The Munich massacre in 1972 and the increasing crime in East German cities led to initial attempts to create specialized police units in East Germany . With the establishment of the '' GSG 9 '' and '' Spezialeinsatzkommando '' s ( SEK ) in the early 1970s in West Germany , the Government of the German Democratic Republic ( East Germany ) initiated the creation of a similar unit . Since no comparable force existed in East Germany at that time , it had to be created from scratch , i.e. from intelligence reports about Western and Soviet special forces units . The unit had been created in 1973 with provisional units before it was fully established in 1974 by Ernst Fabian with 30 men initially under the unit , being involved in the security of the Leipzig Fair . The unit was also armed with West German-made small arms and equipment
Munich massacre
Munich massacre
Diensteinheit IX