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The Bavarian Border Police ( or ''GrePo'') is a police division within the
Bavarian State Police The Bavarian Police () is the state police force of the German state of Bavaria under the umbrella of the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior. It has approximately 33,500 armed officers and roughly 8,500 other civilian employees. Organization Th ...
(''Polizei Bayern''). It is the third arm of the
police force The police are a constituted body of people empowered by a state with the aim of enforcing the law and protecting the public order as well as the public itself. This commonly includes ensuring the safety, health, and possessions of citizen ...
alongside the
state police State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction o ...
and the riot police (''
Bereitschaftspolizei The ''Bereitschaftspolizei'' (literally 'Readiness Police'/On-Call Police (Reserve); effectively riot police), abbreviated BePo, are the support and rapid reaction units of Germany's police forces. They are composed of detachments from the Fe ...
''). It existed from 1946 (independently from 1952) to 1998 and was responsible for the federal borders in
Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
. It was re-established as an independent arm in 2018, having no responsibility for
border control Border control comprises measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it als ...
.


History

In 1945 the Bavarian Border Police – then known as the Bavarian State Border Police (''Bayerische Landesgrenzpolizei'') – was reformed. The latter had existed from 1919 to 1934 in the shape of a Bavarian Border Police Commissariat on the borders between
Lindau Lindau (, ''Lindau am Bodensee''; ; Low Alemannic German, Low Alemannic: ''Lindou'') is a major Town#Germany, town and Lindau (island), island on the eastern side of Lake Constance (''Bodensee'' in German) in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital ...
on
Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...
and
Eger Eger ( , ; ; also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights, Eger is best known for Castle of Eger, its ...
. Its reformation was authorised by VA No. 72 on 15 November 1945 which established a Bavarian State Border Police force, the order taking effect from 1 March 1946. The first units were deployed by the American occupation powers as "Border Police". On 15 March 1947, the overall responsibility for
border control Border control comprises measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it als ...
and implementation of Military Government Law No. 161 was transferred to the Bavarian Border Police. However, the border police continued to receive their orders from the Military Government. The responsibility for checking members of the allied military forces and their dependents was exclusively carried out by American military personnel. On 28 October 1952, the Bavarian Police Organisation law was passed (''Polizeiorganisationsgesetz''). Articles 34 to 41 of this law governed the border police and their mission, which was: "the supervision and policing of the state borders, especially supervision of border traffic and carrying out the dispatch and reception of people, including the supervision of passengers at airports". Their departments were given descriptions that corresponded to those of the state police. The last agreement over responsibilities vis-à-vis the
Bundesgrenzschutz Bundesgrenzschutz (; abbreviation: BGS; ) is the former name of the German ''Bundespolizei'' (Federal Police). Established on 16 March 1951 as a subordinate agency of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the BGS originally was primarily focu ...
was spelt out by an administrative agreement, dated 16 July 1975, between the
Interior Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...
and the Bavarian State Government, which dealt with the exercise of tasks by the border police arm of the police service in Bavaria. The only other German state that had its own
border police A border guard of a country is a national security agency that ensures border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Federal Police (Germany), Germany, Guardia di Finanza, Italy or State Border Guar ...
in the
post-war era A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, w ...
was
Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...
, whose border force was operational on the Soviet, British and French zones from 1945 until 1 October 1950, when it was incorporated by the state police. Events in the late 1980s signalled the end of the Bavarian Border Police. Austria's entry into the EU on 1 January 1995 and on 28 April 1995 to the
Schengen Treaty The Schengen Agreement ( , ) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's Schengen Area, in which internal border checks have largely been abolished. It was signed on 14 June 1985, near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, by five of the t ...
fundamentally changed the situation on the Bavarian-Austrian border. From 1 January 1997, border controls on traffic from Austria were lifted in stages.


1998 Disbandment

With the incorporation of the Bavarian Border Police into the Bavarian State Police, their history came to an end on 31 March 1998. They were replaced by police departments that almost exclusively deal with cross-border traffic. These include: the Missing Persons Police Department (''Polizeiinspektion Fahndung'' or ''PIF'') with border police stations (GPS) and the Search and Inspection Force (''Fahndungs- und Kontrolltrupp'' or ''FKT''). FKT officials are civilian and also work outside Bavaria, in areas near the border. The border officers (''Grenzbeauftragter'') are the only vestige of the old border police that remains.


Re-establishment in 2018

Due to the
European migrant crisis The 2015 European migrant crisis was a period of significantly increased movement of refugees and Human migration, migrants into Europe, mostly from the Middle East. An estimated 1.3 million people came to the continent to request Right of asyl ...
in 2015 and the establishment of border controls on the Austrian border, the state border police was re-established in 2018. The police force's headquarters are in
Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...
. The strength of the force will be approximately 1,000 officers.


See also

*
Grepo Grepo is the short form of the German word for border police (). It is usually found in English referring to the '' Grenztruppen der DDR'' (Border Troops of the GDR) who guarded the inner German border and the Berlin Wall, but can be used to refer ...
*
Law enforcement in Germany Law enforcement in Germany is constitutionally vested solely with the states, which is one of the main features of the German political system. Policing has always been a responsibility of the German states even after 1871 when Unification of G ...
*
List of law enforcement agencies in Germany Law enforcement in Germany is conducted by federal, state and municipal law enforcement agencies. Federal law enforcement agencies Federal Parliament (Bundestag) *'' Polizei beim Deutschen Bundestag (Polizei DBT):'' Federal Parliament Polic ...


References


External links


Bavarian Border Police (Bavarian State Ministry for the Interior)
{{Authority control 20th century in Bavaria Border guards Defunct law enforcement agencies of Germany