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East Germany The Establishment of the Ministry of Defense
On January 18, 1956, the People's Chamber (the national
legislature) passed a bill creating the NVA and the Ministry of
Defense. This act formally acknowledged the existence of East
Germany's armed forces. The NVA incorporated the KVP, Sea Police,
and Air Police into a single armed force having three branches:
ground, naval, and air. The Ministry of Defense was headed by
Colonel General (Generaloberst) Willi Stoph, who was also
minister of the interior. In 1987 Stoph was chairman of the
Council of Ministers and a member of the SED Politburo. General
Hoffmann, who was listed as first deputy minister of defense,
attended the Soviet General Staff Academy in the mid-1950s and
replaced Stoph as defense minister in 1960. Hoffmann held the
post until his death in 1985. Concurrent with the establishment
of the NVA as a legal entity was a return to public
manifestations of German military traditions, with the addition
of socialist elements. The training regimen for recruits
approximated that of the former Wehrmacht, as did drill and
ceremonies. New uniforms, whose color and cut were far closer to
those of German World War II forces than to Soviet models, were
introduced. Only the helmet represented a radical departure from
World War II, but here too the design differed from the Soviet
model.
The creation of the NVA addressed both internal and external
security problems. Internally the physical appearance of the NVA
spoke to the population in terms of their traditional German
heritage and differentiated the NVA from the Soviet Army. In
theory at least, East German citizens could have pride in their
own army. The swift creation of the NVA as a force of more than
120,000 officers and other ranks practicing Prussian-style drill
was a dramatic gesture of nationalism that was impossible for the
world to ignore.
The creation of the Ministry of Defense and the NVA seemingly
should have been a blow to the authority and prestige of the
Ministry of the Interior. The bureaucratic impact of this action
was mitigated by permitting Stoph to carry both portfolios for
four years. In addition, police activities, both civil and
secret, remained under the Ministry of the Interior, as did the
Border Police. The Ministry of the Interior established its own
Alert Units for the specific function of internal security. The
Alert Units were militarily structured, fully motorized units
with modern weapons and equipment. Garrisoned and trained in
battalion-size units, they were capable of carrying out police
tasks and other security functions. They have been used in major
disturbances or in civil disasters affecting public order and
safety.
Data as of July 1987
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