Republikflucht

"Republikflucht" ("desertion from the republic") and "Republikflüchtling(e)" ("deserters from the republic") were the terms used by authorities in the German Democratic Republic (GDR - East Germany) to describe the process of and the person(s) leaving the GDR for a life in West Germany or any other Western (non-Warsaw Pact) country (Eastern Bloc emigration and defection).