Combat Groups of the Working Class

Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse
Flag of the Kampfgruppen
Active	29 September 1953 – 14 December 1989
Country	German Democratic Republic
Allegiance	Warsaw Pact
Size	202,000–211,000, peacetime 1980
Part of	Ministry of the Interior

The Combat Groups of the Working Class (German: Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse, KdA) was a paramilitary organization in East Germany, founded in 1953 and abolished in 1990.

The Kampfgruppen were formed on September 29, 1953 after the workers' uprising of June 1953. The KdA made its first public appearance at the annual May Day demonstration on May 1, 1954. It was intended to be the East German equivalent to the People's Militias of Czechoslovakia which played a very important part in the consolidation of workers' power in Czechoslovakia in 1948. Their formation also fit the East German ethos of the worker being the centre of power in the new socialist state.

A central school for KdA leaders was set up in Schmerwitz in 1957. Der Kämpfer was the monthly newspaper and voice of the KdA; it was printed by the SED's Neues Deutschland publishing house.

The largest use of the KdA was during the construction of the Berlin Wall, in the summer and fall of 1961. The best-trained and most-politically reliable KdA units and members from Saxony, Thuringia and East Berlin participated in the construction and guarding of the Wall. Over 8,000 KdA, about 20% of all military units, were involved in this effort. During the six-week deployment of the KdA to the East-West Berlin sector boundary, only eight members escaped to the West, indicating a high state of morale and political reliability.

The KdA were not used during the peaceful mass protests in late 1989 at the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig, for many KdA members identified with the protesters and some participated in the marches. The decline of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) and rapid political changes in East Germany, after the Wall was opened, made the KdA no longer relevant or necessary. The decision to disband the KdA was made by the East German parliament (Volkskammer) in December 1989. Disarmament of the KdA began that month and was supervised by the police who consolidated and stored weapons and equipment along with the National People's Army (NVA). The final 189,370 fighters (in 2,022 units) were completely demobilized in May 1990.