Volkspolizei

The Volkspolizei – full official name: the Deutsche Volkspolizei (German People's Police), abbreviated to DVP or VP, and colloquially known as the VoPo – was the national police force of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). The Volkspolizei was responsible for most law enforcement in East Germany; however, its organisation and structure were such that it could be considered to be as much a paramilitary as a civilian police force. The VP was equipped with armoured personnel carriers and artillery, and its recruits received military training.

The Volkspolizei was effectively founded just following World War II, when the Soviet Union established central police forces in the regions of Germany it occupied (in violation of the agreements at the Yalta Conference and the Potsdam Conference). The SVAG approved the arming of community-level police forces on 31 October 1945.

The Volkspolizei executed traditional police duties such as investigation and traffic control. The VP transferred most of their reports to the Ministry of State Security (MfS) and the high density of MfS informants in the GDR, especially in the forces, meant that every police action and investigation could be monitored as besides the official MfS liaison-officer (VO-Verbindungsoffizier), the MfS had agents in nearly every police unit.

The Volkspolizei was a national police force and was directly administered by and subordinate only to the Ministry of the Interior.

Rather than the civil service status that West German police enjoyed, each Volkspolizist had a personal contract with the government. The monthly salary was above the average income.

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