East German Border Control Case
A quite unique finding is this East German border control equipment case with various devices and documents which was recently available at an auction. My first idea was to bid on it as it’s a great German history related item but on the other side it’s such a big thing. So I didn’t go for it. In the past I saw a East German type writer machine too which was designed especially to fill out passports. Another interesting but a big item (which I didn’t bought). However here is the picture of the border control case used during the Cold War at the Grenzübergangsstelle (GÜSt) GUTENFÜRST (border crossing point). This case was used in trains and buses by the mobile unit of the MfS border control.
As you can see the case includes
- Border stamp control point Gutenfürst
- UV light device
- Bright light device
and still bears several forms used from the PKE (Passkontrolleinheit MfS) – mobile passport control unit of the MfS.
The passport control units (PCUs) were part of the Ministry of State Security (Stasi) of the GDR and were under the Department VI. These units have been established gradually after the Wall from 1962nd. They took over the previously carried out by the customs administration of the GDR passport control and investigation to the border crossing points. To camouflage these employees their service was performed in the uniforms of the Border Troops of the GDR (GT).
Tom Topol | Passport History Expert & Author.
Featured in media incl. CNN, BBC, Newsweek. Awarded by the U.S. Department of State.
"Want to go deeper? My book Let Pass or Die covers the full 400-year history"
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