Glossary entry

German term or phrase:

Schussfreiheit

English translation:

free (or clear) field of fire; standing permission to shoot

Added to glossary by Björn Vrooman
Jul 10, 2023 22:39
11 mos ago
34 viewers *
German term

Schussfreiheit

German to English Other Military / Defense
This comes from a description of the cemeteries along the former Berlin Wall.

Grabgitter waren teilweise zur „Grenzsicherung“ verwendet worden – gegen das Veto des Denkmalschutzes, zugunsten von „Übersichtlichkeit“ und ** „Schussfreiheit“. **

Am I correct in thinking that Schussfreiheit would mean 'a free line of fire' here?

PS I wasn't sure which broad field to use; none seemed appropriate. History/military might be useful!
Change log

Jul 14, 2023 16:07: Björn Vrooman changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/1347497">Mary Burdman's</a> old entry - "Schussfreiheit"" to ""free or clear field of fire""

Discussion

Björn Vrooman Jul 13, 2023:
Also, thanks to both of you... ...Mary and Ted for the very interesting discussion!

I'd like to add Ted's suggestion to the glossary entry (separated by a semicolon, this should work fine, I think) so that others don't have to ask the question again should my answer not fit their needs but Ted's does.

Best wishes and have a great weekend soon
Mary Burdman (asker) Jul 12, 2023:
Difficult choice Thank you both for the well-referenced suggestions. I am referring this to my client - a native Berliner - to see what she thinks. I will therefore wait a day to grade this. Much appreciated!
Björn Vrooman Jul 11, 2023:
PS I'd take another look at it this evening (just wrote here earlier because I thought it might help to provide some context) and post another option for you to consider if warranted at all (as explained, not sure about it yet).
Björn Vrooman Jul 11, 2023:
Hello Mary Ted is right that this is more complicated than I thought at first and there's room for interpretation. One reason why I haven't posted an answer yet is that I think I'm missing something with regard to the first sentence (it doesn't exactly jive with what I posted below).

The sentence you're asking about seems to be a reference to what L. Demps wrote in "Der Invalidenfriedhof" in 1996. Wiki's summary:
"1967 war etwa ein Drittel des Friedhofs eingeebnet, darunter auch Grabmale, die hinter der eigentlichen Sperrzone lagen. Wertvolle Grabgitter wurden abgebaut und anderorts wieder verwendet. Sporadische Einwände des Denkmalschutzes konnten sich gegen die Forderungen der Grenzsicherungstruppen nach Übersichtlichkeit des Geländes und nach Schussfreiheit nicht durchsetzen."
(see below)

The trouble is that either the author of the Wiki article made a mistake or the author of your piece linked two things together that are essentially unrelated. That is, either the repurposing of the gates, for "Grenzsicherung," was done to allow "Schussfreiheit" in the sense of restricting the area or (per Wiki) it was done to remove obstacles that could prevent a bullet from reaching its target.

Best
Mary Burdman (asker) Jul 11, 2023:
To Bjorn Please enter your proposal as an answer! I always read through all the proposed answers when checking for a Proz translation and the more clearly available the better. Thanks, Mary
Mary Burdman (asker) Jul 11, 2023:
standing permission to shoot Hi Ted, Thank you - I think your answer is correct. It certainly is a better translation of 'Schussfreiheit.' Taking down the grave railings would make it easier for the guards to act on their standing permission to shoot.
Björn Vrooman Jul 11, 2023:
PS I like this option a bit better (not that there's anything to "like" about the topic!):
"The death strip was covered with raked sand or gravel, rendering footprints easy to notice, easing the detection of trespassers and also enabling officers to see which guards had neglected their task;[79] it offered no cover; and, most importantly, it offered clear fields of fire for the Wall guards."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall

"Fields of Fire. Are areas that a weapon or group of weapons can cover and are essential to the effective employment of direct fire weapons. Fields of fire should be considered both from friendly and enemy points of view."
https://www.trngcmd.marines.mil/Portals/207/Docs/FMTBE/Stude...

