Working group of former officers

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Commemorative event by the AeO and the National Council on the 20th anniversary of the attack on Hitler

The Working Group of Former Officers (AeO) was a political organization in the GDR . It was founded on January 11, 1958 by former officers of the National Committee Free Germany (NKFD) and the Federation of German Officers (BDO) on the initiative of the Politburo of the SED in the Berlin House of German-Soviet Friendship . Its main propaganda aim was to criticize the military policy and remilitarization of the Federal Republic . The first chairman was Otto Korfes , a former major general in the German armed forces . The organization was dissolved in 1971.

history

On February 15, 1957, the establishment of the organization was planned by the Politburo of the SED. Since it was intended to dismiss all senior former officers of the Wehrmacht from the National People's Army (NVA), they were only to take on important special and command tasks under the control of the GDR state power until the necessary number of reliable leadership cadre had been trained. On July 30, 1957, the chairman of the security commission, Erich Honecker , presented the draft resolution to the executive committee of the SED, which described the corresponding goals, tasks and guidelines of the association. The main tasks of the working group defined there consisted in the preservation of peace, the cessation of all experiments with nuclear weapons and their prohibition, the prevention of new wars, national understanding and the aim of a confederation of the two German states. In addition, historical research on certain problems of the Second World War should be published and the role of the military in the fascist German state should be analyzed and processed. By promoting personal connections with former comrades in West Germany, an ideological influence in the sense of the SED was intended. The draft resolution stipulated "to create an organization of former officers [...] which has the task of influencing former officers in West Germany, in particular officers of the Federal Army."

The establishment of the AeO began with the selection of persons not belonging to the NVA, who worked out the statutes and prepared the founding assembly. In the second step, full-time positions were filled with officers seconded from the NVA. Korfes had already been specified as chairman in the draft resolution. The unofficial tour was entrusted to Wolf Stern , who was also head of the Institute for German Military History in Potsdam . The party leadership considered him particularly suitable for this position, since from 1943 he worked for seven years as an employee in the main administration for prisoners of war of the NKVD , knew many high-ranking officers personally and was considered politically reliable. The founding members included 30 former Wehrmacht officers. Deputy chairmen of the AeO were:

In addition to Korfes, there were six other former Wehrmacht generals on the board:

It consisted of a total of 18 people. The majority of the members were participants in the Battle of Stalingrad and all were previously organized in the NKFD and BDO.

Newspaper head

Externally, the AeO presented itself as an independent veterans' organization and expressly not as a traditional association. The intended internal effect was to keep the former Wehrmacht members under control and to gradually withdraw them from the NVA, who had been needed to build up the NVA. The organization's activities included lectures on military-political issues to high school students, members of the NVA and state officials. There have been appearances on radio and television programs as well as at major events and articles in newspapers and magazines. The community also published its own propaganda magazine, the “Mitteilungsblatt der AeO”, which was distributed in both German states. It did not achieve any noteworthy ideological successes in West Germany, but it did spark discussions and a certain interest in the published, expertly processed military-political issues. By 1965 the edition of the sheet was 22,500 copies. The contact with West German officers and their organizations met with little interest, since the members of the AeO were seen in the West as traitors and henchmen of Moscow. Relations were also disrupted by the Ministry of State Security (MfS). The alumni were distrusted and the members were monitored. The establishment of branches of the AeO at the county and district level was prohibited because "there is a risk that these branches will organize the former fascist officers who have been discharged from the National People's Army and become the advocacy group for these people."

The goals set in the statute of the working group for the promotion of the common dialogue faded into the background over the years and gave way to the formation of the enemy. On the instructions of the Secretary for Security Issues, former Wehrmacht generals, such as the first General Inspector of the Bundeswehr General Heusinger or the Supreme Commander of the NATO Armed Forces, General Speidel, were criticized as well as their decisive support for Hitler's policies at the time and their renewed engagement in top military positions. The board of the AeO supported the building of the Berlin Wall and the suppression of the Prague Spring by the invasion of the Warsaw Pact armies into Czechoslovakia in August 1968 . On November 13, 1964, a new statute was adopted, the principles of which in essential points coincided with the SED program adopted in January 1964. On this day Arno von Lenski took over the chairmanship of the association after Korfes death.

On October 1, 1971, Erich Honecker instructed the discontinuation of the AeO newsletter and thus initiated its dissolution. At the annual general meeting on November 26, 1971, it was unanimously decided to discontinue the work of the working group at the end of the year.

Web links

literature

  • Paul Heider : Wehrmacht officers in building the armed organs of the GDR and the role of the Working Group of Former Officers (AeO) . Potsdam 2000.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ebert: Current story: From hot to the Cold War - Stalingrad officers in the GDR
  2. ↑ a b Ehlert, Wagner: Comrade General! , P. 50
  3. ↑ Hartewig: Returned. , P. 131
  4. ↑ Christian Th. Müller: Review of: Niemetz, Daniel: Das feldgraue Erbe. The Wehrmacht Influences in the Military of the Soviet Zone / GDR. Berlin 2006. June 4, 2007, accessed on May 26, 2013 .
  5. ↑ a b c Niemetz: Das feldgraue Erbe , p. 256
  6. ↑ We are outraged by the national betrayal of Strauss: Open letter from the working group of former officers in the GDR to the officers and soldiers of the Bundeswehr . In: New Germany . No. 356 , December 29, 1961, pp. 2 .
  7. ↑ Müller, Volkmann: Die Wehrmacht: Mythos and Reality , p. 1111
  8. ↑ a b Hartewig: Returned. , P. 132
  9. ^ A b c Collection of upright patriots: Working group of former officers founded in Berlin . In: New Germany . January 12, 1958, p. 2 .
  10. ↑ Hartewig: Returned. , P. 131
  11. ↑ Niemetz: Das feldgraue Erbe , p. 270
  12. ↑ Müller, Volkmann: Die Wehrmacht: Myth and Reality , p. 1131
  13. ^ Memorandum of the ZK instructor responsible for the AeO for security issues Werner Huebner from November 1, 1958
  14. ↑ Niemetz: Das feldgraue Erbe , p. 266
  15. ↑ Former officers greet West German patriots . In: New Germany . January 30, 1951, p. 1 .