The (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

for "Transport Police") was the

transit police Transit police (also known as transport police, railway police, railroad police and several other terms) are specialized police agencies employed either by a common carrier, such as a transit district, railway, railroad, bus line, or another mas ...

of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), whose officers were commonly nicknamed TraPos. It was part of the and dealt with all modes of transit, but primarily with trains and railroads. It consisted of approximately 8,500 men, that were organized from a national level and at district level, with each

Deutsche Reichsbahn The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'' (), also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the Weimar Republic, German national Rail transport, railway system created after th ...

district:

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

Cottbus Cottbus () or (;) is a university city and the second-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after the state capital, Potsdam. With around 100,000 inhabitants, Cottbus is the most populous city in Lusatia. Cottbus lies in the Sorbian ...

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

Greifswald Greifswald (), officially the University and Hanseatic City of Greifswald (, Low German: ''Griepswoold'') is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg. In 2021 it surpa ...

, Halle,

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

and

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Low German: ''Swerin''; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Zwierzyn''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germ ...

. They wore dark-blue uniforms (that were colloquially called “blueberries”), instead of the standard green uniform. They were organized into sixteen companies and equipped with small arms and

RPG-7 The RPG-7 is a portable, reusable, unguided, shoulder-launched, anti-tank, rocket launcher. The RPG-7 and its predecessor, the RPG-2, were designed by the Soviet Union, and are now manufactured by the Russian company Bazalt. The weapon has t ...

shoulder-fired antitank grenade launchers. The supervised all larger train stations and controlled the travellers, particularly at the border with

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, and directed traffic. Before the building of the

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

, the controlled the

S-Bahn The S-Bahn ( , ), , is a hybrid urban rail, urban–suburban rail system serving a metropolitan region predominantly in German language, German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit syst ...

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

(as the Deutsche Reichsbahn controlled the S-Bahn in both East and West Berlins). In the 'interzone courses' (later called 'transit courses'), there was always an escort party of the present. The service training school of the was in Halle. From January 1953 until February 1957, the was part of the Ministry for State Security, in turn part of the Office of the Secretary of State. Starting from March 1957, it was transferred to the , whose supervising inspector was Otto Auerswald. After the

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

of 1990, the was dissolved, with some 1,200 of its personnel transferring to the (West) German . On April 1, 1992, the was taken over by the German Federal Border Guard (now called the

German Federal Police The Federal Police (, , BPOL) is the national and principal Federal police, federal law enforcement agency of the German Federal Government, subordinate to the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community. The Federated Police is meant to be r ...

Notes

* Wolfgang Mittmann (1998); Die Transportpolizei (1945–1990), Berlín: Links, Forschungen zur DDR-Gesellschaft.

External links

Transportpolizei Lexicon

Die Transportpolizei (“Trapo“)
{{Authority control Defunct law enforcement agencies of East Germany Law enforcement in East Germany Paramilitary organisations based in Germany Transit police departments 1992 disestablishments in Germany

See also

Notes

External links