Ibrahim Boehme

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Ibrahim Böhme at the party conference of the GDR SPD in Leipzig, February 1990

Ibrahim Böhme (actually Manfred Otto Böhme; born November 18, 1944 in Bad Dürrenberg ; † November 22, 1999 in Neustrelitz ) was a German politician ( SDP or SPD ). He was elected chairman of the SPD in the GDR in February 1990 and resigned on April 1, 1990 after he had been exposed as an unofficial employee of the GDR State Security .

Life

During his lifetime Böhme made numerous inaccurate and half-true information about his biography, some of which were taken over by the media without being checked. Most of it has been refuted. For example, his supposed Jewish origins were a legend he shared. As far as possible it is assumed that he grew up as an orphan in various homes and with the foster parents Kurt and Hilde Böhme. He gave himself the first name Ibrahim in the course of his IM activity. Ibrahim Böhme died on November 22, 1999 in Neustrelitz at the age of 55.

Training and activities

Böhme was the son of a communist and industrial mason in the Leuna works. After his mother died, he was placed in homes and with foster parents for a few years. He completed vocational training as a bricklayer in the Leunawerke . From 1966 to 1969 he was house manager of a youth club of the FDJ in Greiz . After a party punishment for “his attitude” to suppressing the Prague Spring , he was transferred to production on probation and from 1969 worked first as a postal worker and a short time later as head of management and education at the main post office in Greiz. In 1971 he was appointed district secretary of the Kulturbund in the Greiz district, which he remained until 1977. He worked for the Stasi as a spy in the "Greizer Circle" around the writers Reiner Kunze and Jürgen Fuchs . He also spied on the writer Günter Ullmann .

After completing a distance learning from college , he graduated as a librarian in 1972 . He was expelled from the party and detained for several months. From 1978 to 1982 he worked as a dramaturge at Theater Neustrelitz , after his resignation he was also a library employee in Neustrelitz. There he was also active as a Stasi IM in the cultural scene. After moving to East Berlin in 1985, he first worked as a cultural house manager , then in various part-time jobs.

Oskar Lafontaine (left) and Ibrahim Böhme (center), February 1990
Ballot for the Volkskammer 1990 in Berlin, list 20

Political party

Böhme was a member of the SED from 1962 to 1978.

On October 7, 1989, Böhme in Schwante was one of the founders of the Social Democratic Party in the GDR (SDP), and he was immediately elected as its managing director. On February 23, 1990, he was elected chairman of the party that has now been renamed the SPD. If the SPD won the elections, Böhme saw himself as the future Prime Minister of the GDR, and on March 2, 1990, he held a political exploratory meeting with the Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze .

Uncovering the Stasi activities

In March 1990, files from the Ministry for State Security emerged which indicated that Boehmes had been assigned to the unofficial employee "Maximilian". In fact, since 1969 Böhme has been used by the GDR Ministry for State Security as an unofficial employee (IM) or "unofficial employee of the defense with enemy connections or for the immediate processing of people suspected of hostility" (IMB) under several aliases. Under the code name IM "Maximilian", he had deliberately infiltrated opposition circles in East Berlin from 1985 onwards. Böhme was planned as parliamentary group leader of the SPD in the People's Chamber. After the unofficial Stasi activities were discovered by the news magazine Der Spiegel on March 24, 1990, Böhme suspended all offices and his mandate from the People's Chamber and resigned on April 1, 1990. Just a few weeks later, after protesting innocence, he experienced a political comeback and was appointed police commissioner for the magistrate of (East) Berlin in July 1990 by Mayor Tino Schwierzina . At the unification party convention of the East and West SPD on September 26 and 27, 1990 in Berlin, Böhme was elected to the new board.

The author Reiner Kunze , who had been observed by the state security in Greiz for years, described Böhme on the basis of his own Stasi files as the one who, as IM "Paul Bonkarz", researched and betrayed his family and him. After the publication of the documentation alias Lyrik in December 1990, in which Kunze quoted from the spy reports Boehme, his political career came to an end. 1992 Böhme was charged with "serious party-destructive behavior" from the SPD ruled out .

After retiring from politics

After his forced retirement from politics, Böhme lived in seclusion in the Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg for the past few years . He suffered several strokes . He denied spying for the State Security until his death.

His estate is in the archive of the Robert Havemann Society .

literature

Movie

Web links

Commons : Ibrahim Böhme  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Christiane Baumann:  Böhme, Ibrahim . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  2. ↑ He wanted to be God. In: Zeit Online , March 21, 2015.
  3. ^ Christiane Baumann: Manfred "Ibrahim" Böhme. A reconstructed résumé . Series of publications by the Robert Havemann Society . Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-938857-08-3 .
  4. ↑ Elke Kimmel: obscure political of lies. Book review on Deutschlandfunk, March 8, 2010
  5. ↑ Karsten Schaarschmidt: The Myth and Evil in Greiz Book Review in the Ostthüringer Zeitung, February 27, 2010
  6. ↑ Hans-Joachim Noack: We are all somehow damaged . In: Der Spiegel . No. 40 , 1999 ( online ).
  7. ↑ Tina Krone: Finding aid for the inventory of Manfred "Ibrahim" Böhme's estate. Robert Havemann Society . Revised edition 2015
  8. ↑ a b c d e Portrait of the day Ibrahim Böhme: Spy and civil rights activist , mdr.de, July 5, 2016
  9. ↑ Harald Seidel: Jazz, Böhme and the "wonderful years in Greiz". In: Greizer Heimatkalender 1997. Page 164.
  10. ↑ a b Stasi: He wanted to be God , zeit.de, March 21, 2015
  11. ↑ Detlef Nakath, Gerd-Rüdiger Stephan: Countdown to German unity. A documented history of German-German relations 1987–1990 . Dietz, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-320-01930-9 , p. 313 ff.
  12. ↑ MfS-Lexikon: Unofficial employee of the defense with enemy connection or for the immediate processing of persons suspected of hostile activity (IMB)
  13. ↑ Sonja Süss: Politically Abused ?: Psychiatry and State Security in the GDR . 2nd Edition. Christoph Links Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-86153-173-9 , p. 272 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  14. ↑ Michael Jürgs: How are you, Germany ?: Populists. Profiteers. Patriots. A balance sheet of unity . 2009, ISBN 978-3-641-02530-4 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  15. ↑ March 24, 1990. Tagesschau (ARD) , March 24, 1990, accessed on February 24, 2019 . From minute 8:43
  16. ^ The daily newspaper , March 27, 1990
  17. ↑ Cf. Udo Scheer : Horizon around the neck - The Greizer lyricist Günter Ullmann. In: Horch and Guck 3/2009, p. 51f.
  18. ↑ Entry in Cinema
personal data
SURNAME Böhme, Ibrahim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Böhme, Manfred Otto (adoptive name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (SdP, SPD), MdV
DATE OF BIRTH November 18, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Durrenberg
DATE OF DEATH November 22, 1999
Place of death Neustrelitz