SED DOMINATION OF POLICE FORCE IN SAXONY-ANHALT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R000500790005-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 11, 2000
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: May 13, 1947
• Content Type: IR

IA-RDP82-004578000500790005-9
- ,
Cf~T?R~A~ 1~4TELLI~~~CE ~Rt~UP _ ?
t~tTELLi~E~ICE RE~'ORT
Ct?U~'C62Y Germany/Russian Zane
SU~JE6"i' SEI3 Doffiir~tion of Police Farce
3n Saxrany~AriF~alt
25X1A
25X1X
DATE: 25X1 A
?i8T~3 ~ ~y 1947
PACES 3
SUPPLEMEjVT
A1"'PACH~flENT 11ist
to At a meeting of SEA delQgatss from the police district T~alle~
~Isrseburg, held i~; Prierse~burg in September 19~~i,~ Police President
Bea?nbruch made a speech oza "Th? Position of the SEl7 in the Police
~'orcef?~, ~senbx+uch explairasd-that the purpose of his speech was
to define tYxe ts.sk of the SEl7 cells within tYae police, not in his
capacity as po~.ice presidQnt,~ but as a~San party membsrw and that
it was f:kts party's v~ish that, this meeting mark tz~e beg~.nning of a
new phase ~.n the political work of the pol~?ce fores~ Pf~Je ~64arxi~ete
ere fully aware that wa can make ?rga~,izational decisions and drag
practical conc:lusb~ns o*ily if we are conscious o~? the ov~er~al.l
politica3. p~.eturs, zao matter hove condensed a picture it iso~ The
SEll~ figk:ting far sci?~x~tific sdcial.ism, ~zas assigned .the police
farce thc~ task of zmaking tt poQsible t'? seize power and spread
sacialisrgt as .fast ms the situatio~~ and the dsvsloptnent and maturitg
of the eeork3,ng class psrmitm For the I~enefit of those m?mbers of
the ,police .forc? wha may have bean infected by the teachings of
fox~xal dsmocrac:y, Bessnbruch point?d out that there is no reason
for them to cozaceal their ultimate aim, since leadixag party members,
such as tT1Y~ri cht A are veep aveare of the importance of this goal
In its relat3.ons to thr othexi parties, the SED pays lip service to
dsrrocracy~ but among thszr~selves,, S~;T3 msanbers must real~.ze that the
polit~.cal aim oi' the SED is to spread socialism and to win o~rer the
ma,~ority of the people and the i.oliceo If the fight .for socialism.
.failed ix~ '~chs pasta it was due to the sp~.itting uga of the work~ars~
however it will succeed in the future, thanks to the neca merger of
the working claaso In order to proceed properly and to take
advantage of t~~ez p~al9.ce as an instrument; in this ~'3ght, it is
necessary to consider the past, to draw practical. conclusion~xa and
to base f?.iturs decisions and campaigns an past t~:rpe.c?.icnces~
~ W Althoug~'i the SEA has become an organic 3~.nit and has stood its ground
during the past elections, there are still undercurrents, a.nd much
work vein be needed toy weld it into a ~aoothly fu~actioning party
with a xeccarrr~.;~.~:edA t~.l~ifo po7.icy_ This- is sspeciai,~,g~,~regard
------ is herevr ?-" With the
This document ~ord~nce
the
1
in ~`c"
_
1y78 from
CONFiDENT1A
letter of 13 O~toaer to the
Director of De;~~;al l~a ~~~~ ~ e
_+`~ Lam!
r~LL: i~
~.~.si. 8 I~?L%f~
r -r
Archivist of tWle r^ ~
Next F?~,f ` c?v C"? ~. ? -~-'
.Rel~eti2m00/D5/16 : CIA-RDP82-00
 25X1A.
