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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 May 2024
ALTHOUGH THE NUMBER of border police officers who transferred to the army never reached the levels predicted by Gerhard Matzky, the strength of the BGS plummeted. More than 9,572 border police offi-cers transferred to the army, leaving a total of 7,042. Besides the obvi-ous shortage in manpower, the army requisitioned the majority of BGS equipment and took over its best barracks, leaving entire units to billet in local hostels or temporary accommodations. It was questionable whether the BGS would ever recover. Interior Minister Schröder tried desperately to reassure his personnel and their commanding officers that the orga-nization could expect a secure future. He wrote to Konrad Adenauer and implored him to publicly recognize the BGS as a way to boost the men's faltering morale. Adenauer did his part, and in an open letter to the organization, thanked its staff for their loyal service, but also reas-sured them that the nation still needed them. The chancellor affirmed that “even those who remain in the BGS will have to fulfill an important duty, which although it might be in other fields, cannot be considered less significant to the duties of the military … the living spirit in the BGS and their future work in the service of the Fatherland will continue up to the day in which a reunified Germany will thank you.”
Nevertheless, serious questions about the future of the organization remained. What purpose did a militarized police force serve now that the Federal Republic had an army? How would the Interior Ministry reach a new generation of young men and convince them to join an organization like the BGS? To be sure, recruitment had never been a significant challenge for the Interior Ministry, since there had always been more applicants than available positions. Yet the birth of West Germany's economic miracle and the declining postwar unemployment figures meant that the BGS now had to compete for candidates with the army in addition to the other career opportunities available for young men in both the public and private sectors. Since it faced many challenges and steep costs to rebuild the organization, why did the Federal Republic keep the BGS rather than transfer its duties to state security agencies?
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