(see also the chapter "Clearing Fields Of Fire" there)
Björn Vrooman Jul 11, 2023:
@Mary To give you an example that includes a few words to indicate what's going on here:
"1967 war etwa ein Drittel des Friedhofs eingeebnet, darunter auch Grabmale, die hinter der eigentlichen Sperrzone lagen. Wertvolle Grabgitter wurden abgebaut und anderorts wieder verwendet. Sporadische Einwände des Denkmalschutzes konnten sich gegen die Forderungen der Grenzsicherungstruppen nach Übersichtlichkeit des Geländes und nach Schussfreiheit nicht durchsetzen."
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invalidenfriedhof

Don't know what Heike thinks, but to me, something seems a bit off in your text. As they write on Wiki, the Grabgitter were removed:
"Der Beginn des Baus der Mauer am 13. August 1961 leitete eine weitere Etappe der Zerstörung des Invalidenfriedhofs ein...Wachtürme, Scheinwerfer, Schießanlagen, eine Laufanlage für Wachhunde entstanden, und es wurde eine Betonstraße über die Gräber gelegt...Drei Tonnen Grabgitter wurden abgeschweißt bzw. abgeschlagen."
https://foerderverein-invalidenfriedhof.de/geschichte-des-in...

Not sure how a fence is a help here and not a hindrance.

Best wishes

Best
Mary Burdman (asker) Jul 11, 2023:
Danke!
Heike Holthaus Jul 10, 2023:
Yes, that is what it means.

Proposed translations

+1
1 day 4 hrs
Selected

free or clear field of fire

First off, Ted is right that this isn't as clear cut as I originally thought. Take this sentence, for example:
"Für freie Sicht und Schussfreiheit wurden Leute zwangsumgesiedelt, das Eigentum verfiel und man konnte den Staat nicht dafür verklagen."
https://taz.de/!5334883/

They seem to be talking about two different concepts and it sounds as if the standing permission to shoot was the reason for the forced relocation. Similarly:
"Um Schussfreiheit zu schaffen, wurden auf dem Friedhof Gräber entfernt. Das Betreten des Friedhofes war nur mit einem speziellen Ausweis erlaubt."
https://dailysoft.com/berlinwall/photographs/berlinwall-1983...

Pretty ambiguous. In fact, this paragraph shares some of the issues with the one you quoted, as the author doesn't make clear if the removal of the graves and the special ID requirement are connected somehow (or whether there just wasn't enough space for a longer explanation).

After some more digging, I'm pretty sure, though, that this is simply about a clear or free field of fire, for three reasons:

(1) The word "Schussfreiheit" is used in a variety of contexts and in reference to more than one time period. To give you an example:
"Darüber hinaus gibt es mittlerweile auch Gespräche mit den Landwirten. Riesige Felder sind unübersichtlich, kaum zu bejagen. 'Deshalb versuchen wir, mit den Landwirten überein zu kommen, dass sie auf großen Feldern Schuss-Schneisen in Form von Blühstreifen anlegen. Das ist für die Natur gut und wir Jäger haben Sicht- und Schussfreiheit', sagt Frank Röllig."
https://www.saechsische.de/plus/wolf-wildschweine-saechsisch...

This, of course, means that farmers should partially clear their fields, not that the hunters can shoot whatever (or whomever!) they want. Another example, from a different time period:
"Die napoleonischen Truppen brechen 1812 Kirche und Vorstadt ab, um Schussfreiheit zu erlangen."
https://www.magdeburg-tourist.de/index.phtml?a=2&NavID=557.2...

Obviously has little to do with the GDR or the death strip, but the word is still being used, which brings us to…

(2) …the grammar aspect of this. Here's a different quote about the 1812 bit:
"Das vierte Gebäude in dieser Reihe sei wie die gesamte Vorstadt Sudenburg von Napoleons Truppen abgerissen worden, um eine bessere Schuss-Freiheit auf die Festung Magdeburg zu haben, wie die EKD weiter mitteilte."
https://www.evangelisch.de/inhalte/176425/01-10-2020/kirche-...

Aside from the fact that the example above also describes something that happened more than a hundred years earlier, the adjective attached to "Schussfreiheit"—"besser"—can't be used in conjunction with a standing permission. The same…

(3) …can be said about some of the sources that include a reference to the GDR:
"…wo man die Versöhnungskirche wegen besserer Schussfreiheit 1985 gesprengt hat."
https://www.zeit.de/2016/50/maueropfer-gedenken-kolumne-ahre...

