Erich Mielke

**Erich Mielke** (\* December 28, 1907 in Berlin, † May 21, 2000 in ibid) was a human being who was, among other things, boss of the GDR State Security from 1957 to 1989. In 1993 his early work from 1931, the murder of two police officers on the Platz, was finally recognized and he was awarded a prison sentence. Highly deserved and overdue as many of his followers judged.

## Life and work

#### Before ∇

Erich Mielke grew up in poor conditions in Berlin's Wedding. His parents were already members of the KPD and in 1925 Mielke also joined the Communist Party. Because he had taken part in a banned party demonstration and was imprisoned for a few days, he lost his job in 1931, but was able to find a job with the editorial office of the Rote Fahne.

#### ∇

In 1931 the “party self-protection” of the KPD was founded, a paramilitary division of the party, of which young Erich became a member. In August 1931 the leadership of the party self-protection decided to murder the head of Revierwache 7 of the police, Paul Anlauf - presumably in retaliation for a worker killed on August 8, 1931 during the violent breakup of a demonstration by the police. It is said that Erich Mielke volunteered to carry out the crime. On August 9, 1931, at around 7 pm, he and Erich Ziemer shot the two policemen Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck, another Police Officer was seriously injured in front of the Babylon. The two perpetrators disappeared in the hustle and bustle that followed, but the police quickly looked for both of them. This was probably also due to the fact that Mielke had boasted of the murder of the policemen in a pub visited by KPD members on the evening of the crime: “Erich then said that they were in a hallway and called for them and steering serviced. And then Mielke described how he pulled his pistol, approached it at the run-up and Lenk, one of the policemen turned around, and then he shot all his gun at her", .

#### After ∇

With the support of the KPD, the two Erichs managed to escape to the Soviet Union. This enabled them to avoid arrest. The National Socialist judiciary had already initiated criminal proceedings against the two, but the proceedings were discontinued because both were volatile.

## Biographical highlights

### Responsible for the expansion of the MfS

In December 1944, Erich Mielke, who had previously been in Belgium and France, returned to Germany. The Berlin public prosecutor's office issued another arrest warrant against him, but the Soviet occupation forces confiscated the files. Erich Mielke later got hold of these files and kept them in a safe in his house in Wandlitz until the end of the GDR.

After the end of the Second World War, Erich Mielke quickly made a career in the Soviet occupation zone / GDR. In 1946 he joined the SED, in 1957 he became head of the Ministry for State Security, whose powers and size he greatly expanded over the next 30 years. Mielke resigned on November 7, 1989. He was expelled from the SED and was placed in custody. He was accused of "crimes against humanity" and "perversion of justice" among others, but for lack of evidence he could not be convicted in any of these trials.

### Condemnation

In November 1991, another trial was opened against Mielke for the police murders. On October 26, 1991, he was sentenced to six years in prison. The co-plaintiff in the trial was the daughter of the murdered Paul Anlauf, who at the time was 73-year-old Dora Zimmermann: “It became known that Mielke was a murderer and shot two officers from behind, very cowardly and ugly. So he's an assassin. Because he was convicted, I am not doing anything wrong if I call him a murderer. ... But I had a remorse because he was only called to account for this matter ", sucht/!534280&s=Dora%2BZimmermann&SuchRahmen=Print/ she said later in an interview with the taz .

In 1995 the then 88-year-old Erich Mielke was released on parole. He died on May 21, 2000 in a nursing home in Neu-Hohenschönhausen.

## References

1. ↑ gegen-den-ehemaligen.871.de.html?dram:article\_id=378542 such a then 12-year-old young communist