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East Germany Criminal Behavior
Many observers reported an increase in crime throughout the
1970s and 1980s. In the 1970s, with population growth at
virtually zero, the number of persons convicted began to rise
significantly following a drop in the 1960s.
A West German analyst identified young people as the most
frequent offenders. The districts with the highest incidence of
criminal activity all lie in the north, he determined, where the
country's population base is youngest. Theft, fraud, and
embezzlement accounted for 50 percent of all crimes. Drastic
increases were reported in robbery, blackmail, and juvenile
delinquency. Alcohol abuse was linked to about 32 percent of
violent crimes. Murder remained constant, while serious economic
offenses--white-collar crimes such as illegal building and
graft--decreased somewhat.
Some East German authorities attributed the sharp upswing in
crime to the moral impairment of a small group of young people
who had come under imperialist influence, while other experts
also blamed domestic remnants of presocialist society and, in
cases of insanity or near-insanity, biological and psychological
factors. Western analysts attributed the persistence of crime
largely to apathy, cynicism, and declining public morale
resulting from the high regulation of society.
Prevention has centered on efforts to address citizens'
grievances more quickly and thoroughly; analyze and influence
public opinion; instill in young people a belief that work is an
honor and discipline a duty to society; use the penal system as
well as the family, mass youth organizations, unions, and schools
as tools in rehabilitating criminals; and encourage popular
participation in law enforcement. Voluntary assistance forces,
for example, help the People's Police and the Border Troops in
their work. Where prevention fails, punitive measures are
available, including probationary sentences, fines, restitution,
and increasingly severe sentences for crimes against property
motivated by capitalist influences.
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Because of the communist penchant for secrecy, particularly
where military issues are concerned, reliable primary source data
on East Germany's national security systems are scarce. Few good
sources are available in English. The most definitive treatment
of this subject comes from West German sources. The nature of
West Germany's relationship with its East German neighbor,
however, sometimes precludes unbiased analysis or interferes with
an evenhanded approach to the subject. Scholarly research on East
Germany by non-German Westerners exhibits a preference for
economics, politics, demography, and other subjects less
controversial than military affairs and national security. There
are, however, some useful sources. A definitive source is Die
NVA: Kernstück der Landesverteidigung der DDR by Thomas M.
Forster. Forster has published several editions of this book,
each more professionally written and displaying better research
than the last. An excellent English translation of the 1980
edition is available; as of mid-1987 the most recent edition,
dated 1983, had not yet been translated. NVA in
Stichworten, edited by Ullrich Rühmland, is a dictionary that
lists terms and titles used in the NVA and describes their
origin, history, and meaning in encyclopedia-style entries.
Although a bit polemical in style, it is an extremely valuable
source. As of mid-1987, the 1985 edition had not been translated,
although English versions of earlier editions were available.
Bewaffnete Organe in der DDR: Nationale Volksarmee und andere
militärische und paramilitärische Verbände, by Joachim
Nawrocki, contains a wealth of detail on the organization of the
NVA and other armed agencies. Siegfried Breyer's Die
Volksmarine der DDR: Entwicklung, Aufgaben, Ausrüstung,
published in 1985, provides excellent information on the history,
missions, and equipment of the People's Navy. For data on the
Border Troops, the best source is Frontdienst im Frieden: Die
Grenztruppen der DDR by Peter Joachim Lapp. In English,
The Military Balance by the International Institute for
Strategic Studies is a good source for a current summary of the
overall strength and arms inventory of East Germany. Other useful
sources in English are East European Military Establishments:
The Warsaw Pact Northern Tier by A. Ross Johnson and
Challenges to Soviet Control in Eastern Europe by J. F.
Brown and A. Ross Johnson. (For further information and complete
citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of July 1987
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