The Central Registry of State Judicial Administrations (german: Zentrale Erfassungsstelle der Landesjustizverwaltungen, ''ZESt'') in

Salzgitter Salzgitter (; Eastphalian: ''Soltgitter'') is an independent city in southeast Lower Saxony, Germany, located between Hildesheim and Braunschweig. Together with Wolfsburg and Braunschweig, Salzgitter is one of the seven ''Oberzentren'' of Lower ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, was established on 24 November 1961 in the aftermath of the construction of the Berlin Wall. Its function was to verify human rights violations by the government of

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

like homicide at the Inner German border, political persecution, torture and maltreatment, etc. Intended for

deterrence Deterrence may refer to: * Deterrence theory, a theory of war, especially regarding nuclear weapons * Deterrence (penology), a theory of justice * Deterrence (psychology) Deterrence in relation to criminal offending is the idea or theory that t ...

, in the long run the information should have led to the initiation of criminal proceedings in the case of a reunification. The organization was financed by all western German States. It was dissolved in 1992 after the German reunification.

History

The implementation of the Central Registry of State Judicial Administrations on 24 November 1961 was induced by the

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

mayor

Willy Brandt Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...

in order to improve the nationwide coordination of the states' law enforcement agencies. The prosecutors working at the ZESt in Salzgitter-Bad were affiliated with the district attorney's office at

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the ...

. They initiated preliminary investigations, collected evidences and recorded testimonies. The ZESt also produced criminal reports on East German applicants for the West German civil service. The East German government regarded the institution as an element of

revanchism Revanchism (french: revanchisme, from ''revanche'', "revenge") is the political manifestation of the will to reverse territorial losses incurred by a country, often following a war or social movement. As a term, revanchism originated in 1870s Fr ...

and interference in its domestic affairs. In the course of Brandt's ''

Ostpolitik ''Neue Ostpolitik'' (German for "new eastern policy"), or ''Ostpolitik'' for short, was the normalization of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, or West Germany) and Eastern Europe, particularly the German Democratic Republ ...

'', the legitimation was increasingly challenged. General Secretary

Erich Honecker Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts ...

explicitly demanded its dissolution, but also the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...

parliamentary group of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

in a 1984 resolution unanimously denoted the ZESt "ineffective" and "needless". In 1987, the state government of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

under Minister-President

Johannes Rau Johannes Rau (; 16 January 193127 January 2006) was a German politician ( SPD). He was the president of Germany from 1 July 1999 until 30 June 2004 and the minister president of North Rhine-Westphalia from 20 September 1978 to 9 June 1998. In th ...

annulled its benefits. Shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the agency was about to fold. After reunification, the ZESt provided its files on about 40,000 proceedings for the local law enforcement agencies in the

new states of Germany The new states of Germany () are the five re-established states of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) that unified with the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) with its 10 states upon German reunification on 3 October 1990. The new st ...

, and was dissolved in 1992. Since 2007, the entire collection is preserved at the German Federal Archives in Koblenz.

References

{{authority control Inner German border Government agencies of Germany Salzgitter Cold War history of Germany Government agencies established in 1961 Government agencies disestablished in 1992 Defunct organisations based in Germany East Germany–West Germany relations

History

See also

References