what happened in 1990?

[ritterkreuz1945]

I was wondering what happened the day unification came? or leading up to that day, say the last month. What did the border guards do, or think? What about the Stassi? Where did they go. I have always wondered about the VOPO Did they also loose their jobs? Did the people of the DDR get educated in the "new" laws of the land? What about representation in the Bundstag? when did it come for the new lands? And the NVA? What was the feeling? How does one feel knowing the uniform you are wearing and the flag you have sworn to defend is to go away and be replaced with the "enemy's" in the west????? I am sorry, just late at night and LOTS of questions.... no answers!!
Cheers,
Michael

[torstenbel]

I was wondering what happened the day unification came?
Cheers,
Michael

I got myself drunk that day.... Cheers, Torsten.

[Ingsoc]

The NVA, Volkpolize has merged with their western counterparts, after the reunification an election to the Bundestag been held, and btw the flags of both Germanies was identical.

[Don D.]

Actually, the flags were the same colors but the DDR flag had a rondel on it. I was lucky enough to be monitoring things in the DDR at the time. We were specifically tasked to montitor the elections that led to the disollution of the DDR. I talked to many people and they were happy for the most part. Many were also drunk and it was hard to refuse the beers offered. Even the VOPOs and STASI quit being jerks and actully wanted to talk to us.
On a side note I ended up at the war memorial on the Seelow Hieghts at the end of my tour and met a german vet who had fought there. He was wounded by a machine gun. He showed me where he had gotten stitched up the side by rounds. He was evacuated and ended up in the Nurnburg area when he was captured by the American Army. He spent some time in captivity in the west and then was repatriated to the eastern zone because his family was from there. He complained that during the time he was held by the US all the prisoners had to share a loaf of bread between four of them every day. Finally I turned the conversation to current events, ie reunification and asked him what he thought of it. He replied," Today is only unification." Then he pointed east across the Oder River and said," Reunification is over there."

[Don D.]

Things didn't come to a halt all at once either. The BND found a DDR Volksarmie intercept unit still collecting on the western zone and sending reports to the russians three months after reunification. That is one of the reasons senior officers of the DDR were not asked to stay on. Old habits die hard.

[Ingsoc]

Actually, the flags were the same colors but the DDR flag had a rondel on it.

Didn't the communist coat of arms was removed from the DDR flag after the free elections?

Things didn't come to a halt all at once either. The BND found a DDR Volksarmie intercept unit still collecting on the western zone and sending reports to the russians three months after reunification. That is one of the reasons senior officers of the DDR were not asked to stay on. Old habits die hard.

Never heard of it, I allways thought they didn't stay as Bundeswehr officers beacause all the senior officer were SED party members (althought it was never an official requament), I believe they also acted as advisers to the Bundeswehr.

[Mike G.]

Ingsoc: Quote: “The NVA, Volkpolize has merged with their western counterparts, after the reunification an election to the Bundestag been held, and btw the flags of both Germanies was identical."

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<TABLE style="MARGIN-LEFT: 15pt; WIDTH: 100%; mso-cellspacing: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 4.5pt 4.5pt 4.5pt 4.5pt" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #ece9d8 0.75pt inset; PADDING-RIGHT: 4.5pt; BORDER-TOP: #ece9d8 0.75pt inset; PADDING-LEFT: 4.5pt; BACKGROUND: #591111; PADDING-BOTTOM: 4.5pt; BORDER-LEFT: #ece9d8 0.75pt inset; PADDING-TOP: 4.5pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #ece9d8 0.75pt inset">Originally Posted by ddoering<O></O>
Things didn't come to a halt all at once either. The BND found a DDR Volksarmie intercept unit still collecting on the western zone and sending reports to the russians three months after reunification. That is one of the reasons senior officers of the DDR were not asked to stay on. Old habits die hard.<O></O>





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Ingsoc: Quote: “Never heard of it, I allways thought they didn't stay as Bundeswehr officers beacause all the senior officer were SED party members (althought it was never an official requament), I believe they also acted as advisers to the Bundeswehr."



Reply:
Ingsoc, I think there was confusion about how you phrased your comment, regarding your response about the East and West German flags. It appeared you were inferring they both were identical from inception and then throughout the history of the DDR. Initially, both countries shared the same flag. In 1955 the staatswappen was adapted as part of the DDR symbol and it was officially added to the flag of the DDR in 1959.


You are correct in your answer. Unification was not official until October of 1990. East Germany (DDR) reverted back to the original flag (Same as West Germany) in June of 1990 - some five months before unification was official.
Officers of the DDR Military were prevented (there may have been a very few exceptions) from serving in the Army of West Germany primarily because of the Oath they took upon being sworn into active service in the NVA. It was different from the Oath taken by the Other Ranks of the DDR Armed Forces. This, above all else, was the primary reason they were deemed unacceptible for duty in the Bundeswehr.
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[torstenbel]

Never heard of it, I allways thought they didn't stay as Bundeswehr officers beacause all the senior officer were SED party members (althought it was never an official requament), I believe they also acted as advisers to the Bundeswehr.

no, that was not the reason...99.9% of all officers, including myself, were members of the SED...and that includes any kind of officer, police, army, fire brigade...whatever services they worked for...and it was not compalsory to be a member, but it was advisable to be a member of the party. All in all and as far as I recall, about 10,000 men and officers were integrated (with many of them leaving service again within a year or two from that date) into the Bundeswehr from the NVA and the vast majority of the officers and NCO's would have been members of the party and so, that would not have been the reason for not taking them over into the Bundeswehr. The main reason was that they were simply surplus to requirements. None of the equipment used in the NVA was used in the Bundeswehr (apart from MIG29 fighters and other very specialist and top quality equipment which the Bundeswehr was only too happy to add to their arsenal) and so, there was nothing that most of the officers could have done in the Bundeswehr without requiring major re-training and of course, the doctrine in the east in terms of tactics, etc. was completely different from that in the west....the oath sworn by members of the NVA on the GDR ceased to be relevant with the death of the GDR and those officers that were integrated into the Bundeswehr simply had to re-take the oath on the FRG in October 1990. Cheers, Torsten.

