LONG-DISTANCE TELECOMMUNICATIONS OFFICE, EAST BERLIN (FERNAMT GROSS-BERLIN)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A051600600001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 7, 1959
• Content Type: REPORT

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East Germany
Long Distance Telecommunications
Office East Berlin (Fernamt Gross-
Berlin5
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
of the United states within the meaning of the gspioasge Taws, Tttie
is to an unauthorized person is prohibited b9 t1
manner
This material Contdns Information sQectia the NaWonat Defense
tssi on or revelation of which in any
is. U.s.o. secs. 793 and 794, the traasm
SF-CRE-T
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
DATE OF
INFO.
PLACE &
DATE AC
DATE DISTR.
NO. PAGES
REFERENCES
asse 12
The Fernemit Gross Berlin is located at Dottistr-16, Berlin-
1' in a former post office. The following service bureaus
Lichtenberg,
belong to the Fernamt: responsible for
Tele=fit, Berlin-Lichtenberg, Buchbergerstrasse - wireless telegraphy, teletype, and radio
Snellamt (rapid service office) sible-or rin2 ap declommiuni8cations
Wilheimstrasse - respon
in the Gross Berlin area
Pro ektierung) Bureau, administrative officessfaresl cat
Planning at Magazinstrasse 7, Berlin C 2, and design
Reichstagufer, Berlin 1[W 7.
The Fernamt Gross Berlin is under the main Administration for Tele-
communications Affairs of the Ministry of persons, Post of and which Telecommunications
and is composed of appr
telephone operators.
as of 18 September 1959 were:
3. Principal. officials of the Fernamt,
g ED)
Werner Schlenzi
Chief
Paul Rossignol
Deputy chief
Technical chief Max Schulz (MM)
sE-CRET
STATE
(Note: Washington distribution indicated by "X"; Field distribution by "#"?)
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V DEC 1959
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Deputy technical
chief and head of
Repeater Station
Personnel chief
Chief, Work Department
First BPO secretary
t Br-T. representative
Stolze (fnu)
Erna Englebrecht (SID)
Elfriede Zimermann
Guenther Kutz (SID)
Lu Hoppe (SID)
Firs
The switchboards are located in two rooms; in the "old" room (alter Saal)
there are 65 long distance switchboards, and in the "new" room (neuer Saal)
150. The four interzonal lines and switchboards foro -dist ance connections tele-
phone phone calls are in the "new" room; eight
foreign countries are installed in the two rooms.
Dresden, Halle, Leipzig, Magdeburg' and Schwerin are linked to the Fernamt
Sofort Verkehr lno-delay traffic); this newly-instituted
Gross-Berlin by eriod of from two to four hours, compared with
service involves a waiting p -distance
the average waiting period. of at least three hours for normal long'
calls. The Sofort connections
eastern and western vcountriesrareedirectly .
The capital cities of both
onnected for long-distance voice conunicatilong-distanceitel phone with,
4.
5?
c
comparatively little trouble. While foreign
traffic is relatively good, the situation with regard to domestic traffic 50X1-HUM
ermany is chaotic
eillance day and night, o
rv
There is close su
all foreign and interzonal telephone calls; the Line Inspection Department
nsible for this surveillance,.
o
(see paragraph 7 below) is resp
Chronic shortages exist in both materials and personnel. Cable lines are
6. no longer able to cope with the traffic. VEB Kabeiwerk
old and rk Oberspree are not able to supply new cable
Koepenick are and VEB Kabelwe of of PVC (pol i jtloride). The auto-
because of the permanent shortag
n of long-distance communications, envisaged in future planning, and
matio
the inclusion of all of lthe lar ikel hoger od of bGerman eing realizedS s nceethef chronic
Verkehr net have little uninterrupted development of work
shortages of material make a rapid, critical. Telephone
impossible. The personnel situation is-equally critical. because of
operators and technicians are in especially short supply)
per month gross)
the low salaries paid. Telephone operators receive 310 DME p order
, as a result, there is a le-rge turnover in operator persne
and students l. In have
been hired, itions, 16-year-old high school rave
to fill telephone operator pos
at 80 DME per month; however, they work for six months (aPP
tice and training period) and then leave for better-paying Jobs in indus-
trial enterprises.
