Over the years, the German government has consistently insisted that it was never officially interested in collecting and studying reports of sightings of unidentified flying objects.
But the editor of the German blog GreWi.de, Andreas Müller, questioned this position of high-ranking officials, presenting to his readers a collection of classified documents on UFOs from the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND), obtained under rather interesting circumstances.
The declassified information completely changes the idea of u200b u200bthe attitude of the German government to the topic of UFOs.
In 2008, the former Minister of the Interior, Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble, echoed what other officials have persistently told their citizens over the past decades when they asked about the official position on the German army's interest in UFOs:
“I am not aware of any officially operating service, institute or any other administrative body that would investigate flying objects known as UFOs. In addition, I am not aware of the existence of such research projects operating somewhere under the auspices of any government agency."
The folder, marked with the seals of the German BND, which recently fell into the hands of the public, put the above statements of the German officialdom in a very awkward position. The very heading of the 67-page collection of documents - "UFO", as well as the subtitles: "Observations of unidentified flying objects over the border territory of West Germany with the GDR and Czechoslovakia" suggest otherwise.
From the archives of the German special services
Promotional video:
Paradoxes of law
These documents can be found under the keyword "UFO" in the German Federal Archives (Bundesarchiv) located in Koblenz. From a legal point of view, all these papers must be kept classified for 30 years in accordance with the data protection regulation in the Federal Archives, that is, until 2021. Paradoxically, this security system can be easily circumvented by requesting to view the documents before the official release date.
If someone has already passed the verification procedure to access them, then these files will also be available for subsequent candidates who are interested in them. Everything indicates that since these documents also contained information not related to UFOs and concerning many insignificant information about the situation on the border of the GDR and the FRG in the communist period, someone had already received full access to them. But, despite this, these documents still do not appear in any of the government lists. In short, they are officially classified as classified.
The documents passing in the archive with the identification code "B 206/1914 - Bestand B 206 des Bundesnachrichtendienstes", which caused a lively discussion, do not yet prove that the federal intelligence service investigated the UFO reports from the point of view of some exotic or even extraterrestrial versions of the origin of this phenomenon.
State security issues were prioritized during the Cold War. The location of Soviet troops in the GDR and Czechoslovakia, as well as espionage activities in general on the part of the Warsaw Pact countries, posed a threat.
There was also the potential for violation of the air border on non-traditional aircraft. So most of the collected messages concern the reports of the border services and border patrol units. There are also several reports from civilians.
Close contact on Fehmarn Island
Although the overwhelming majority of the observations contained in the documents can be explained by Soviet drones, probes and balloons (like, for example, the Tupolev M-141-type drone used in the USSR), a small part of them still did not find rational explanations.
At least for the eyewitnesses themselves, what they saw with their own eyes did not fit into the framework of any known categories of terrestrial phenomena, and the official investigations carried out could not provide any satisfactory explanation for these observations.
The most interesting case happened in 1986 on Fehmarn Island (the third largest island in the Baltic Sea), which after the post-war redistribution of borders became part of the FRG. The German BND documents detail what happened as follows:
“In the early morning of August 26, 1986, between 03:00 and 03:30, three border guards in Puttgarden, during the night shift, watched from an office window an unknown object moving rather slowly towards the nearest ferry station. At the same time, the object was observed by a customs officer who was 300 meters from the first group of eyewitnesses at the pier of the said station. After careful interrogation, the following facts of the case were established:
1. An unidentified object approached the ferry station from the west (it did not resemble any known aircraft).
2. The object flew at an altitude of 50-60 m.
3. When he was directly over the station, he slowed down almost to a complete stop in the air.
4. At that very moment, the border guard officers heard the sound emitted by the object - "a quiet hum like the noise of a working turbine".
5. Employees were unable to determine the approximate size, shape or color of the observed phenomenon for several reasons:
1) it was a dark night;
2) the object emitted a strong light, almost dazzling. One of the officers suggested that this was a deliberate measure to prevent the object from being identified, as this would make it impossible to distinguish any side lights;
6. While above the ferry station, the object continued its movement at the same altitude in an easterly direction, flying near the naval base (about 600 m);
7. Attempts to obtain more information from other personnel were unsuccessful. Requests were sent to naval bases in Westermakeldsdorf, Marienieuchte and Stabernuk (all on Fehmarn Island), as well as to the Border Patrol Air Squadron, the Puttgarden ferry station, the German ferries Deutschland and Karl Carstens, and the Danish police in Redby."
Although eyewitnesses rejected the possibility of observing an aircraft or a helicopter, the further content of the above report does not exclude the possibility of observing a Soviet helicopter, which was seen on the same day at about 07:00 (3-4 hours later) over the German coast near Lubeck, which was also recorded in the local press. A further investigation renewed on the basis of this assumption ended with a negative result.
Importance of BDN documents
Regardless of how ufologists and military experts take this testimony from the recovered BDN documents, its implications for the German government's interest in UFOs is unprecedented. The very fact of the existence of such documents contradicts the well-known position of the German authorities, which for years has been presented through the media to ordinary people: that no government, bodies, ministries, institutions and military services have ever collected reports about UFOs.
Moreover, the fact of the existence of materials from the German intelligence services on UFOs is a circumstance that supports the opinion of the independent Congress of Research and Science (Wissenschaftliche Dienste) regarding the attitude towards the topic of UFOs and extraterrestrial life. In their official statement, you can read that:
“Due to the keen interest on the part of the UK and France (as well as several other countries) to the question of the potential existence of the UFO phenomenon and extraterrestrial life in general, as well as the fact that these countries have expressed a desire to publish online with open access to the public, previously classified the secrecy of documents on this topic, the German federal authorities and ministries are also interested in this issue and analyze the questions coming from citizens in this case."
It may seem strange that the above opinion of the Congress of Research and Science is currently the subject of an ongoing trial in which the administration of the German parliament stubbornly opposes the release of any information or classified documents in the UFO case contrary to the current freedom of information law.
Indeed, the BND documents clearly indicate that government interest in UFOs has existed in the past (and may still be). Also, these records suggest that there were a number of procedures and legal mechanisms for reporting and analyzing reports of UFO sightings in Germany from civilians, military personnel and government officials.
According to the documents presented, it can be seen that even the practice of sending requests for the implementation of specific research procedures on the UFO topic, and some of the possible assistance in the analysis were sent directly to specific military units or to the Ministry of Internal Affairs itself. The same ministry that for many years has argued that "nothing interesting can be said about the UFO case."
Translated from German by Damian Trela.
Translated from Polish by Viktor Gaiduchik.
Author: GreWi