Grepo
German abbreviation for border police
Grepo is the short form of the German word for border police (German: Grenzpolizei). It is usually found in English referring to the Grenztruppen der DDR (Border Troops of the GDR) who guarded the inner German border and the Berlin Wall, but can be used to refer to other border police, such as the former Bayerische Grenzpolizei (Bavarian Border Police), Hessen Grenzpolizei, and the separate Bundesgrenzschutz ("Federal Border Protection", now part of the Bundespolizei "Federal Police")
01Grepo in English language fiction
The word Grepo has been used in many Cold War spy novels. Possibly the first use was by Len Deighton in his 1964 book Funeral in Berlin.
02Similar terms
The related term Vopo (Volkspolizei) has also been used in English fiction. The abbreviation for the criminal police, Kripo, is less common in English texts.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Grepo”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Verbandsabzeichen Bayerische Grenzpolizei ca. 1952 bis 1998.jpg by User:Mattes, Public domain
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