November 8, 2019🇩🇪Disclosure
CongressionalPoliticsDeclassification

German BND Intelligence Service Investigated UFOs at Inner-German Border

Thirty years after German reunification, documents revealed that the West German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) had actively investigated unidentified flying object reports along the inner-German border during the Cold War. The disclosure showed that German intelligence services took UFO reports seriously, particularly in the militarily sensitive border zone.

Date
November 8, 2019
Location
Berlin
Type
Disclosure
Country
🇩🇪 Germany
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2
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News article (1), website (1)
Visible starting point · first listed source, not automatically primary
📚
Frage an Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU)
abgeordnetenwatch.de
Inspect next
📰
BND untersuchte UFOs an der innerdeutschen Grenze
Grenzwissenschaft-Aktuell
grenzwissenschaft-aktuell.de

Background

During the Cold War, the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) conducted formal investigations into UFO sightings reported at the inner-German border, making Germany one of the few NATO nations known to have engaged in intelligence-level UFO investigations.

The Investigation

The BND took reports of unexplained aerial phenomena seriously enough to conduct formal inquiries. The investigation focused on sightings reported by:

  • Border guards
  • Military personnel

Declassification and Significance

Partially declassified files provided rare insight into German government engagement with the UFO topic. The documents revealed that Germany, unlike many of its NATO allies, maintained official intelligence-level investigations into unexplained aerial phenomena during the Cold War period.

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