8 - Bonn’s “Problem Child”: The Struggle to Modernize the BGS

Summary

ON APRIL 19, 1967, after years of declining health, Konrad Adenauer passed away at his home in Rhöndorf on the Rhine River. The chancellor's death struck a chord with senior BGS commanders, who fondly recalled his tireless advocacy and promotion of their organization. But as the chancellor was laid to rest, the Federal Republic, and the BGS in particular, which the press began calling Bonn's “problem child,” faced new challenges. In 1966, the booming economic miracle that came to define the Adenauer era finally came to a grinding halt during West Germany's first postwar recession. As a result of the economic crisis, Adenauer's successor Ludwig Erhard resigned and his government collapsed. Facing significant budget cuts, the BGS struggled to overcome staffing shortages still lingering after many of its personnel transferred to the army in 1956. Despite spending millions on recruitment, the organization never reached its authorized strength of 20,000 men. Moreover, the federal government was mired in an ongoing political debate over emergency legislation that contributed to the extra-parliamentary opposition (APO) crisis and student protests that rocked West Germany in the late 1960s. State and local police forces were pushed to their limits dealing with the crowds, and many of them responded violently against the demonstrators.

During the crisis of the late 1960s, many border police officers lost faith in the organization and complained to their unions that it needed to be modernized. In 1962 the revised compulsory service law enabled men to waive mandatory military service if they elected to serve at least eighteen months in the police instead. The change, however, only offered a short-term solution to the staffing issues, since most of the men that took advantage of it left when their terms expired or transferred to the state police, which offered better career and promotional opportunities. Candidates had no incentive to remain in the BGS, because the state police or other civil service professions did not give credit or offer incen-tives for their experiences guarding borders. By the end of the 1960s, the BGS continued to struggle against complaints that it was really just an army posing as a police force.