East German passport
{{Short description|Passport issued to citizens of East Germany}}
{{Infobox Identity document
| document_name = East German passport
| image = DDR Reisepass2.jpg
| image_caption = East German passport.
| date_first_issued =
| using_jurisdiction = {{flag|East Germany}}
| valid_jurisdictions =
| document_type = Passport
| purpose = Identification
| eligibility = East German citizenship
| expiration =
}}
The East German passport was issued to citizens of the former German Democratic Republic (commonly known as East Germany) for international travel. Since the reunification of Germany in October 1990, all German citizens have been issued German passports.
Overview
According to a Washington Post report in 1989, only 25% of East Germans were passport holders.{{cite news|last1=McCartney|first1=Robert J.|title=East Germany Opens Berlin Wall And Borders, Allowing Citizens To Travel Freely To The West|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/11/10/east-germany-opens-berlin-wall-and-borders-allowing-citizens-to-travel-freely-to-the-west/98a8e433-efba-44a9-bd42-0c6781375d66/|access-date=10 January 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=10 November 1989}}
According to an East German passport law in 1957, East German citizens needed an exit visa from the GDR to travel abroad, including West Germany and West Berlin.{{cite book|editor1-last=Kalinovsky|editor1-first=Artemy M.|editor2-last=Daigle|editor2-first=Craig|title=The Routledge Handbook of the Cold War|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-315-88228-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tpnAAwAAQBAJ&q=east+german+passport+law&pg=PT137}} The penalty for making an unauthorized journey outside East Germany was imprisonment.{{cite web|title=Aftermath 1949 -- 1959|url=https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/BERLIN_A/AFTERMAT.HTM|website=Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum|quote=1957: A new passport law provided for three years' imprisonment for anyone making an unauthorized journey outside the borders of East Germany...|access-date=2018-01-11|archive-date=2018-08-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813175212/https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/BERLIN_A/AFTERMAT.HTM|url-status=dead}}
Once they returned from their travels, the passports needed to be turned in.
Types of passports
There were at least four types of passports: alien, service, standard, and diplomatic.{{cite web|title=East German Passport Types|url=https://www.passport-collector.com/east-german-passport-types/|website=Passport-collector.com|access-date=10 January 2018|date=20 August 2011}}{{cite web|title=The Passport of the German Democratic Republic (GDR)|url=https://www.passport-collector.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/GDR-passport-history.pdf|website=Passport-collector.com|access-date=10 January 2018}}
While standard passports were blue in color, alien and service passports were in different shades of green. Diplomatic passports were in red.
Languages
Passport note
East German passports contained a note to the effect that:
::The Ministry of Foreign Affairs asks all authorities both inland and abroad to let the bearer of this passport travel freely and to grant him any protection and assistance that he might require.
Versions issued in late 1989 forward to the country's demise in October 1990 omit the note.
Following reunification
Following reunification in October 1990, the Unification Treaty provided that East German passports would remain in force until, at the latest, 31 December 1995.{{cite web|title=Paßgesetz der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik|url=https://www.verfassungen.de/ddr/passgesetz54.htm|access-date=11 January 2018|language=de|quote=Einigungsvertrag vom 31. August 1990 (BGBl. II S. 889) mit der Maßgabe, dass die ausgestellten Pässe bis spätestens zum 31. Dezember 1995 in Geltung bleiben}} After that date, East German passports were invalid for identification and citizens had to use German passports.