Trading of East German political prisoners information
Clandestine deal between East and West Germany
Häftlingsfreikauf ("Prisoners' ransom") is the term used in Germany for an informal, and for many years, secret, series of transactions between the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and the German Federal Republic (West Germany) between 1962 and 1989.[1] Over this period nearly 34,000 East German political prisoners were "freigekauft" (ransomed). West Germany paid East Germany, generally in cash or goods, an average of approximately 40,000 Deutsche Marks per person.[2] Political prisoners whose freedom had been purchased could choose to be expelled directly from their place of detention to West Germany, and frequently were given no notice or opportunity to communicate with their families, nor to say goodbye to fellow prisoners, before being transferred to the West.
The practice ended in October 1989 when remaining political prisoners began to be released in the context of the Peaceful Revolution and the rapid succession of changes that led, formally in October 1990, to German reunification.[3] Between 1964 and October 1989, it is believed that 33,755 political prisoners had their freedom purchased for a nominal total price of 3.5 billion Deutsche Marks in terms of the equivent currency's modern purchasing power. In addition to the release of political prisoners, approximately 250,000 exit visas were purchased by West Germany on behalf of East Germans who wished to emigrate.[4]
The cash payments helped support the economy of East Germany, which was in a state of permanent financial crisis from the 1970s until German reunification.[5]
The Protestant Church's Stuttgart based social welfare organization Diakonie played a facilitating role in mediating the transactions. Close relations between the East and West German Protestant church communities were tolerated by East Germany's ruling SED (party).
^Gavin Haines (6 November 2014). "East Germany's trade in human beings". BBC News. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
^Katja Iken (24 October 2011). "Häftlingsdeals mit der DDR ... 40.000 D-Mark für die Freiheit: Von 1963 bis 1989 verkaufte das SED-Regime fast 34.000 politische Gefangene an die Bundesregierung. Erst gegen Geld, später gegen Güter". Der Spiegel (online). Retrieved 31 January 2016.
^"Vertrag zwischen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland und der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik über die Herstellung der Einheit Deutschlands (Einigungsvertrag)". Bundesminister i.A. Bundesministerium der Justiz und für Verbraucherschutz. 31 August 1990. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
^Klaus Schroeder (1998). Der SED-Staat: Partei, Staat und Gesellschaft 1949–1990. Munich / Vienna: Haner Verlag. p. 191. ISBN 3-446-19311-1.
^Andreas Malycha. "Der Beginn des Niedergangs ... Wachsende Unzufriedenheit". Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (BPB), Bonn. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
and 24 Related for: Trading of East German political prisoners information
(EastGermany) and the German Federal Republic (West Germany) between 1962 and 1989. Over this period nearly 34,000 EastGermanpoliticalprisoners were...
Federalism in GermanyGerman governing coalition List ofpolitical parties in Germany List of Federal Republic ofGermany governments Lobbying in Germany Party...
their impact. St. James Press. "Politicalprisoners in the German Democratic Republic". Politicalprisoners in the German Democratic Republic | Communist...
States has held politicalprisoners, people whose detention is based substantially on political motives. Prominent U.S. politicalprisoners have included...
Germany's borders with the West, the end of the ruling of the Socialist Unity Party ofGermany (SED) in the German Democratic Republic (GDR or "East Germany")...
2012) was a German lawyer and government legal officer. He played a central role in negotiating the TradingofEastGermanpoliticalprisoners for – in most...
The National Committee for a Free Germany (German: Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland, or NKFD) was a German anti-Nazi organisation that operated in the...
collapsed, and East and West Germany were reunited in 1990. The Franco-German friendship became the basis for the political integration of Western Europe...
EastGermanpoliticalprisoners and 215,000 ordinary citizens to the West, beginning in 1964. Many of the prisoners were ransomed by the West German government...
and member of the Warsaw Pact. After the fall of the communist led-government in EastGermany, German reunification saw the former EastGerman states join...
situation of World War I prisonersof war in Germany is an aspect of the conflict little covered by historical research. However, the number of soldiers...
In the late Middle Ages, trading colonies of Venice and Genoa along the Northern Black Sea coasts used the instable political and religious border zones...
whom two-thirds were politicalprisoners, including many Catholic priests, and nearly one-third were Jews. At least 25,613 prisoners are believed to have...
Inner German relations (German: Innerdeutsche Beziehungen), also known as the FRG-GDR relations, EastGermany-West Germany relations or German-German relations...
ofpoliticalprisoners to Auschwitz consisted almost exclusively of Poles. It was for them that the camp was founded, and the majority ofprisoners were...
The German Democratic Republic (GDR), German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR), often known in English as EastGermany, existed from 1949 to 1990...
ofGermany's entire civilian work force, and the majority ofGerman factories had a contingent ofprisoners. The Nazis came to power in the midst of the...
rebelled against German colonial rule. On January 12, they killed more than 100 German settlers in the area of Okahandja. In August, German General Lothar...
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, is a term used to describe the German state between 1933 and 1945...
ransomed to the West German government. Between 1964 and 1989, 33,755 politicalprisoners were ransomed. A further 2,087 prisoners were released to the...
West Germany was the Federal Republic ofGermany from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with EastGermany on 3 October 1990. During...
from this year asserts Dutch trading posts, apart from Allada and Offra, in Benin City, Grand-Popo, and Savi. The Offra trading post soon became the most...
collaborators throughout the Arab world to support their political goals. The cooperative political and military relationships were based on shared hostilities...
Global Information