The new government of the DDR – a mere puppet of the Kremlin – relied more and more on the Stasi to quell discontent among factory workers and farmers. On 7 November 1989, Mielke resigned, along with eleven out of eighteen members of the SED's Council of Ministers, in response to the increasing disintegration of the GDR. Macht aber nichts, denn wenn sich ein erwachsener Mann NoWaBo nennt, dann wissen Sie, dass von so jemanden nichts zu erwarten ist! Am 30. Mielke and Ziemer then returned to their homes. In 1949, the Soviet Military Administration ceded its legal functions to the newly created German Democratic Republic. Schneider beginnt mit der Aussage, wenn man prototypisch für „all den Horror und das Leid der ehemaligen DDR einen einzelnen Namen nennen wollte, wäre es Erich Mielke“. After learning that a witness had survived, Mielke escaped arrest by fleeing to the Soviet Union, where the NKVD recruited him. Von 1958 bis 1989 war Mielke Abgeordneter der Volkskammer. When they ran out of working shredders from the West and could not procure more they began using scissors to cut the documents by hand. Die im Volksmund „Stasi“ genannte Staatssicherheit wuchs unter Mielkes Verantwortung in sämtliche Gesellschaftsbereiche hinein, und selbst im Privaten konnte niemand vor Bespitzelung und Verrat sicher sein. Had Serov not been part of the conspiracy, Mielke would have been instantly arrested or at least subjected to an intense internal investigation because of his membership in the Nazi Organisation Todt, which used thousands of slave laborers. You either retired or you died. Both parties wanted the parliament dissolved because they were hoping that new elections would oust the SPD, the sworn enemy of all radicals. Released from prison early due to ill health in 1995, he died in a Berlin nursing-home in 2000. [143] During a session on 10 October 1989, Mielke delivered a report attacking Honecker's desire to violently suppress the demonstrations rather than offer concessions. He further reminded them that Captain Anlauf was accompanied everywhere by Senior Sergeant Max Willig, whom the KPD had nicknamed, Hussar. "[21] Mielke responded that he had seen Captain Anlauf many times during police searches of Party Headquarters. Using megaphones, officers shouted, 'Clear the streets! In keeping with earlier syllabic abbreviations along the same lines (see OrPo, KriPo, and GeStaPo) East Germans immediately dubbed it the "Stasi" (from Staatssicherheit). Aus der Mediathek von n-tv.de, Hördokumentation zu den auf Erich Mielkes Befehl 1/67 einzurichtenden geheimen Isolierungslagern in der DDR, BGH 5 StR 434/94 – Urteil vom 10. [29], After the murders, the act was celebrated at the Lichtenberger Hof, a favorite beer hall of the Rotfrontkämpferbund, where Mielke boasted: "Today we celebrate a job that I pulled!" Following the end of World War II in 1945, Mielke returned to the Soviet Zone of Occupied Germany, which he helped organize into a Marxist-Leninist satellite state under the Socialist Unity Party (SED), later becoming head of the Stasi; according to John Koehler, he was "the longest serving secret police chief in the Soviet Bloc". Diese enge Freundschaft sei geprägt gewesen von 'Offenheit und gegenseitiger Sympathie' (S. 171). Without exception, one tenant in every building was designated as a watchdog reporting to an area representative of the Volkspolizei...In turn, the police officer was the Stasi's man. ")[156], Everyone in the room, including staunch SED members, burst out laughing. It took the personal intervention of CIA Director Allen Dulles to reunite Erica Wallach with her family in 1957. The regular and the Kasernierte Volkspolizei were summoned from their barracks, but made no move to attack the protesters, who returned to Stalinallee, where a general strike was called. Erich Mielke sei es übrigens gewesen, der Honecker an die Macht brachte, indem er dessen Vorgänger Ulbricht in Moskau anschwärzte. Years later, he lamented, "Millions have died for nothing. The following day, Mielke's tenure in office ended when the Volkskammer appointed Generalleutnant Wolfgang Schwanitz as the new director of the AfNS. Gorby, help us! ... Der Name Werner Teske wurde gelöscht, seine Frau und … He pointedly told the Politburo that, 'life punishes those who come too late.' Wilhelm Zaisser | Finding ample evidence of Mielke's involvement, Kühnast ordered the arrest of the communist policeman. Die NS-Justiz hatte 1934 ein Strafverfahren gegen Mielke wegen des Doppelmords eingeleitet. [70], After Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin died inside his Kuntsevo Dacha on 5 March 1953, the Central Committee of the East German Socialist Unity Party met in a special session and eulogized the dictator as the "great friend of Germany who was always an advisor of and help to our people. Schools, universities and hospitals were infiltrated from top to bottom. Words spread rapidly to other construction sites and hundreds of men and women joined the rally, which marched to the House of Ministries. In einem zufällig aus dem Wasser gefischten Tresor sind in Berlin Dokumente des Sohns von Ex-Stasichef Erich Mielke (1907-2000) gefunden worden. [72], Following West Germany's Federal Minister for All-German Questions Jakob Kaiser's admonition in a late night broadcast to East Germans to shy away from provocations, RIAS, starting with its 11 pm news broadcast, and from then on in hourly intermissions, repeated the workers' demand to continue the strike the next day, calling specifically for all East Berliners to participate in a demo at 7am on the 17th at Strausberger Platz. [58] Taking the Soviets at their word, the Western Allies removed Kühnast from his position and placed him under house arrest. Die Werkzeuge des Klassengegners: Politisch-ideologische Diversion (PID) und politische Untergrundtätigkeit 2. Mielke also began an equally permanent habit of calling himself a Chekist. Erich Mielke und das Ministerium für Staatssicherheit . I will never forget my meeting with Comrade Dimitrov, the Chairman of the Comintern, whom I served as an aide together with another comrade. Everywhere, the demands were the same: free elections by secret ballot.[72]. According to John Koehler, "... by late afternoon, Soviet tanks accompanied by Infantry and MVD troops had rolled into East Berlin and other cities in the Soviet Zone. The parliamentarian's wife Thea, an unemployed schoolteacher and as staunch a Communist Party member as her husband, shepherded the young murderers to the Belgian border. "[144], Mielke also claimed that "the Party judged the situation falsely. Even the director of Leipzig's famous Thomas Church choir, Hans-Joachim Rotzsch, was forced to resign when he was unmasked as a Spitzel, the people's pejorative for a Stasi informant. Schild und Schwert der Partei . [168] When a journalist for Der Spiegel attempted to interview him in Plötzensee Prison, Mielke responded, "I want to go back to my bed"[169] (German: "Ich möchte in mein Bett zurück."). (German: "Heute wird ein Ding gefeiert, das ich gedreht habe! Soon after joining the Party, Mielke joined the KPD's paramilitary wing, or Parteiselbstschutz ("Party Self Defense Unit"). Von 1957 bis 1989 war Erich Mielke (1907-2000) Chef der DDR-Staatssicherheit. On 16 June 1953, nearly one hundred construction workers gathered before work for a protest meeting at Stalinallee, in East Berlin. In Building 8 alone, the citizens' movement found over a hundred burnt out shredders. Division. Enraged by Ulbricht's words, Kippenberger and Neumann decided to assassinate Paul Anlauf, the forty-two-year-old Captain of the Berlin Police's Seventh Precinct. [64] Field was then handed over to the Hungarian ÁVO. [27] The KPD's murder of Captain Anlauf thus left their three daughters as orphans. When he told Mielke to get lost, the SIM demoted Janka to the ranks and then expelled him from the International Brigade. Aber weil ich Humanist bin, deshalb habe ich solche Auffassungen. Brigade sowie Aufgaben als „Kaderoffizier“ (Politoffizier) in der 27. Therefore, Mielke, as the head of the Stasi (known as the "shield and sword of the [SED] party"), was summoned before the newly empowered parliament to justify his position in government. Schon 1921 war Mielke dem KJVD beigetreten. Every detail was foreseen, from where the doorbell was located on the house of each person to be arrested to the adequate supply of barbed wire and the rules of dress and etiquette in the camps..."[141], However, when Mielke sent the orders, codenamed "Shield" (German: Schild),[139] to each local Stasi precinct to begin the planned arrests, he was not obeyed. At Berlin's Potsdamer Platz, which bordered on the American Sector, irate protesters ignored machine gun fire and the menacing barrels of tank guns. Colonel Rainer Wiegand once said, "There was only one way to leave the MfS without being haunted for the rest of your life. [44], Mielke's belief that anti-Soviet Marxists had collaborated with Franco and stabbed the Republic in the back continued to shape his attitudes for the rest of his life. Zur Verhandlung um ihre Rentenansprüche vor dem Landessozialgericht schickte die Witwe des einstigen Stasi-Chefs Erich Mielke eine Anwältin. The honor is dubious because... he signed so many. Zunächst kam er in ein West-Berliner