Approved For Releas?~Q/079~311B~i~[~00457R0005007900
to the police force, which attracts public atten~~.on and. is ~nE
only .organization permitted to carry axmq, i:he only instrument of
power to which the working class has direct access According to
Besenbruch, neither in the SED nor in the police force do in-
dividuals or small groups wield povner; only democratic decisions
of the entire :r~embership are binding4 Area]. German mass move-
ment will grow out of these "democraticE' deliberations and the
ensuing democratic decisions, based on the will of the entire mem-
bership; this mass movement will make it possible for the ,~,ED to
master all problems and sweep away all resistance? Differences
of opinion might increase the activities of the party and speed
up decisions; however, once the problems have been fu11y discussed
and decisions have been adopter. by the ma3or3.ty of party members,
then these decisions must be accepted and yarried through faith-
fully by every member, regardless of his persona]. opinionso
only thus will the party become more powerful? "1Jithin the short-
est possible time vac shall establish a police force `which, as re-
garde reliability in the political sense as understood by the SED,
cannot be surpassed and tvhtlse final goal is the merger of socialism E''
Every member, whatever his position, is subject to party discipline;
every member of the police force is, on the one hand, a party member,
~on the other hand, an official of the administrative a?;eney~ Al-
though there are two authorities, every true socialist must realize
that he owes .the highest moral arzd political allegiance to the
party, since he joined it valuntarilye Tkzase who wonder whether
loyalty to the party and to the government a~T~eney may be conflicting
must bear in mind that the party is the highest political and moral
authoritya Thee party orders its members to carry through certain
measures in their official capacity, and these directives must be
fulfilled faithfully by the-party members This means that although
the party does not act directly, it is, nevertx.~aless, the decisive
factor, even when it comes to the specialized and executive work of
the police forcee
3,~ In addition, this SED authority over the police is supported by the
fact that each party member, no matter what his position, may be
called upon to account for his actions before the party, although
he is not responsible to the party in his official capacity. The
party will never as~~ the police president to account for his actions
but only the party member, who is bound to give an acedunting, in
view of his party allegianc?~ Those not willing to accept these
facts and who think they can ga against the. wishes of the .party,
have no place in the partyo If the SED decides that Lieutenant ~r~rr
has acted against the interest of the party, he c:alnot rer.^.a in i.n the
party If he wants to remain in the party, he must bow to the will
of the party and give up his pdstm If he tries to keep his post,
then we know where he stands and can try to have him removed by his
superiorsa It is better to have all enemies of party discipline
outside the party so that we can fight them openly and they cannot
hide behind their party booksm
4a Besenbruch declared that he is well. aware that the proper function-
ing of the police force requires each member to carry through the
orders and directives of his superiors; no party member n?ed be
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1~ INT~LI~IG~NC~ GRaUF ~
worried that he i,s favoring reactionary measures by obeying orders
as long as the SED ~~olice cells are functioning Besenbruch askedp
"How could an officer who is a member of the party dare give an
order or carry throu~;~h measures harmful to the party, when he knows
he may be called to account bg the party an hour later?" The weak-
est point thus far has been that the SED culls have not exercised
a tight enough control aver the most important political directives
to their memberan If an order harmful to the interests of the party
is given to an SED man bg a superior who does not belong to the
party, it will simply be necessary to settle the matter on a higkiar
levelo
5a Besenbruch explained that the police force, as a whales is repres-
ented by the employees council and not by the SED ce11s; this
means that the emplayees~ council is responsible far dism~,ssix~ and
hiring people, and that emplogees~ delegates are not bound by the
directives of the party as lcn,g as they are not members of the partga
although it cannot call to account the entire emplogees~ co'uz~eil,
the party call is, nevertheless, in a position to enforye its will
bg demandinf; that those employeest delegates who are party members
follow part~r directives? Inasmuch as the police farce consists of
ll~?0 men, 8tlt~ of whom are SED members, it stands to reason that the
ma,~oritg of the delegates should be party members, who should see to
it that the v~~ishes of the party are carried thrvugh~ Although at
least 50 percent of the administrative police are SED 3taembers, SED
delegates are in the minoritg. This means that QED members have
voted for candidates of other parties and that hostile elements have
infiltrated the partgo
C~~ ~-
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 25X1A
. ~ ~ipproved For Relea~~;~~~.~~~~-004578000500790
Pc'r}Y Aff3.].?,ations of iv;~rr~bex?~ oi:' Po~.1ce I;orce, Iialle
(3tatus as of ]. December 1946)
5ED
LDP
CDU
No Party
Police I~ orce
i,eading Officials
2t7
2
4
m
Patrolmen
595
74
43
B
Clerks -
22
5
6
5
Others
1
--
r
.
Detective Farce
~
,
Leading Officials
6
-
~
?-
Detectives
51
5,
2
2
Clerks
C4
3
3
4
Others
Detective Farce -'
?-
_
_
Branc'~ Aff~ces
Leading Officials
4
-
a
Detectives
51
-^
Clerks ~
52
1
-
'?
tethers
Administrative Office
?~
_
"
Leading Officials
4
2
1
?~
Officials
6
4
3
~
Clerks
37
15
6
15
ethers
25
1
~
34
Total
938
112
70
88
Percentage
78?9~0
9e4o
5A9f
5.8~
Thin "+CI[%'ui?Wily ;v1'i'lii.iicv ' ia:':~Iii~3te'.~.;i~ i3,::~~r~.:'v.:.:;'.,~ 'i~.~'ac. .mac .~i.C:~.:..~.
C3OFeI14l,' u% u,i{~ vii. V3ti J'~d?.vvw ';x',%tes.'..I: ~.Li?i.'ri~:'~l:'.:,~ "~~~ tom,.` r.._r'
I'j~pionc:~~s ~ :;t, ;.1, i.:~.L. 3~ E~:.%i 3:,:.:., a~.*~c:ru~':.~u. ~?;.~
transmis:~?ibil tar t:~; ~~;Ye.:w;,i~~n ~Y i~:.s .:ou'~ie :'?+~~ i:_ ~.*.~~
manner t1~ aa,. unu.ut~~a:~z'i~~~ i,ar3~~ri ~i~ prohibited by ear.
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