere Sicherheit = Conference on Internal Security.

32. "The public in the new Bundesländer feels threatened. The feeling of personal safety has been adversely affected. People are ruled by the fear of a wave of violence and criminality, triggered off by reunification. The police and administrative body of the law seem powerless... In our eyes, this does not correspond to the true state of security."

33. MdI = Ministerium des Innern = Home Office / Ministry of the Interior.

34. The Landeskriminalamt (State criminal investigation department) in each Land and the Bundeskriminalamt (Federal Criminal Investigation Department) work closely together.

35. Bereitschaftspolizei = Mobile Police.

36. Potsdam, Cottbus, Oranienburg, Frankfurt am Oder, and Eberswalde-Fidow are the five sectors of police control in Brandenburg, each with its own headquarters.

37. Landespolizeischule = State Police School.

38. Each Land in Germany has a government, with executive power over certain matters concerning its own Land. This is the Landesregierung.

39. Zentraldienst für Technik und Beschaffung - Central Office for Technology and Acquisition.

40. See appendix C

41. Bürgerrat = Civil Advisory Council.

42. SEK = Spezialeinsatzkommando = Special Operations Detachment. MEK = Mobiles Einsatzkommando = Mobilized Operations Department. VG = Verhandlungsgruppe = Negotiation Group. PS = Personenschutz = Personal Protection Unit.

43. "We need new equipment and technology in the police. However, we need above all a genuine closeness to the public. This, in my opinion, has not least of all something to do with us ourselves and with our consideration of our fellow citizen."

44. Freiwillige Helfer (Volunteer Helpers) of the ABVs were ordinary members of the public, who helped the ABVs with their work during their own free time.

45. Bundesrat = The upper house of the German parliament, which consists of representative members from each of the Länder.

46. "Internal security in the new Länder can be guaranteed increasingly less by the day."

47. "For an average 1,000 to 1,100 marks, people are risking more than just their health. I marvel the engagement with which our people assume their duty again and again, despite all this... Things cannot continue as they are."

48. "Despite the incertainty during the Wende, we have succeeded in avoiding a collapse of internal security."

49. "We have pensioned off many experienced police officers (those over fifty years old), who we certainly could still have used today."

CHAPTER THREE

50. "The speedy advance in the equipping and outfitting of the police has the utmost priority."

51. 32 million DM = approximately £13 million.

52. The Trabant, or 'Trabi' was a mass-produced car of the GDR. Known for its simplicity, the Trabant can often be repaired by its owner with the aid of a few simple tools, but is notorious for its high levels of pollution and low level of performance. Trabants are still popular in the new Bundesländer, although they are likely to be eventually phased out following recent environmental legislation. See appendix D.

53. Spielgeld = Toy money. The East German Ostmark was often called this by the public, because of its lack of real value.

54. "The current public order and security problems are immense".

55. Vollzugsbeamte = (Executive) Officers.

56. Auszubildende or 'Azubis' = Trainees.

57. Kriminalisten von Dienst = Service Criminalogists.

58. Kripo = Kriminalpolizei = Detective force (similar to CID).

59. Tag der Volkspolizei = Day of the People's Police.

60. RAF = Rote Armee Fraktion = Red Army Faction. This was an anarchist group of urban guerrillas, lead by Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, responsible for terrorist activity in the FRG from 1968 and especially during the 1970s.

61. SPD = Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands - German Social Democratic Party.

62. Bundesgrenzschutz = Federal Border Protection. Charged primarily with the responsibility of securing Germany's borders. However, with ever closer European links and the relaxing of internal borders within the Community, the Bundesgrenzschutz has lost and is likely to lose many of its original functions.

63. F.D.P. = Freie Deutsche Partei = Free German (Liberal) Party.

64. The Bundestag is the lower house of the German Parlament.

65. The Republikaner (Republicans) are a right-wing party, often displaying blatant racist tendancies.

66. "A policeman today still runs around the street with the law book."

CONCLUSION

67. 'Besserwessis' = 'Know-all westerners'. There exists in the reunified Germany the notion of Ossis (those from the former GDR) and Wessis (those of the old FRG or West Germany).

68. Polizeiwache = Police watch.

69. "The police does not exist solely to punish me, but is simply there for me."

70. "As far as internal security is concerned, we approach the future not without concern, but also not without provision, not without ideas and not without confidence that we shall overcome current and future problems."

 

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