Willi Besener

Willi Besener (born February 2, 1894 in Berlin , † 1960 ibid) was a German railroad worker and from 1946 to 1949 General Director of the headquarters of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in the former Soviet occupation zone .

Life

After primary school in 1918, Besener learned the profession of locomotive driver in the railroad depot of the Potsdam freight yard and worked there until 1933. In 1919 he passed an exam at the engineering school and became an engineering candidate. Later he worked as a clerk. Besener became a member of the SPD and the Reich Union of Railway Workers in 1918 , in which he took over functions. From 1925 he was a functionary in the Union of Railway Workers in Germany (EdED).

After the transfer of power to the National Socialists , he was dismissed for political reasons on May 2, 1933 in connection with the smashing of the trade unions. Besener participated in the illegal work in EdED groups in Berlin. He raised money for imprisoned trade unionists and distributed political papers. From 1933 to 1945 he was the owner of a design office in Berlin.

After the end of World War II , Besener became co-founder and district leader of the Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB) in 1945 and a member of the SED in 1946 . In November 1945 he became vice-president, then president of the Reichsbahndirektion Berlin and in January 1946 general director of the main administration of the Deutsche Reichsbahn (successor to Wilhelm Fitzner ).

On January 19, 1949 Besener was removed from office by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD), expelled from the SED, dismissed without notice on January 26, 1949 and replaced by Willi Kreikemeyer . The head of the Soviet transport department, Major General Pawel Alexejewitsch Kwaschnin , held him responsible for the poor economic situation of the Deutsche Reichsbahn. Until the late 1950s Besener tried unsuccessfully against the Deutsche Reichsbahn and denied the allegations.

In the 1950s, Besener, who lived in West Berlin , cooperated with West German secret services. In August 1954 he claimed to have been the victim of an attack by the secret services of the GDR or the Soviet Union, but no evidence was found for this.

Besener lived in Berlin-Grunewald until his death in 1960 .

literature

• Alfred Gottwaldt:  Besener, Willi . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
• Erwin Kramer : The development of the traffic system in the GDR . Transpress, Berlin 1978.
• Erich Preuss: The Reichsbahn Report 1945–1993 . Transpress, Berlin 1993, ISBN 3-344-70789-2 .
• Siegfried Mielke , Stefan Heinz : Railway trade unionists in the Nazi state. Persecution - Resistance - Emigration (1933–1945) (= trade unionists under National Socialism. Persecution - Resistance - Emigration. Volume 7). Metropol, Berlin 2017, ISBN 978-3-86331-353-1 , pp. 214, 238, 405, 438, 553, 559.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Berliner Zeitung , March 21, 1959, p. 6
2. ^ Personal details, Willi Besener. In: Der Spiegel, issue 4/1949
3. ↑ Wheels have to roll. , In: Der Spiegel, edition 18/1949
4. ↑ The bullet and case were missing. In: Der Spiegel, issue 34/1954
5. ↑ Attempt to kill east German. The Canberra Times, August 3, 1954