page_title: Cross border commuters in the Berlin area 1948–1961
section_title: The SED's solution of the problem
hierarchical_section_title: Cross border commuters in the Berlin area 1948–1961 / The SED's solution of the problem
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. ADN-ZB-4.8.1961 Plakat zum Problem der in Westberlin arbeitenden DDR-Bürger. Dieses Plakat wurde in Geschäften des Kreises Königs-Wusterhausen, einem Randgebiet von Berlin, angebracht. Information added by Wikimedia users. placard textdeenGrenzgänger zu bedienenist unter unserer WürdeSie werden erst dann wieder zuvorkommendbedient, wenn sie eine Arbeit in unserer Republikaufgenommen habenTo serve cross-border commutersis beneath our dignityYou will not be served courteouslybefore you have taken a job in our republic
context_page_description: The problem with cross-border commuters in the Berlin area was a result of the political separation of East- and West Berlin in the years of 1948 and 1949. It resulted from the affiliations of the municipalities to two different currencies; East Berlin districts would use the East German mark, and West Berlin districts would use the German mark. Another cause was the difference is residential and industrial areas throughout Berlin, with the western districts being more prosperous. The Socialist Unity Party, which governed East Berlin, used the matter of cross-border commuters in its propaganda, citing them as a problem, which helped them to justify the construction of the Berlin Wall, starting in August 1961.
context_section_description: In 1961, when fleeing the republic became more and more frequent, the SED passed legislation closing the West Berlin borders, and by unleashing a witch-hunt for West cross-border commuters for propagandist reasons,  portraying them in public events and a press campaign as traitors, criminals and parasites. A series of new regulations, effective as of August 1, 1961, made the West cross-border commuters virtually impossible to continue their employment in West Berlin.
  However, before these provisions could fully take effect, the SED removed the problem of cross-border commuting in the Berlin area by building the Berlin Wall on 13 August 1961. At this time, there were still 12,000 East cross-border commuters employed in East Berlin, including 6,000 at the Deutsche Reichsbahn (East German Railways). The rest were mostly active as artists (70% of the soloistic staff of the Deutsche Staatsoper on Unter den Linden were West Berliners), or as scientists, technicians or doctors. Because of the absence of payments made by East cross-border commuters, the Wage Compensation Fund had to adjust its payments to the East cross-border commuters; they were faced with the alternatives of giving up their jobs in the east, or migrating to the east. Only a few chose to resettle in the east. Because those with such skills were difficult for the GDR government to obtain, their workplaces went unfilled. The SED would accept this disadvantage in favor of the general closure of the GDR.
  The West cross-border commuters, by this time unemployed, were subject to long periods of discrimination in their everyday lives, employed in workplaces below their qualifications, and kept under police surveillance.
caption: Poster addressing the problem of East Germans working in West Berlin. This poster was hung in shops the Königs Wusterhausen area (1961).
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