In 1989, Kavelstorfer excavated a secret GDR arms depot

Assault rifles, Kalashnikovs, pistols and pallets of ammunition:On December 2nd, 1989, residents of Kavelstorf found a secret weapons store - and thus uncovered the arms trade in the GDR.

by Andrea Haase

The residents of the tranquil village of Kavelstorf near Rostock have long thought that "something is wrong there". The warehouses are on strictly shielded premises, guarded around the clock by young men. Deutran trucks turn there regularly. Carpenter Herbert Blascheck, who had his workshop opposite the site at the time, was already asking uncomfortable questions in the GDR era. He gets the answer that washing machines are stored there. He didn't believe it - and so he was there when Kavelstorf residents gained access to the site in December 1989. What they discover there surpasses all their expectations. Among other things, you will find tons of live ammunition, submachine guns and military vehicles - right up to the roof of the ten meter high warehouse. From Kavelstorf the "Peace State GDR" apparently exported weapons to all regions of the world.

With the Geiger counter in the hall

Contemporary witness Wolfram Vormelker, who entered the hall at the time with a Geiger counter, describes it in retrospect as "unimaginable". He was also one of those who exposed the GDR's top-secret arms depot at the time. Weapons of all kinds, but also illegal license plates were stored there. He had heard that weapon parts were traded there, and he took the Geiger counter with him because, according to his information, uranium-protected ammunition was also traded.

War weapons and ammunition worth 27 million "Westmark"

"We burst into tears," remembers contemporary witness Herbert Blascheck. The crates contain war weapons and ammunition worth around 27 million "Valutamark", intended for export to war zones around the world. Vormelker says he never would have thought that the GDR, which always celebrated itself as a state of peace, was involved in such machinations. The so-called "Peace State" collapsed for the Kavelstorf residents at the sight of the warehouse. "We were no longer there," says Blascheck. The children were taught that they were the "peace state". "This one was the cruelest, this camp here," said Blascheck today. Axel Peters, also a contemporary witness, was appalled. "Here we saw for the first time that it was all a lie," he says today. "On that day, the legitimacy of this state collapsed for us," said Peters. The very next day he travels to Rostock to inform the public at a demo.

The "Peace State" that exports weapons of war

The system is operated by Internationale Messtechnik Import-Export GmbH (IMES). The top secret company sells weapons and ammunition to crisis areas and developing countries worldwide. Behind or above everything is the "Commercial Coordination" department controlled by the Stasi and the Central Committee of the SED:the empire of Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski, who procures foreign exchange on behalf of the party and state leadership and has a free hand in doing so. In the KoKo network, the arms trade for Deutschmarks and dollars is lucrative, but dangerous. In 1987, the Ministry for State Security presented a concept for a weapons depot in Kavelstorf. The undertaking is camouflaged by operational security in the uniform of the People's Police. The location is also tactically favourable:The site is located directly on the motorway, with a railway connection to the international port of Rostock.

"That was the end of the GDR"

"Every GDR merchant ship exported weapons, we didn't know that at the time, we researched that later," says Vormelker. According to Vormelker, Kavelstorf was not the only arms depot in the former GDR. There are said to have been such camps in Dummerstorf and other places in the GDR, with weapons that were then shipped via the international port of Rostock.

"GDR mortuary"

As soon as the Kavelstorf family discovered the secret IMES warehouse and made it public, Schalck-Golodkowski fled west on December 3, 1989. The weapons are removed by the People's Navy on December 13th. "Disposal was difficult. We would have liked to destroy it, but that wasn't technically possible," says Vormelker. It was later learned that the weapons material still got to South Africa via the Bundeswehr. "The business was done, it was made sure that it got there." Peters still describes the hall as the "GDR mortuary" - "in a figurative sense". With the publication at that time, the GDR died. The following day, the entire Central Committee and the Politburo resign. Schalck-Golodkowski is expelled from the party.