The (German for "Transport Police", sometimes known as Trapo) was the transit police of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), whose officers were commonly nicknamed TraPos. It was part of the and dealt with all modes of transit, but primarily with trains and railroads. It supervised all larger train stations and controlled the travellers, particularly at the border with West Germany, and directed traffic.
Before the building of the Berlin Wall, the controlled the S-Bahn in West Berlin (as the Deutsche Reichsbahn controlled the S-Bahn in both East and West Berlins). In the 'interzone courses' (later called 'transit courses'), there was always an escort party of the present. The service training school of the was in Halle.
The Transportpolizei was founded in 1953.<Ref>https://www.bundesarchiv.de/im-archiv-recherchieren/stasi-unterlagen-einsehen/hinweise-zum-mfs/mfs-lexikon/detail/hauptabteilung-transportpolizei/</ref> From January 1953 until February 1957, the was part of the Ministry for State Security, in turn part of the Office of the Secretary of State. Starting from March 1957, it was transferred to the , whose supervising inspector was Otto Auerswald.
After the German reunification of 1990, the was dissolved, with some 1,200 of its personnel transferring to the (West) German . On April 1, 1992, the was taken over by the German Federal Border Guard (now called the German Federal Police).
The Transportpolizei consisted of approximately 8,500 men that were organized from a national level and at district level, with each Deutsche Reichsbahn district: East Berlin, Cottbus, Dresden, Erfurt, Greifswald, Halle, Magdeburg and Schwerin. They wore dark-blue uniforms (that were colloquially called âÂÂblueberriesâÂÂ), instead of the standard green uniform. They were organized into sixteen companies and equipped with small arms and RPG-7 shoulder-fired antitank grenade launchers.
The following ranks were observed in the Trnasportpolizei: