East Germany Table of Contents
In addition to the NVA and the Border Troops, SED military doctrine recognizes several categories of armed agencies, primarily certain agencies of the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of State Security, the Civil Defense forces, and the Working-Class Combat Groups. Western analysts generally define these additional categories, along with the GST, as paramilitary forces, although at least one source relegates the Border Troops also to the paramilitary category. Moreover, other elements of the two ministries, while not classified as armed agencies, also play a role in national security. The GST, although de facto a paramilitary organization, is not officially designated an armed agency by the East Germans because it, as a premilitary training society, cannot constitute a direct component of national defense in a state of emergency.
Data as of July 1987