Arnold Munter

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Arnold Munter (born February 1, 1912 in Berlin ; † November 26, 2001 there ) was a German social democratic resistance fighter against National Socialism , prisoner in the Theresienstadt ghetto , city councilor and city ​​councilor of Berlin, director of a state- owned company (VEB) and honorary member of the Association of Persecuted by the Nazi regime (VVN).

Life

The son of a working-class family grew up in Berlin's Scheunenviertel and was a craftsman (pipe fitter / plumber / roofer) by profession. In 1930, at the time of the Weimar Republic , he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and was active against the emergence of National Socialism . After the transfer of power to the NSDAP , he continued this resistance illegally , especially in the International Red Aid (IRH). In July 1942 he was deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp and, on May 7, 1945, suffering from typhus , was freed by Soviet soldiers.

When the Nazi rule was eliminated, he returned to Berlin and in 1946 became a member of the district assembly of Berlin-Mitte . He became a co-founder of the VVN Berlin and was therefore excluded from the SPD. Munter had got involved in the Social Democratic Action (SDA). In November 1948 he became a councilor for building and housing in the Berlin magistrate . From 1948 to 1953 he was deputy chairman of the Berlin VVN. When in September 1949 the magistrate gave the order to build a joint memorial for social democrats and communists , the remodeling work, including the reburial of the coffins, was led by Munter from 1950 onwards. He also designed the memorials in the three large Jewish cemeteries in Berlin.

In October 1950 he was sent to the GDR Land Chamber as a Berlin representative . From 1955 to 1957 Munter worked in business and headed a VEB. Since 1973 he has been working full-time in various functions of the National Front of the GDR .

For the DEFA documentary Mr. Schmidt from GESTAPO - film documentation of a civil servant's career about the Gestapo officer Henry Schmidt , which was completed in 1989, he made himself available as a witness and interview partner . In autumn 1989 he was a member of the round table in Berlin-Pankow .

Munter was married to his wife Hanne-Lore (1926–2019) and father of several children, grandfather and great-grandfather of several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Literature and media

  • Ruth Damwerth: Arnold Munter. A biographical history book. 2nd Edition. Biogr.-Verl., Münster 2004, ISBN 3-937772-01-4 .
  • Elke Reuter, Detlef Hansel: The short life of the VVN from 1947 to 1953: The history of those persecuted by the Nazi regime in the Soviet Zone and GDR. Ed. Ost, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-929161-97-4 , p. 577.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Grandstand of April 3, 1981
  2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of May 7, 1985
  3. ↑ Helmut Eschwege: Strange among my own kind: Memories of a Dresden Jew. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-86153-023-6 , p. 268 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  4. ↑ Berliner Zeitung of October 4, 1950
  5. ^ Minutes of a documentary film: the career of Henry Schmidt from the Gestapo in court (1989) ( Memento from June 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Cheer up, Arnold
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German resistance fighter and honorary member of the VVN
DATE OF BIRTH February 1, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH November 26, 2001
Place of death Berlin