Erich Duensing

Erich Duensing (left) in conversation with the Governing Mayor Ernst Reuter (1953)

Erich Duensing (born December 20, 1905 in Frankfurt am Main ; † May 9, 1982 in Ottersweier ) was the chief of police in Berlin from 1962 to 1967 in West Berlin .

Life

After attending a secondary school, Duensing reported to the Prussian state police and graduated from the police school in Hannoversch-Münden , which enabled him to do high-level police service. From 1925 he served in the Prussian State Police as an officer.

After the National Socialists came to power , state police units were transferred to the Wehrmacht in the course of rearmament . In this way, Duensing got into the army in 1936 with the rank of first lieutenant . Duensing initially worked there as a battalion adjutant, company commander and regimental adjutant. General staff training followed from 1938 to 1940 . During the Second World War Duensing was the first general staff officer on the staff of various large associations.

After his release from captivity in 1948, Duensing joined the SPD and became a senior official in the Hessian state gendarmerie . Duensing later worked in the public security department of the Hessian Ministry of the Interior.

In 1951 Duensing moved from Hesse to West Berlin, where he became the commander of the police force . During the reign of Willy Brandt (SPD) as governing mayor , Duensing succeeded Johannes Stumm as police chief in 1962 . Duensing was President of the Berlin Police Sports Club .

At the demonstration on June 2, 1967 in West Berlin , the Berlin police proceeded against demonstrators according to the “liver sausage tactics” devised by Duensing. The chief detective Karl-Heinz Kurras shot the student Benno Ohnesorg . The public judged not only Duensing's tactics, but also the militarization of the West Berlin police, for which he was also responsible, combined with their anti-communist education , as contributing to the fatal incident. An investigative committee of the House of Representatives recommended Duensing's replacement. In September 1967, the Governing Mayor Heinrich Albertz and the Senator for the Interior Wolfgang Büsch resigned as politically responsible for the undesirable development of Berlin's security policy. Duensing asked for his early retirement. Georg Moch was his successor in December 1967 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Not too fat . In: Der Spiegel . No. 30 , 1967 ( online ).
2. ↑ cf. Erich Duensing in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)
3. ↑ Last choice . In: Der Spiegel . No. 4 , 1968 ( online ).