R -E -T
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Leitungsueberwachung), which is
7.The Line Surveillance Department iRossigno $ composed f abrnit five
directly subordinate to Deputy Chief o ate ~ the other
all of whom are BED members whose nam e n of the Security
persons,
Fernamt employees. The department is run by an employee
Department of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and representa-
tives of the State Security Service (SSD) in Berlin--Lichtenberg;ohesecurity
Fernamt official responsible for this department is Rossignol. g
reasons', the location of the department is. changed frequNatl in area Soepeptetemb bet
e
1959 it was located on the third floor of the building. The d
by the department is restricted tt.mesnbers of the department only and is
occupied day and night.
$. The Radio Department (Rundfunkknotenamt) is the connecting office to the
uxikhaus (radio house), Berlin-0beerschoe e i e, Va epaDt See, andris the
central office for all commutations s officals hin September:
missions. The following :
Chief Jochen Merkel (3ID)
Deputy Chief Horst Jentsch (no political affiliation)
Technical Chief Alfred Sommerfeld (no political affiliation)
Chief of the Measure- Wolfgang Tirpitz k
ments Office SED)
The department is divided into the following:
1 bureau with about 8 employees; duties inclludde ch arg),erecording of
(foreign
outgoing calls, personnel matters;
1 test office with two technical employees;
1 switching office (Schaltstelle) with about 20 employees who work
in 4 shifts
2 monitoring booths (Ueberwachungskabinen) for purely technical
monitoring of outgoing calls in
connection with trouble-free
operations 50X1-HUM
1 switch area (Schaltraum)
direct connection to
The Radio Department has the only
Western
ted over this li
e .
countries; incoming traffic from the West ^al.so rou
fiber).
n
Traffic from Soviet Bloc countries is routed by teletype (springs
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9. Classified Lines
a. The following clas
sified lines (Geheimleitungen)
Moscow - Leipzig
"X" - Burg (near Magdeburg)
Thaelmannplatz - Leipzig
Peking - Berlin
code number 1009
code number 82036
code number ?
code number ?
The line "X"- Burg is probably a direct line from the SED Central
Committee to the military installations at Burg.
b. All details concerning these cables are classified. There is a
file card (Karteikarte) for each cable on which data on the direction,
designation, and nature of the cable, is entered. This information is
only available to the chief of the radio department and the chief of
the measurements office.
c. Of especial importance is the direct line from Peking to Berlin via
radio. In accordance with previous authorization from the Security
Department of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (exact
details are communicated by telephone to the chief of the Radio Depart-
ment), an intermediate connection for the AIV (East German press agency)
can be made.
10. Radio Protector Stages (Funkschutzstufen)
a. Funkschutzstufe I
This is put in operation in connection with original transmissions of
speeches of foreign government leaders, (for example, the radio address
of Khrushchev in East Berlin), or of East German government or SED Cen-
tral Committee members; this also is utilized in all connections
(Anschaltungen). These transmissions are made exclusively under the
supervision of the Security Service of the Ministry of Post and Tele-
communications, together with members of the State Security Service
(SSD). These supervisory officials change constantly. Upon receipt
of a telephone call from the chief of the Radio Department (Rundfunk-
knotenamt), supervisory personnel appear and show.'either a red SSD
permit (SSD Ausweis) or a special permit card (Ausweiskarte) of the
Ministry Security Service, which varies in color from the red of the
SSD permit.
b. Funkschutzstufe B
This is adopted for band transmissions of speeches of members of the
above-mentioned groups (Personenkreis). These transmissions take
place under the supervision of Ministry Security Service employees
only.
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11. Physical Security of the Enterprise:
The usual guard complement of the Fernamt Berlin includes about 8 postal
employees who are on duty day and night at both exits. The building is
also guarded by members of the Volkspolizei (yP). One VP officer and
about 20 police from the Lichtenberg Polizei-Inspektion are on duty.
50X1-HUM
50X1-HUM
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