Transit Agreement (1972)

As a transit agreement, the Agreement between the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Government of the German Democratic Republic is referred to on the transit of civilian persons and goods between the Federal Republic of Germany and Berlin ( West) in common parlance. It was negotiated and signed in Bonn on December 17, 1971 between the Secretaries of State Egon Bahr ( Federal Republic ) and Michael Kohl ( DDR). On 3 June 1972, entered into force. Under the new Ostpolitik of the Brandt / Scheel government wanted to achieve a significant improvement in relations between the Federal Republic and the GDR by a " change through rapprochement", the Transit Agreement should facilitate travel between the Federal Republic and West Berlin. Previously, especially border control from the perspective of travelers were often found to be vexatious and were sometimes associated with a considerable amount of time. The Transit Agreement is the first agreement, which was concluded at the government level between the Federal Republic and the GDR.

Basics

The basis for this Agreement, the quadripartite agreement previously decided shortly between the Allies September 3, 1971, which also entered into force on 3 June 1972. This was negotiated on free access to West Berlin, on the presence of federal agencies in the western part of the city and about unrestricted residence of the Allies in all parts of the divided city. For the first time the security of the routes to West Berlin was granted by the Soviets. For more details should follow in another contract, the Transit Agreement, which negotiate both German states directly.

Content

Scopes

The agreement was applied to the areas of shipping, rail and road traffic. Air traffic between Berlin and the Federal Republic of Germany was not part of the Agreement. Particular attention was given to the road. The policies and procedures in case of abuse were very detailed, especially in the area of goods and passengers, not least for the reason that here the view of the GDR, the greatest danger was to abuse the transit routes for escape attempts.

Granting of visas and identity checks

The agreement was agreed inter alia, that the issuance of visas to have carried out at border inspection posts on DDR directly on the vehicle of travelers and stay that control of baggage. In the passes doing a two-tone Visa certificate was stamped. The colors changed every year. For residents of West Berlin an extra leaf in the (green) " makeshift " Berliner identity card has been inserted. The certificate issued by the Federal Republic of passport for residents of West Berlin was not recognized by the authorities of the GDR. When using continuous trains visas were issued by the enforcement of the GDR during the trip. The Visa statement for the transit by rail was solid black.

Transit fee / cost

Article 18 was also regulated, that the costs incurred for the use of transit infrastructure costs were to be paid directly by the traveler no longer adequate, but now have been paid in an annual lump sum by the Federal Republic. This passage made ​​for the travelers an immense relief dar. this respect, the text of the treaty:

The importance of article 18 is also of a correspondence which both parties during contract negotiations led forth. It was agreed that this Article advance came into force on January 1, 1972. The annual lump sums were, as agreed, regularly adjusted the volume of traffic on the transit routes and ultimately amounted in 1989 to 525 million DM

Abuse

From the perspective of the GDR was an increased risk that the transit routes for escape attempts, or uncontrolled and therefore undesirable contacts between West Berliners and West Germans and citizens of the GDR could be used. Therefore, it was explicitly stated in the contract work, which could be regarded as an abuse of the Transit Agreement and prosecuted:

The agreement also stipulated that an offense should be prosecuted by the authorities of the Federal Republic, if the violation was discovered at a time when the perpetrator was already outside the GDR.

Effects

The agreement also provided for the establishment of a working group, called the Transit Commission, which was composed of employees of the transport ministries of the two countries and was composed at the request of a contracting party to the arbitration of disputes.

In subsequent years, the transit traffic has been increasingly improved. So arrangements were on a renewal of the highway - transit route between Berlin and Hanover (now Highway 2), the establishment of a motorway link between Berlin and Hamburg ( today's Highway 24, the road led to the mid-1980s about the so -called Highway 5), the establishment the border crossing Staaken / Railway and other improvements made. The purpose of the Federal Republic of assumed costs amounted to 1990 to a total of 2210.5 million DM, with the construction of the motorway between Berlin and Hamburg with 1.2 billion DM constituting the largest share.