Transferring from the East German Army (NVA) to the unified German Army (Bundeswehr)

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We continue Steffen’s story where he tells of serving in three armies – firstly, the NVA, secondly the East German Army between the first free elections and unification, and finally the unified Bundeswehr.

Listen to his previous episode here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode286/

We start the episode in the Autumn of 1989 where demonstrations are growing against the government in nearby Leipzig and Steffen’s unit is on high alert and confined to barracks. It is clear East Germany is on the cusp of change, however what will be the impact on Steffen and his comrades?

Steffen describes these tense days when rumours abounded of military action against the demonstrators, as well as how he heard about the fall of Honecker and the opening of the border. We also hear about his experiences as the NVA transitions after the first free elections in East Germany and momentum builds for reunification.

Steffen accepts a place in the new unified German army and we hear about the day command is handed over to the Bundeswehr and how he has to learn a different way of thinking, such as the new doctrine of personal responsibility.

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Steffen wearing the NVA uniform in late September 1990.

A civil servant and Steffen perform a line measurement. The was one of the regular duties of our group. When we declared the line good, we handed it over to the encryption department. After that, the line sounded like noise; we couldn’t even determine if someone was talking or not.

“The club” (part of the dormitory) was the only place where a TV was allowed. The tuner was sealed in order to prevent dialing it to West-German TV. The seal was checked every day.

All connections, internal and external ones, terminated in this room. The connections were routed and soldered mainly by two women (civil servants).

The main work place for our group. It was manned 24 hours. Here the mechanic on duty received the orders for e.g. fixing a line or a phone and then he went out to do the work. There were phone connections to most barracks in southern GDR. The device on top is a microcontroller-based speed dialer; one of the most sophisticated devices the GDR phone system had to offer. Laughable by West-German standards, but for us it was exciting.

Steffen Bundeswehr uniform

Steffen Bundeswehr uniform

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Radio GDR
If you are interested in East Germany we can highly recommend our friends over at Radio GDR.

Disbanding of the NVA, 2-3 October, 1990

Longer version here.