Or:
"Jedes Kind weiß, dass im Grünen Band, also entlang der ehemaligen Grenze, massiv Chemikalien zum Einsatz gebracht wurden, um den Grenzsoldaten Schussfreiheit zu verschaffen."
https://www.lra-sm.de/?p=16622

The use of chemicals can only be a reference to having a clear line of sight/fire:
"Zu DDR-Zeiten wurde das Grenzgebiet wegen der Schussfreiheit gemäht, gepflügt und mit Unkraut-Ex behandelt."
https://berliner-abendblatt.de/serien/mauerfall-jubilaeum-le...

"Zäune, Stacheldraht, blanker vegetationsfreier Boden, Beton – wie eine tiefe Wunde zog sich der Grenzstreifen durch die Landschaft. Um Sicht- und Schussfreiheit zu gewährleisten wurde er mit viel Aufwand freigehalten. Erst im wenig genutzten Hinterland der Grenze, der sogenannten Sperrzone, hatte die Natur eine Chance."
https://www.schaalsee.de/fileadmin/schaalsee/Downloads/05_Se...

Plus, combining "Sichtfreiheit" and "Schussfreiheit" might look like a redundancy but isn't unusual either. Another link referencing an earlier time period:
"Zur Festungszeit war das Gelände baumfrei, um Sicht und Schussfreiheit zu gewährleisten."
https://www.burg-regenstein.de/galerien/ruine-1/

I apologize for the wall of text, but I think it's important to keep these three things in mind, as well as this:
"After the cemetery was closed in 1951, graves that had either been destroyed during the war or were no longer being maintained were razed."
https://www.berlin.de/mauer/en/sites/traces-of-the-wall/rema...

Considering we're talking about (a) a graveyard (and not a settlement or the like) that was (b) part of the death strip (sections E, F, and G, at least: https://www.berlin.de/sehenswuerdigkeiten/3561200-3558930-in... ) and (c) had already been closed to the public prior to being marked as part of the strip, "Schussfreiheit," I think, can only describe the result of leveling the site, as the permission would have been in effect regardless of whether the area had been cleared or not. This is also what they mean here by "Flurbereinigung":
"Bereits in den fünfziger Jahren waren auf dem nicht mehr belegten Invalidenfriedhof zahlreiche Grabsteine und Kreuze sowie gusseiserne Einfriedungen tonnenweise abgetragen worden. Diese 'Flurbereinigung' wurde nach dem Bau der Berliner Mauer 1961 forciert, um für die Grenzsoldaten Sicht- und Schussfreiheit zu gewinnen."
helmutcaspar.de/aktuelles16/blnpdm16/friedhof.html

For an ENS reference, see https://www.trngcmd.marines.mil/Portals/207/Docs/FMTBE/Stude...

Lastly, from Berlin's website:
"Listen to how a train station became a ghost station, a cemetery became a death strip, house walls became border walls and a church became an obstacle in the field of fire."
https://www.berlin.de/en/tickets/education-lectures/die-berl...

Someone else seems to have had roughly the same idea:
"...the SED tore down several buildings to make room for a uniform border strip that provided border soldiers with an 'unobstructed view and clear field of fire.'"
https://www.stiftung-berliner-mauer.de/en/topics/berlin-wall
Peer comment(s):

agree Heike Holthaus : great research, context suggests that this is what is meant here
11 hrs
Thanks, Heike! With how hot it is, I'm glad I was able to put something together at all. Hope you have some shade to work in!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "My client (native Berliner) agreed this is the best translation for Schussfreiheit in this article. Many thanks for excellent constributions!"
+1
12 hrs

standing permission to shoot

As a former soldier, who also spent 3 years as a liaison officer on the Czech-German border, the term Schussfreiheit would normally refer to the border guards' freedom to shoot border crossers without having to ask permission, not having a free field of fire, which would be something like "freie Schussfelder". That said, if the author is unfamiliar with military terminology, they could have used the wrong word as the context does support the open/free field of fire meaning. (Suggest Bjorn post his answer as well.)
Peer comment(s):

agree writeaway
2 hrs
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