Culver City,
California
x
Reisepaß der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika
Maker: Unknown
Date Made: n.d.
Country: German Democratic Republic
Materials: paper; cardboard; photograph paper; film; tape; string
Measurements: 32.5 cm x 26 cm x 4 cm; 12 13/16 in x 10 1/4 in x 1 9/16 in
Collection of documents, photographs, and negative strips bound together with string in a dark blue hard-back cover. The documentation provides a highly detailed examination of passports from the USA from the years 1974-1984, describing every aspect of the passport and providing photographs of the passport pages and their security features. Inserted into the front of the book is a computer-typed introduction to the documents, explaining that they were intended as a training tool for border guards to improve their ability to verify US passports. Negative strips of photographs of US passports from the years 1980, 1981, and 1984 are bound into the book. US passport information noted includes: size, cover material and color, binding, number of pages, text color, language, type face, background color and design, watermakrs, location and layout of passport number, features of the passport photo and how it is attached to the page, legal matters concerning the passport such as ownership and the prohibition of tampering. The documentation also includes a black and white photograph of each individual page of the passport including the front cover and information pages. The information and photographs are repeated and adjusted for US passports from each year. This exhaustive description of US passports from a 10 year period show that the GDR took identity verification and passport control very seriously, and that border guards were trained to recognise passport features in meticulous detail. It is clear that the GDR was determined to ensure that no person travelling with inauthentic identity documents was able to cross the border between East and West Germany. Training tools like this allowed the GDR to maintain a strictly controlled border.
Accession Number: 2017.015.036
Collection/Series: Peter Bochmann Border Guard Collection