Editing Inner German border (section)

===Refugee flows and escape attempts===
[[File:Grenzdurchbruche en.png|right|thumb|220px|alt=Schematic diagram of the East German fortifications with annotations on the number of people who were able to pass each fortification line.|Diagram summarising the numbers of people who succeeded in passing each element of the inner German border system, 1974–79]]
Between 1950 and 1988, around four million East Germans migrated to the West; 3.454&nbsp;million left between 1950 and the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. After the border was fortified and the Berlin Wall constructed, the number of illegal crossings fell dramatically and continued to fall as the defences were improved over the subsequent decades. However, escapees were never more than a small minority of the total number of emigrants from East Germany. During the 1980s, only about 1% of those who left East Germany did so by escaping across the border. Far more people left the country after being granted official permits, by fleeing through third countries or by being ransomed by the West German government.<ref name="Jarausch-17">[[#Jarausch|Jarausch (1994)]], p. 17.</ref>

The vast majority of refugees were motivated by economic concerns and sought to improve their living conditions and opportunities by migrating to the West. Events such as the crushing of the 1953 uprising, the imposition of collectivisation and East Germany's final economic crisis in the late 1980s prompted surges in the number of escape attempts.<ref name="Escapees-Eichsfeld">"The number of escapees". [[#Grenzmuseum|Grenzmuseum Eichsfeld]] (Border Museum Eichsfeld).</ref>

Attempts to flee across the border were carefully studied and recorded by the GDR authorities to identify possible weak points. These were addressed by strengthening the fortifications in vulnerable areas. At the end of the 1970s a study was carried out by the East German army to review attempted "border breaches" (''Grenzdurchbrüche''). It found that 4,956 people had attempted to escape across the border between 1&nbsp;January 1974 and 30&nbsp;November 1979. Of those, 3,984&nbsp;people (80.4%) were arrested by the ''Volkspolizei'' in the ''Sperrzone'', the outer restricted zone. 205&nbsp;people (4.1%) were caught at the signal fence. Within the inner security zone, the ''Schutzstreifen'', a further 743&nbsp;people (15%) were arrested by the guards. 48&nbsp;people (1%) were stopped&nbsp;– i.e. killed or injured&nbsp;– by landmines and 43&nbsp;people (0.9%) by SM-70 directional mines on the fence. A further 67&nbsp;people (1.35%) were intercepted at the fence (shot and/or arrested). A total of 229&nbsp;people&nbsp;– just 4.6% of attempted escapees, representing less than one in twenty&nbsp;– made it across the fence. Of these, the largest number (129, or 55% of successful escapees) succeeded in making it across the fence in unmined sectors. 89&nbsp;people (39% of escapees) managed to cross both the minefields and the fence, but just 12&nbsp;people (6% of the total) succeeded in getting past the SM-70s booby-trap mines on the fences.<ref>[[#Ritter|Ritter; Lapp (2007)]], p. 72.</ref>

Escape attempts were severely punished by the GDR. From 1953, the regime described the act of escaping as ''[[Republikflucht]]'' (literally "flight from the Republic"), by analogy with the existing military term ''Fahnenflucht'' ("desertion"). A successful escapee was not a ''Flüchtling'' ("refugee") but a ''Republikflüchtiger'' ("Republic deserter"). Those who attempted to escape were called ''Sperrbrecher'' (literally "blockade runners" but more loosely translated as "border violators").<ref name="Escapees-Eichsfeld" /> Those who helped escapees were not ''Fluchthelfer'' ("escape helpers"), the Western term, but ''Menschenhändler'' ("human traffickers").<ref>[[#Detjen|Detjen (2006)]], p. 113.</ref> Such ideologically coloured language enabled the regime to portray border crossers as little better than traitors and criminals.<ref>[[#Nothnagle|Nothnagle (1990)]], p. 31.</ref>

''Republikflucht'' became a crime in 1957, punishable by heavy fines and up to three years' imprisonment. Any act associated with an escape attempt&nbsp;– including helping an escapee&nbsp;– was subject to this legislation. Those caught in the act were often tried for espionage as well and given proportionately harsher sentences.<ref name="Stokes">[[#Stokes|Stokes (2000)]], p. 45.</ref> More than 75,000&nbsp;people&nbsp;– an average of more than seven people a day&nbsp;– were imprisoned for attempting to escape across the border, serving an average of one to two years' imprisonment. Border guards who attempted to escape were treated much more harshly and were on average imprisoned for five years.<ref>[[#Hooper|Hooper (2001-08-07)]].</ref>