years of active service. The vast majority of JHS dissertations (Diplo-
marbeiten) dealt with issues involving Inoffizielle Mitarbeiter, while
the second most frequent topic concerned the security measures at the
West Berlin and West German border. Many of these classified docu-
ments then served as teaching tools in other instructional situations.
Even though more than 3,000 officers attended the JHS during its
existence, they represented only a small fraction of the total number
employed by the MfS. The careers of the 407 high-ranking officers
who earned a JHS doctorate were enhanced by the addition of an aca-
demic title, yet it was never a stated requirement. Despite possessing
the same status as the director of a main MfS division, the last JHS
rector, Willi Opitz, complained of rarely having the opportunity to
meet with Chief Minister Erich Mielke. The JHS (briefly renamed the
College of the Office for National Security) was dissolved in January- The German Unification Treaty of August 1990 expressly noted
that law degrees obtained at the institution could not be equated with
those obtained elsewhere and did not confer the right to practice law.
– K –
K-5. A forerunner of the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), K-5
(Kriminalpolizei-5; Criminal Police-5) was the first organized politi-
cal police force operating in the Soviet occupation zone after World
War II. In an effort to coordinate regional criminal police functions,
the German Interior Administration used the designation K-5 to ap-
ply to “other types of criminal offenses,” which ranged from assas-
sination, sabotage, and crimes against humanity to the circulation of
rumors and slogans critical of the reconstruction. Although all pre-
1945 police officials were barred from its ranks, its brutal methods
reminded many of the Gestapo, as it ruthlessly sought to secure the
preeminent role of the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands.
Assigned prime responsibility in August 1947 to carry out denazifica-
tion by Order 201 of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany,
K-5 authorities proceeded to arrest not only real and alleged Nazis
but also many social democrats and other middle-class politicians.
Thousands of people were sentenced to Soviet forced labors camps or
the 10 similar internment camps located throughout the zone.
K-5 • 215