German Border Police

Federal Border Guard

Bundesgrenzschutz
BGS Federal Eagle (Bundesadler) worn from 1976 until 2001
Agency overview
Formed	14 March 1951
Dissolved	1 July 2005
Superseding agency	Federal Police
Jurisdiction	Government of Germany
Headquarters	Bonn
Employees	24,000 (1995)
Parent agency	Federal Ministry of the Interior

Bundesgrenzschutz (BGS; English: Federal Border Guard) was the first federal police organization in West Germany after World War II permitted by the Allied occupation authorities. In July 2005, the BGS was renamed Bundespolizei (Federal Police) to reflect its transition to a multi-faceted police agency. This was controversial due to the German constitution expressly granting law enforcement power to the states. The fact that the border guard function was so limited allowed its formation notwithstanding this restriction, however in the modern day it has become a fully fledged police force.

The BGS was established in 1951 after the Cold War had begun but travel between East and West Germany was not yet restricted by the Berlin Wall (1961). There was no German Army in 1951; it had been abolished in 1945 on the surrender of the Third Reich and the authorities of Allied-occupied Germany did not authorize a German Army until 1955. When German nationals could move freely from the DDR to the BRD in Berlin, people attempting to cross illegally elsewhere were likely to be either commercial smugglers or espionage agents carrying contraband (e.g., radio transmitters.). Occupation authorities judged this could be better policed by a permanent force of Germans who knew the border woods and mountains intimately (rather than British or US troops who rotated out of Germany after a year or two) and at German rather than Allied expense. The BGS was organized along paramilitary lines in battalions, companies, and platoons, and was armed as light infantry. It remained a police force controlled by the Ministry of Interior rather than by the Ministry of Defense.

On 3 October 1953 The Bundespasskontrolldienst (passport control service) was transferred to the BGS and was now deployed on the entire German border.