 thumb|200px|right|ernst wollweber ernst friedrich wollweber (29 october 1898 &ndash; 3 may 1967) was minister of state security of the german democratic republic from 1953 to 1957. ==biography== born in hann. mÃ¼nden, province of hanover in 1898, wollweber joined the imperial germany's navy, the kaiserliche marine, at a young age and served in the submarine department during world war i. in november 1918, wollweber participated in the wilhelmshaven mutiny, a high-profile sailor rebellion in kiel, and, following the end of the german revolution, joined the communist party of germany in 1919. wollweber rose quickly through the party ranks and by 1921 had become a member of the kpdâs central committee and political secretary of hesse-waldeck. two years later, wollweber became a leader of the militant wings of the kpd in hesse-waldeck, thuringia, and silesia. wollweberâs activities led to his arrest in 1924, after which time he was charged with high treason. wollweber was released in 1926, and in 1928 he was elected a representative of the prussian federal state parliament, a position he held until 1932. in 1929, he was elected to the federal state parliament of lower silesia and from 1932 to 1933 was a representative of the reichstag. in 1931 was he elected to the leadership of the international union of seamen and harbour workers (ish). when the kpd was outlawed in germany after the reichstag fire of february 1933, wollweber was forced to flee to copenhagen and later to leningrad. from 1936 to 1940, wollweber organized the "organisation against fascism and in support of the ussr", better known as the wollweber league which conducted 21 known acts of sabotage against the ships of fascist nations sailing from scandinavian and other northern european ports. in 1937, wollweber became a weapons supplier to the republican side in the spanish civil war. a worldwide fugitive, wollweber was finally apprehended in sweden in 1940 when he was very nearly deported to certain death in germany. eventually he was sentenced to three years of imprisonment. because he had received soviet citizenship while in custody, the swedish government in 1944 finally gave in to soviet pressure and allowed wollweber to leave for the ussr. after world war ii, wollweber returned to germany and joined the socialist unity party of germany in 1946. a year later, he became leader of the central management for shipping and in 1950, undersecretary of state for the ministry of traffic in east germany. around this time, it was rumored in the west that he had established a new wollwebe
1898_births 1967_deaths Communist_Party_of_Germany_politicians German_military_personnel_of_World_War_I Government_ministers_of_East_Germany Imperial_German_Navy_personnel Interwar_period_spies Members_of_the_People\'s_Chamber_of_the_German_Democratic_Republic Members_of_the_Reichstag_of_the_Weimar_Republic People_from_Hann._MA 1/4 nden People_from_the_Province_of_Hanover People_of_the_German_Revolution_of_1918a19 Recipients_of_the_Patriotic_Order_of_Merit Refugees_from_Nazi_Germany_in_the_Soviet_Union Socialist_Unity_Party_of_Germany_politicians Stasi_officers