Edgar Braun
Edgar Braun (born June 9, 1939 in Molbitz ) is a former head of department (main department XIX, traffic, post, communications) of the Ministry for State Security (MfS).
Life
The son of a dispatcher and a housewife was hired by the Altenburg district office of the MfS immediately after graduating from high school. This was followed by a two-year course at the University of the Ministry for State Security in Potsdam-Eiche . In 1959 Braun joined the SED and became an operational employee in Department II (counter-espionage) of the Leipzig district administration of the MfS. In 1961 Braun was transferred to HA II (counter-espionage) in Berlin , where he was initially deputy head of Department I (internal security of the MfS) in 1978 and then in 1978. As such, he was engaged in the hunt for alleged or actual dissenters in the ranks of the MfS. Three of his targets were executed between 1979 and 1981. He completed a five-year distance learning course at the Karl Marx party college of the SED Central Committee in 1980 as a graduate social scientist. In 1982 there was a renewed transfer to HA XIX (traffic, post, communications), which he took over a little later. In 1986 Braun was appointed major general. In November 1989 Braun became a senior employee of the Office for National Security (AfNS) and in 1990 participated in its liquidation as an advisor to the state committee for the dissolution of the AfNS. His role within the committee is considered controversial. He is said to have played a major role in driving the citizens' committees out of the dissolution process and is said to have tried to negotiate amnesties for former MfS employees in return for their secrecy.
He later worked as a real estate agent. In 1992, together with other former MfS officers, he claimed in an open letter to the minister-presidents of the new federal states an alleged “witch hunt” on former employees of the MfS and at the same time called for “silent solutions” to the disclosure of previous Stasi activities. In 2003 he made a contribution to Die Sicherheit , a justification by former MfS officers. Braun is a member of the Society for Legal and Humanitarian Support e. V. He lives as a pensioner in Berlin.
Publications
- Edgar Braun, Heinz Engelhardt , Günter Möller , Gerhard Niebling : A necessary recommendation for gleaning . In: Reinhard Grimmer , Werner Irmler , Willi Opitz , Wolfgang Schwanitz (eds.): The security - On the defense work of the MfS , Volume 1. Edition Ost, Berlin 2003, pp. 37–42.
literature
- Jens Gieseke : Edgar Braun . In: BStU : Who was who in the Ministry for State Security? (PDF, 537 kB), MfS-Handbuch V / 4, Berlin 1998, p. 10.
- Jens Gieseke: Braun, Edgar . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
- Roger Engelmann , Bernd Florath , Helge Heidemeyer, Daniela Münkel, Arno Polzin, Walter Süß : The MfS Lexicon. 3rd updated edition, Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86153-900-1 , p. 64.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Help from the "hangman" . In: Focus , No. 15/2000
- ↑ The Stasi officers wanted a general pardon - files show how the initiative was taken out of the hands of the citizens' committee to dissolve the MfS . In: Berliner Zeitung , January 15, 1997
- ↑ Silent solutions . In: Der Spiegel . No. 8 , 1992 ( online ).
- ↑ Congratulations on Edgar Braun's 70th birthday, in: GRH Mitteilungen 6/2009 ( Memento from March 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive ).
- ^ Karl Wilhelm Fricke : Reinhard Grimmer u. a. (Ed.): Security. For the defense work of the MfS. New Berlin publishing house. May 27, 2002, accessed September 11, 2015 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Braun, Edgar |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German chief department head of the GDR State Security |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 9, 1939 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Molbitz |