Arno Berthold

Arno Berthold (born March 12, 1908 in Weißig , Dresden district ; † February 29, 1984 ) was a German resistance fighter against National Socialism , officer of the People's Police and functionary of the Society for Sport and Technology (GST) in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) .

Life

Berthold, son of a worker, attended the engineering and master school in Dresden until 1925 after completing elementary school and training as a carpenter . In 1925 he joined the German Woodworkers' Association and in 1928 the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). From 1921 to 1933 he was deputy chairman of the SPD local group in Weißig. After the National Socialists came to power and the SPD was banned, Berthold also supported the party in illegality. In March 1937 he was arrested and sentenced to four years in prison for “preparation for high treason ” , which he served until 1941 in Zwickau prison.

From 1941 to 1945 Berthold fought in the Wehrmacht in World War II and achieved the rank of non-commissioned officer . Towards the end of the war he was taken prisoner by the Soviets and attended an anti-fascist school .

After the end of the Second World War , Berthold joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and was mayor of the municipality of Weißig from May to July 1945. In August and September 1945 he was deputy district administrator . In October 1945, Berthold went to the People's Police and was cadre manager of the State Police of Saxony . In 1946, after the forced unification of the SPD and KPD, he became a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and head of the State Police School in Saxony. In 1949/50 he was head of the Döbeln police school and in 1951/52 commander of the People's Police standby in Meiningen .

In July 1952 Berthold became a member of the initiative committee for the establishment of the Society for Sport and Technology (GST) and was released from office from August 1952. From August 1952 to March 1955 he was the first head of the GST. From March 16, 1955 to July 8, 1955 he was a student at the district party school in Halle (Saale) .

On July 1, 1956, Berthold returned to active service with the People's Police and became deputy for political work in the surveying service in Dresden and then from 1958 to 1960 he was deputy head of the department for management issues in the GDR's Ministry of the Interior . From September 1960 until his retirement in 1968 he was head of the news department of the Ministry of the Interior, where he held the rank of colonel in the People's Police. In addition, Berthold was temporarily a member of the SED district leadership and chairman of the district committee of the anti-fascist resistance fighters in Königs Wusterhausen .

Honors

• 1958 medal for fighters against fascism 1933 to 1945
• 1964 Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze
• 1978 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold
• 1983 Gold medal for the Patriotic Order of Merit

literature

• Ullrich Berger: Frustration and joy. The two faces of society for sport and technology . 1st edition. GNN Verlag, Schkeuditz 2002, ISBN 3-89819-111-7 .
• Paul Heider: The Society for Sport and Technology (1952–1990) . In: Handbook of the armed organs of the GDR . Weltbild, Augsburg 2004, ISBN 3-8289-0555-2 .
  • Licensed edition by: Torsten Diedrich, Hans Ehlert, Rüdiger Wenzke: In the service of the party . Ch. Links, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-86153-160-7 .
• Helmut Müller-Enbergs , Andreas Herbst :  Berthold, Arno . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Shots at cardboard comrades . In: Der Spiegel . No. 21 , 1953, pp. 10-12 ( online ).
2. ↑ Military sport after work . In: Der Spiegel . No. 16 , 1955, pp. 12 ( online ).
3. ^ Berliner Zeitung , October 6, 1964