[iannima]

The best thing you can do to find an answer to your questions is to read this book:

Dale R. Herspring
"Requiem for an Army. The Demise of the East German Military"
Rowman & Littlefield 1998

This is a comprehensive account of the last months of 1989 and the entirety of 1990. It is written by a US Historian which thankfullly gives a certain distance and hence a greater balance of vision than other German publications (at least the ones translated in English) on the subject which have had a tendency to being rather partisan. The prime example of which is this:

Jörg Schönbohm
"Two Armies and One Fatherland" Berham Books 1996 (English edition)

This is the diary of the Bundeswehr General who toook command over the Eastern part of the country during the transition period after the 3rd of October when guarding and dismantling the now useless armaments of the NVA became a serious concern.

The book is so unashamedly self serving and eulogistic of the Bundeswehr which is depicted as being so much better than the NVA in all manners of ways (with particular reference to the quality of dishwashers and shower facilities , and similar notoriously essential military equipment), that my hitherto neutral/positive feelings towards it, with the occasional bit of equipment bought, became a dislike...
One thing stuck in my mind: at a certain point a memo is circulated across all commands reminding Bundeswehr officers coming from the West and taking over command of former NVA units, that in no way should they behave as victors over vanquished in their dealings with ex-NVA officers and NCOs.
Somehow I get the feeling that if a memo like that was needed, that is EXACTLY what was happening at the time...

[ehrentitle]

There are a couple of books in English that cover the end of the NVA and the integration of some members into the Budeswehr. The one that comes to mind is Requiem for an Army by Dale R. Herspring, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. 1998. Herspring was an Army officer working with the Bundeswehr at the time and this book was based on a thesis he wrote for his PhD so it is very academic. There is another book also written by a college professor, which I can't think of the title at the moment, but is is based on surveys given to former NVA officers and is a good complement to the Herspring book.

As I recall the Bundeswehr was going through a downsizing at the time they were tasked to integrate some former NVA members in the the Bund. So accepting NVA officers and NCOs was very unpopular. The whole vetting process for the NVA is explained in these two books. All general officers were forced to retire before unification, but several were taken on as advisors. Political officers were discharged as well as most female soldiers who were not performing medical and clerical duties. Some soldiers vetted themselves out because of affiliation with the Stasi. Some were kept just long enough to dispose of NVA property. Others applied for short or long service in the Bund, most lost 1 to 3 ranks in the process.

Apparently there was a difficult time finding enough qualified former NVA NCOs to fill NCO quotas in the Bund. Officers had to go through an extensive review and retraining process. What I found especially interesting was that the quality of the first recruits drawn from the East were considered far superior to their West German counterparts. The reason, extensive paramililitary training in the GST and other organizations.

One thing that was specifically mentioned in both books is that NVA traditions, unit names and insignia, medals, etc were not adopted by the Bundeswehr. On the day of unification remaining NVA soldiers changed into Bundeswehr uniforms (where they were available).

[torstenbel]

What I found especially interesting was that the quality of the first recruits drawn from the East were considered far superior to their West German counterparts. ).

naturally and not surprisingly.... Cheers, Torsten.

[ehrentitle]

The second book is, From Confrontation to Cooperation : The Takeover of the National People's (East German) Army by the Bundeswehr by Frederick Zilian, Praeger Publishers, ISBN: 0275965465. Both this book and Requiem for an Army can be a bit hard to find and expensive.

A couple of other themes from these books.

* NVA soldiers felt betrayed by their Soviet brothers in arms who negociated unification treaty because they didn't require more intergration of NVA soldiers in the the Bund. They were also let down by the transitional East German government which made a lot of promises that they were not able to keep.

* There was lots of uncertainty about the future for NVA members who chose to stay on. One major concern was distruntled soldiers would use the arms and ammunition at hand to stage some type of revolt or revolution.

* I found it interesting that the Bund would not accept technical qualifications or degrees from NVA soldiers that they absorbed. Nothing they did in their previous career counted, it was like starting from scratch.

[ritterkreuz1945]

* I found it interesting that the Bund would not accept technical qualifications or degrees from NVA soldiers that they absorbed. Nothing they did in their previous career counted, it was like starting from scratch.<!-- / message --><!-- sig -->__________________

I have often thought they ( Bund) were really very nasty that way, they didn't even let them retain their awards, hell they let the OKW guys were theirs and they were not "part" of the Bund either at that time.

[Rob Brown]

so I take it any service medals from the NVA were defunct and they werent allowed to wear them on parades etc?

[ehrentitle]

From Zilian Pg 146 -

A second supplementry but still significant decision in this area was the Bundeswehr's decision not to recognize any previous military or academic training that a former NVA may have undergone before Unification. Not suprisingly, this decision came under harsh criticism by selected NVA, as might be expected mostly from those who had received significant training and education while in the NVA....One officer in Leipzig, CPT Reiner Moeller, had received an engieering degree for the Soviet Academy in Leningrad. This along with his courses in the NVA, had not been officially recognized by the Bundeswehr.