plicated was Gregori’s special assistant, Hans Pfotenhauer. Other
VA officers, deliberately not apprised of the actual circumstances,
found the official explanation unpersuasive. Two years later, Gregori
found a position as an inspector at a large merchandising office in
East Berlin. In 1999, under the auspices of the Bundesbeauftragte
für die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der ehemaligen
Deutschen Demokratischen Republik, Gregori viewed the MfS
documentation for the first time and rejected its findings in a three-
page written statement.GREIF. See SKORZENY, OTTO.
GRENZSCHLEUSE. Literally a “border lock or floodgate,” a Grenz-
schleuse is a place on a country’s frontier where people, objects, or
information can pass through safely and undetected by authorities.
GRENZTRUPPEN. The armed forces responsible for guarding the
inner-German border, the Berlin Wall, and the Baltic coastline, the
Grenztruppen of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) underwent
numerous organizational changes to keep pace with the ever-increas-
ing refinement of the border security system. Despite turning over
the functions of border security to local German police units in 1946,
Soviet military authorities retained operational control and could
dispatch special police commandos when necessary (as was the case
during the Berlin Blockade). After the founding of the GDR, the
Grenztruppen were placed under the authority of the Ministerium
für Staatssicherheit (MfS), then the Interior Ministry, and in 1961
the Ministry for National Defense. Soviet advisors remained until
1958.
The Grenztruppen were responsible not only for the prevention of
Republikflucht (flight from the republic) but also the collection of in-
formation regarding the West German border agencies and the troops
of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization stationed nearby. Given
the threat of defection by the troops themselves, the MfS exercised
keen oversight through the use of Offiziere im besonderen Einsatz
as well as informers from among the local population living near the
border. At the time of their dissolution in 1990, the Grenztruppen
numbered about 47,000.
GRENZTRUPPEN • 149