Krankenhaus, dann in die Haftanstalten Rummelsburg in Ost-Berlin und anschließend nach Plötzensee. Although these arrests were made by Germans purporting to be officials of the criminal police, the existence of the K-5 political police eventually was exposed. Bei einer Vernehmung durch die Zentrale Parteikontrollkommission (ZPKK) berichtete Kreikemeyer am 5. In addition to the two police officers, the casualties included one Communist who died of a gunshot wound and seventeen others who were seriously wounded. [146] Suspecting that Honecker's personal bodyguards might try to arrest the members of the Central Committee when they met to vote Honecker out in favour of Egon Krenz, Mielke saw to it that Stasi agents who were loyal to him were stationed near the meeting room. "[134] (German: "Hau sie doch zusammen, die Schweine! The protesters chanted slogans for five hours, demanding to speak to Walter Ulbricht and Otto Grotewohl. During World War II, Mielke's movements remain mysterious. [69] Wallach's memoir of her experiences, Light at Midnight, was published in 1967. Entgegen einer später von ihm verbreiteten Legende hielt sich Mielke unter seinem Klarnamen in Belgien auf und wurde nicht aus Deutschland ausgebürgert. Dezember 1948 die Näherin Gertrud Müller (1909–2003); drei Monate nach der Geburt ihres gemeinsamen Sohnes Frank (1948–2019). Herkunft, Weimarer Republik, Sowjetunion und Spanischer Bürgerkrieg Erich Mielke stammt aus einer Arbeiterfamilie im Berliner Wedding. When news of Sergeant Hall's arrest became public, one Washington intelligence official called the breach, "the Army's Walker Case. They included the Namibian SWAPO and the Angolan MPLA during the South African Border War, the FRELIMO during the Mozambican War of Independence and civil war, and Robert Mugabe's ZANLA during the Rhodesian Bush War. [84] For this reason, Anna Funder has referred to East Germany as, "the most perfected surveillance state of all time. Mielke and his fellow bloodhounds performed this task with ruthless precision. [152], According to William F. Buckley, Jr., "In the weeks after 9 November, Stasi offices were stormed in various cities around East Germany. In recognition for Willig's courage, the Berlin Police promoted him to Lieutenant. "[139], By 1984, 23 sites had been selected for "isolation and internment camps." Im Zusammenhang mit der Kampagne um den „erfundenen Spion“ Noel Field entstand 1950 eine paradoxe Situation, in der der erklärte Stalin-Bewunderer, „alte Tschekist“ und „Schüler Berijas“ Erich Mielke selbst zum Stalinismus-Opfer hätte werden können. German academe was shocked to learn that Heinrich Fink, professor of theology and vice-chancellor of East Berlin's Humboldt University, had been a Stasi informer since 1968. Somit zeichnet er verantwortlich für den flächendeckenden Ausbau des Überwachungssystems der DDR. "[133], According to Koehler, "Despite the unrest, the regime celebrated its fortieth with a huge, pompous ceremony in Berlin on 7 October, while tens of thousands of[clarification needed] outside the ornate building of the State Council. The K-5 then began mass arrests of SPD members who refused to support the merger. They did nothing to help the West in tracking down Nazi criminals; they ignored all requests from West German judicial authorities for assistance. By March 1946, SPD members outnumbered KPD members by more than 100,000. ... Seine letzte Wohnung hatte er zusammen mit seiner Frau … Mielke behauptete später, die NS-Justiz hätte ihn 1934 „in Abwesenheit verurteilt zum Tode (Bülowplatz)“. Everything we fought for – it has all amounted to nothing. John Koehler later wrote, "Mielke was finished. Video Footage: Erich Mielke before the "Volkskammer," 13 November 1989. Bekannte Zeitgenossen seiner Generation sind Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg (1907–1944) und Hannah Arendt (1906–1975). [27] Willi Kreikemeyer, nun Chef der Deutschen Reichsbahn, war enger Mitarbeiter von Field gewesen. [5], In Moskau erhielt er von 1932 bis 1936 eine politische und militärische Ausbildung an der Lenin-Schule und kämpfte von 1936 bis 1939 unter dem Decknamen Fritz Leissner im Spanischen Bürgerkrieg bei den Internationalen Brigaden. Struktur, Funktion und Bedeutung der Stasi sind eng mit ihm und seiner Biografie verbunden. He conferred with Stasi Minister Wilhelm Zaisser and with Mielke, his deputy, both of whom he had known since the early 1930s. During the First World War, the neighborhood was known as "Red Wedding" due to many residents' Marxist militancy. Das ist doch nur eine formale Frage! Those his security forces caught while attempting to defect were used as slave labor in the uranium mines that were providing raw material for the Soviet atomic bomb project.