Editing Inner German border (section)

===Emigrating from East Germany===
[[File:Border crossing, Oebisfelde DDR. Apr 1990.jpg|right|thumb|240px|alt=View of a train stopped at a long railway platform, at the end of which is an arched iron bridge. A grey concrete barracks and East German state emblem are visible on the side of the platform. Several people are standing or walking on the platform and the train's doors stand open.|Crossing the border by rail at Oebisfelde railway station, April 1990]]
There was no formal legal basis under which a citizen could emigrate from East Germany. In 1975, however, East Germany signed up to the [[Helsinki Accords]], a pan-European treaty to improve relations between the countries of Europe.<ref name="McAdams-148">[[#McAdams|McAdams (1985)]], p. 148.</ref> An increasing number of East German citizens sought to use the Accords' provision on freedom of movement to secure exit visas. By the late 1980s over 100,000&nbsp;applications for visas were being submitted annually with around 15,000–25,000&nbsp;being granted.<ref name="Dale-87">[[#Dale|Dale (2005)]], p. 87.</ref><ref>[[#Hertle|Hertle (2007)]], p. 124.</ref>

The GDR's government nonetheless remained opposed to emigration and sought to dissuade would-be émigrés. The process of applying for an exit permit was deliberately made slow, demeaning, frustrating and often fruitless. Applicants were marginalised, demoted or sacked from their jobs, excluded from universities and subjected to social ostracisation.<ref>[[#Dale|Dale (2005)]], pp. 87–88.</ref> They faced the threat of having their children taken into state custody on the grounds that they were unfit to bring up children.<ref>[[#Childs|Childs (2001)]], p. 44.</ref> The law was used to punish those who continued to apply for emigration; over 10,000&nbsp;applicants were arrested by the Stasi between the 1970s and 1989.<ref>[[#Hertle|Hertle (2007)]], pp. 123–124.</ref> A report for the Central Committee's security section noted: "The emigration problem is confronting us with a fundamental problem of the GDR's development. Experience shows that the current repertoire of solutions (improved travel possibilities, expatriation of applicants, etc.) have not brought the desired results, but rather the opposite." The agitation for emigration, the report concluded, "threatens to undermine beliefs in the correctness of the Party's policies."<ref>[[#Dale|Dale (2005)]], p. 89.</ref>