THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE BERLIN RUSSIAN SECTOR POLICE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R004400050005-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 15, 2012
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: March 3, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/15: CIA-RDP82-00457R004400050005-0
C-
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
COUNTRY Germany (Russian 'Lone
SUBJECT The Legal Status of the =v erlin
Russian Sector Police
PLACE
ACQUIRED'
DATE OF
INFO.
REPORT
CD NO.
DATE DISTR. 5 LIAR 50
NO. OF PAGES 2
NO. OF ENCLS.
LUSTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
1. In an undated letter published in the "Tdgliche Rundschauf'`
Nr 1 (1419) Page 9, sent by Oberbilrgermeister Friedrich Ebert to Vice-
PAesident of Police Richard svntner (who i q A iso scti.np President to
the absence of Paul 1arrkgraf) the following was stated: '"In recog-
nition.of the performance of the Berlin police, I grant your re-
quest to assume the designation "Berliner Volkspolizei' , effective
1 January 1950.11
In pursuance of the above cited directive, Gyptner now signs
himself as "President der Volkspolizei in Berlin." The police as
such is collectively referred to as "Die Volkspolizei in Berlin."
2, Legally trained police officials realize that, although
there was presumably no such intention, the renaming has resulted
in a deterioration of the status of the East Sector Police. In
the public mind the term Volkspolizei is associated with the East
Lone police system and when used with the term Berlin will be con-
strued as confining it to the geographical boundaries of East Berlin.
This would imply a tacit recognition of the west Sector Police and
concomita?.tly'.a relinquishment of the claim of the East Sector
Police to have jurisdiction over the whole of Berlin. On the other
hand, the. title "Polizeiprasident in Berlin" which rightfully belongs
to Dr. Johannes Stumm, traditionally describes the position of the
legally appointed head of Berlin city police headquarters.
3. according to a statement attributed to the head of the
Soviet Control Commission, General Chuikov, approximately two months
ago, the Peoples police in the Eastern sector. was to revert to
the control of the Magistrat :. Until that time the .?agistrat : had
been confined to the exercise of financial control only, i.e., in
effect had been permitted to foot the bill. The change in legal
status of the East Berlin police resulting from General Chuikovfl s
announcement has been the subject of several conferences attended
by representatives of the Magistrat. and the Berlin police. The
upshot of-these deliberations has been that no material change in
the jurisdictional subordination as it existed has taken place
The functions of fine Oberbtlrgermeister of East Berlin in the field
of police activities are delegated to dda.ldemer Schmidt, the head
NAVY ___TX NSR8
ICI FAIR /t_I_L _ i FUI
This document is hereby regradle ft
CON-NEiDENTIAL in accordance with the
letter of 16 October 1978 from the
Director of Central Intelligence to the
Archivist of the United States.
i1t r' a *.1P^ We
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/15: CIA-RDP82-00457R004400050005-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/15: CIA-RDP82-00457R004400050005-0
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE. AGONCY 50X1-HUM
of the Personnel and administration Section of the Magistrat. . It
is :..e whc; exercises the so-called "Dienstaufsicht" i.e., super-
vision in all matters stemming from the fact that Ber l i_n ,n1 f r.P
the relation between the police and the yagistrat is in Jv^I-Flu 'V'
most respects similar to that between the semi-autonomous main 50X1-HUM
administrations (angeg ied.erte iiauptverwaltungen) and the Ministry
of the Interior
4. The legal nature of the relationship between police and
Magistrat was brought to a practical test recently when the
licensing of certain occupations such as chimney sweeps, pawn
brokers etc;., a function heretofore belonging to the police,
was to be turned over to the Magistrat . If the Magistrat had
been given effective control of all police affairs, a simple
directive from the Oberbt9rgermeister to the police would have
sufficed to effectuate this transfer,, Instead the transfer had
to be made in the form of a so-called "'Ueberleitungs-verordnung".
co-signed by a Liagistrat 5 representative and a police representative.
5. As regards supervisory functions still exercised by re-
presentatives of the SKK, there has been at least one recent In-
stance in which the SKK asserted such right. It had been contem-
plated to relinquish to the Magistrat authority over patent and
copyright affairs heretofore vested in the policed when this
matter was brought up to the SKK, the official in charge of press
matters, Major ,.orgunov, flatly vetoed the transfer o
50X1-HUM
Comment: There is actually no one in the PolizeiprIsidium
who could offer a legal definition of the current status of the
Last Berlin Police. It is likely to remain a bone of contention
as long as Berlin remains separated. Also the relation between
the East Sector police and the Hauptverwaltung fuer Volkspolizei
has never been clarified,,
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/15: CIA-RDP82-00457R004400050005-0