Editing East Germany (section)

=== Military ===
The government of East Germany controlled a large number of military and paramilitary organisations through various ministries. Chief among these was the Ministry of National Defence.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=The East German Army: The Second Power in the Warsaw Pact |url=https://www.routledge.com/The-East-German-Army-The-Second-Power-in-the-Warsaw-Pact/Forster/p/book/9780367609771 |access-date=2025-05-07 |website=Routledge & CRC Press |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Bott |first=Ian |last2=Chazan |first2=Guy |last3=Jones |first3=Sam |date=2024-02-15 |title=Will Germany deliver on its grand military ambitions? |url=https://www.ft.com/content/51cf54ed-55df-4369-bdef-6f98be17d26c |access-date=2025-05-07 |work=Financial Times}}</ref> Because of East Germany's proximity to the West during the [[Cold War]] (1945–92), its military forces were among the most advanced of the [[Warsaw Pact]]. Defining what was a military force and what was not is a matter of some dispute.<ref name=":5"/>

==== National People's Army ====
{{main|National People's Army}}
The {{lang|de|Nationale Volksarmee}} (NVA) was the largest military organisation in East Germany. It was formed in 1956 from the {{lang|de|[[Kasernierte Volkspolizei]]}} (Barracked People's Police), the military units of the regular police ([[Volkspolizei]]), when East Germany joined the Warsaw Pact. From its creation, it was controlled by the [[Ministry of National Defence (East Germany)|Ministry of National Defence]]. It was an all-volunteer force until an eighteen-month [[conscription]] period was introduced in 1962.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Tom |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_8irDwAAQBAJ |title=Comrades in Arms: Military Masculinities in East German Culture |date=2020 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=9781789205558 |location=New York and Oxford |page=8 |access-date=10 August 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Solsten |first=Eric |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/96020927 |title=Germany: A country study |collaboration=Library of Congress. Federal Research Division |publisher=Library of Congress. Federal Research Division |date=1996 |location=Washington, DC: Federal Research Division, Library of Congress |pages=169–170}}</ref> NATO officers regarded it as the best military in the Warsaw Pact.<ref name="auto">{{Cite news |last=Trainor |first=Bernard E. |author-link=Bernard E. Trainor |date=8 November 1988 |title=East German Military: Warsaw Pact's Finest |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/08/world/east-german-military-warsaw-pact-s-finest.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180801003742/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/11/08/world/east-german-military-warsaw-pact-s-finest.html |archive-date=1 August 2018 |access-date=31 July 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref>
The NVA consisted of the following branches:
* [[Land Forces of the National People's Army]]
* {{lang|de|[[Volksmarine]]}}{{snd}}People's Navy
* [[Air Forces of the National People's Army]]

==== Border troops ====
{{main|Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic}}
The border troops of the Eastern sector were originally organised as a police force, the {{lang|de|Deutsche Grenzpolizei}}, similar to the {{lang|de|[[Bundesgrenzschutz]]}} in West Germany. It was controlled by the Ministry of the Interior. Following the remilitarisation of East Germany in 1956, the {{lang|de|Deutsche Grenzpolizei}} was transformed into a military force in 1961, modeled after the [[Soviet Border Troops]], and transferred to the Ministry of National Defense, as part of the National People's Army. In 1973, it was separated from the NVA, but it remained under the same ministry. At its peak, it numbered approximately 47,000 men.

==== Volkspolizei-Bereitschaft ====
{{Main|Volkspolizei-Bereitschaft}}
After the NVA was separated from the {{lang|de|[[Volkspolizei]]}} in 1956, the Ministry of the Interior maintained its own public order barracked reserve, known as the {{lang|de|[[Volkspolizei-Bereitschaft]]en}} (VPB). These units were equipped as motorised infantry, like the {{lang|de|Kasernierte Volkspolizei}}, and in total numbered between 12,000 and 15,000 men.

==== Stasi ====
{{main|Stasi}}
The Ministry of State Security (Stasi) included the [[Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment]], which was mainly involved with facilities security and plain clothes events security. They were the only public-facing wing of the Stasi. The Stasi numbered around 90,000 men, the Guards Regiment around 11,000–12,000 men.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Goehler |first=Laura |date=7 November 2014 |title=The Stasi files: Germany's 600-million-piece puzzle |url=https://www.cnn.com/2014/11/07/world/europe/stasi-files-east-germany-secret-police/index.html |access-date=4 June 2024 |work=CNN |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Koehler |first=John O. |title=Stasi: The Untold Story of the East German Secret Police |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/k/koehler-stasi.html?_r=1 |website=The New York Times Archive}}</ref>

==== Combat groups of the working class ====
The {{lang|de|[[Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse]]}} (Combat Groups of the Working Class; KdA) numbered around 400,000 men for much of their existence, and were organised around factories. The KdA was the political-military instrument of the SED; it was essentially a "party army". All KdA directives and decisions were made by the ZK's {{lang|de|[[Politburo|Politbüro]]}}. They received their training from the Volkspolizei and the Ministry of the Interior. Membership was voluntary, but SED members were required to join as part of their membership obligation.

==== Conscientious objection ====
{{Main|Conscientious objection in East Germany}}

Every man was required to serve eighteen months of [[conscription|compulsory military service]]. For the medically unqualified and [[conscientious objector]]s, there were the {{lang|de|[[Baueinheiten]]}} (construction units) or the {{lang|de|Volkshygienedienst}} (People's Sanitation Service), both established in 1964, two years after the introduction of conscription, in response to political pressure by the national [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] Protestant Church upon the GDR's government. In the 1970s, East German leaders acknowledged that former [[construction soldier]]s and sanitation service soldiers were at a disadvantage when they rejoined the civilian sphere.{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}