Paẞkontrolle Einheiten (PKE) / MfS HA VI

More about the Paẞkontrolle Einheiten (PKE) / MfS HA VI

At the border crossing points (Güst) of the GDR, PKE of the state security carried out identity checks and search measures and in this way monitored all cross-border traffic. In the course of the controls, they also implemented operational measures on behalf of other MfS service units. The members of the PKE appearing in the uniforms of the border troops belonged to linie VI of the MfS (HA VI: passport control, tourism, Interhotel).

Passport control had been the competence of the MfS since 1962, when the area of ​​responsibility was transferred from the Office for Customs and Control of Goods Traffic to the then newly founded Working Group on Passport Control and Investigation. The background was e.g. the escape aid that developed after the Wall was built (see also Republic flight, combating the).

The HA VI dealt with cross-border travel. It was formed in 1970 through the merger of the working groups "Passport Control and Search" and "Securing Travel" and Customs Defense (monitoring of customs employees). The HA VI had to control and clear travelers at the border crossings of the GDR. Therefore, the GDR passport inspectors were full-time employees of HA VI. They wore border guard uniforms as camouflage. 

At HA VI, the data of those entering the country were subjected to an initial analysis in order to filter out people who were of political and operational interest. For the HA VI, border control also included monitoring the western border checkpoints, in West Berlin also those at Tegel and Tempelhof airports, as well as the police and the border customs service. The area of ​​responsibility of the HA VI included the complete monitoring of the transit routes to and from West Berlin. Notifications for preferred border clearances converged on her. Characteristic of the HA VI was the close cooperation with many MfS service units and other institutions such as border troops and customs, since a large number of relevant initial information and data came together in the area of ​​the HA VI. In 1985, HA VI led 1,064 IMs, including 67 West IMs, 62 of whom lived in West Berlin.