Editing Inner German border (section)

===Ransoms and "humanitarian releases"===

East German citizens could also emigrate through the semi-secret route of being ransomed by the West German government in a process termed ''Freikauf'' (literally the buying of freedom).<ref name="Buckley">[[#Buckley|Buckley (2004)]], p. 104</ref> Between 1964 and 1989, 33,755&nbsp;political prisoners were ransomed. A further 2,087&nbsp;prisoners were released to the West under an amnesty in 1972. Another 215,000&nbsp;people, including 2,000&nbsp;children cut off from their parents, were allowed to leave East Germany to rejoin their families. In exchange, West Germany paid over 3.4 billion DM&nbsp;– nearly $2.3&nbsp;billion at 1990 prices&nbsp;– in goods and hard currency.<ref>[[#Hertle|Hertle (2007)]], p. 117.</ref> Those ransomed were valued on a sliding scale, ranging from around 1,875&nbsp;DM for a worker to around 11,250&nbsp;DM for a doctor. The justification, according to East Germany, was that this was compensation for the money invested by the state in the prisoner's training. For a while, payments were made in kind using goods that were in short supply in East Germany, such as oranges, bananas, coffee and medical drugs. The average prisoner was worth around 4,000&nbsp;DM worth of goods.<ref>[[#Buschschluter|Buschschluter (1981-10-11)]].</ref> The scheme was highly controversial in the West. ''Freikauf'' was denounced by many as [[human trafficking]] but was defended by others as an "act of pure humanitarianism";<ref>[[#Shackley|Shackley; Finney (2005)]], pp. 100–101.</ref> the West German government budgeted money for ''Freikauf'' under the euphemistic heading of "support of special aid measures of an all-German character."<ref name="Buckley" />