Editing Inner German border (section)

===Order to fire===

{{main|Schießbefehl}}
From 1945 onwards, unauthorised crossers of the inner German border risked being shot by Soviet or East German guards. The use of deadly force was termed the ''Schießbefehl'' ("order to fire" or "command to shoot"). It was formally in force as early as 1948, when regulations concerning the use of firearms on the border were promulgated. A regulation issued to East German police on 27&nbsp;May 1952 stipulated that "failure to obey the orders of the Border Patrol will be met by the use of arms." From the 1960s through to the end of the 1980s, the border guards were given daily verbal orders (''Vergatterung'') to "track down, arrest or annihilate violators." The GDR formally codified its regulations on the use of deadly force in March 1982, when the State Border Law mandated that firearms were to be used as the "maximum measure in the use of force" against individuals who "publicly attempt to break through the state border".<ref name="Firearms-Eichsfeld">"The Use of Firearms at the Border". [[#Grenzmuseum|Grenzmuseum Eichsfeld]] (Border Museum Eichsfeld).</ref> The GDR's leadership explicitly endorsed the use of deadly force. General [[Heinz Hoffmann]], the GDR defence minister, declared in August 1966 that "anyone who does not respect our border will feel the bullet." In 1974, [[Erich Honecker]], as Chairman of the GDR's National Defence Council, ordered: "Firearms are to be ruthlessly used in the event of attempts to break through the border, and the comrades who have successfully used their firearms are to be commended."<ref>[[#Hertle|Hertle (2007)]], pp. 100–101.</ref>

The ''Schießbefehl'' was very controversial in the West and was singled out for criticism by the West Germans. The GDR authorities occasionally suspended the ''Schießbefehl'' on occasions when it would have been politically inconvenient to have to explain dead refugees, such as during a visit to the GDR by the French foreign minister in 1985.<ref name="Firearms-Eichsfeld" /> It was also a problem for many of the East German guards and was the motivating factor behind a number of escapes, when guards facing a crisis of confidence defected because of their unwillingness to shoot fellow citizens.<ref name="Shears, p. 84">[[#Shears|Shears (1970)]], p. 84.</ref>