[61]. Am 4. Kippenberger then asked Mielke and Ziemer, "Are you sure that you are ready to shoot Schweinebacke? [48], That same month, Mielke's future handler, NKGB General Ivan Serov, travelled to Germany from Warsaw and, from his headquarters in the Berlin suburb of Karlshorst, divided the Soviet Zone into "Operative Sectors."[49]. Notwithstanding Abakumov's objections, however, recruitment into the K-5 began almost immediately. This was done in order to lend credibility to Communist propaganda about the allegedly Fascist and neo-Nazi orientation of the Federal Republic of Germany. November 1992 vor der 27. Mielke's task was to investigate the theft and sale of state property on the black market. From Paris, she telephoned Leo Bauer, the editor-in-chief of Berliner Rundfunk. November 1989". "[43], The NKVD and the SIM's witch hunt for both real and imagined anti-Stalinists had serious consequences. [167], During his trial, Mielke appeared increasingly senile, admitting his identity but otherwise remaining silent, taking naps, and showing little interest in the proceedings. In a last ditch effort, Mielke "raised his arms like an evangelist,"[155] and cried, "I love all – all Humanity! One high-ranking Stasi officer shot himself. [98], After the opening of Stasi archives, it was revealed that West Germany was riddled with MfS-HVA moles. [73], The following day, 17 June 1953, more that 100,000 protesters took to the streets of East Berlin. „Ich liebe doch alle – alle Menschen“, sagte der einst allmächtige Apparatschik am 13. Of the 331,390 who fled in 1953, 8,000 were members of the Kasernierte Volkspolizei, the barracked people's police units, which were actually the secret cadre of the future East German Army. DDR-Stasi-Chef Erich Mielke muss seinen Lebensabend im Pflegeheim fristen. Erich Fritz Emil Mielke (* 28.Dezember 1907 in Berlin; † 21. She ultimately became a Captain in the Stasi and married a Stasi Lieutenant named Norbert Knappe. Years later, Janka recalled, "While I was fighting at the front, shooting at the Fascists, Mielke served in the rear, shooting Trotskyites and Anarchists. Mielke was also granted a seat in the SED's ruling Politburo. In a secret speech to top-ranking Stasi officers on 29 June, Mielke warned that, 'hostile opposing forces and groups have already achieved a measure of power and are using all methods to achieve a change in the balance of power. [57] Wilhelm Kühnast, the Public Prosecutor of Berlin, was immediately informed and ordered a search of the Kammergericht archives. On 14 January 1950, Marshal Vasili Chuikov announced that all Soviet "internment camps" on German soil had been closed. Mielke personally interrogated her and, at one point, offered Mrs. Wallach immediate release if she named the members of her fictitious spy network. Bloody street battles ensued and hundreds of policemen defected to the side of the protesters. There was, under the East German system, no provision for parliamentary oversight. Der stalinistisch geprägte Kommunist repräsentierte wie kein anderer die Geheimpolizei der DDR - wie ein Spiegel ihrer Geschichte. Dieser wurde hauptamtlicher Mitarbeiter im Sanitätsdienst des MfS. This made the people even angrier. Mielke ran the Stasi surveillance force, and was responsible for ordering the surveillance of tens of thousands of German citizens, to the point where Stasi employees numbered almost 100,000. Er verließ die Schule wegen Schwierigkeiten beim Erlernen der klassischen Sprachen bereits nach einem Jahr und absolvierte anschließend bis 1927 eine Lehre als Speditionskaufmann. Erich Mielke wuchs in Berlin-Wedding als Sohn eines Stellmachers in einem proletarischen Umfeld auf. Beginning in 1932, Mielke attended the Comintern's Military Political school under the alias Paul Bach. "[155], Mielke's address to the Volkskammer remains the most famous broadcast in the history of German television. After Joseph Stalin's death in on 5 March 1953, Erica Wallach's sentence was reduced to hard labor in Vorkuta, a region of the Gulag located above the Arctic Circle. After German reunification in October 1990, Mielke was also indicted for ordering the shootings of defectors at the Berlin Wall. Move away from the windows! [165] The evidence for Mielke's guilt was drawn from the original police files, the 1934 trial transcripts, and a handwritten memoir in which Mielke had admitted that, "the Bülowplatz Affair," had been his reason for fleeing Germany. Januar 2001 den Nachruf des Schriftstellers Peter Schneider auf Mielke mit dem Titel The Lives They Lived [...] The Enemy Within.