Erich Henschke
Erich Henschke (born January 23, 1907 in Danzig ; † December 22, 1988 in Berlin ) was a German resistance fighter against Spanish fascism , agent of the military intelligence service GRU and editor-in-chief of the Berliner Zeitung .
Life
Henschke came from a Jewish Orthodox family. After elementary school he attended a secondary school in Berlin.
In 1926 he became a member of the Communist Youth Association of Germany and in 1928 also a member of the KPD .
In 1934 he emigrated to the Soviet Union , where he was a student at the International Lenin School until 1936 . He was then sent to the International Brigades in Spain. He was wounded in the fighting against the fascist intervention troops. After his recovery, he succeeded Georg Stibi as head of the German-speaking department at the Spanish government radio station in early 1939 .
After the defeat of the Spanish Republic , he fled to France , where he was initially interned until he was able to leave for Great Britain . In London he became a board member of the KPD emigrant organization for the United Kingdom. On behalf of the military intelligence service GRU, under the pseudonym Karl Kastro, he established a connection with the resident of the US intelligence service Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Joseph Gould , in order to enable German communists, in a joint project for the OSS and the GRU to be used as a radio operator and parachutist behind the front lines.
In November 1946 he returned to Germany and initially worked in the press department of the federal executive committee of the FDGB . Later he took over the management of the international office of the FDGB. In 1949 he became head of the press department of the German Economic Commission .
From 1950 to 1955 Henschke was deputy editor-in-chief of the Berliner Zeitung and then until 1957 its boss. In 1954 he became a city councilor in Berlin . From March 1958 he also worked for the GDR press service ADN and was a correspondent in Beijing from June 1958 to July 1961 . From 1962 to 1977 he worked for GDR television and most recently worked as a freelance journalist.
Henschke's urn was on the Central Cemetery in Berlin-Friedrichsfelde in the graves plant for the victims and persecuted by the Nazi regime buried.
Awards
- 1977 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold
- 1982 Gold medal for the Patriotic Order of Merit
- 1986 Karl Marx Order
literature
- Bernd-Rainer Barth : Henschke, Erich . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bundesarchiv DY 30/15455 Report on the training of political emigrants in Great Britain by OSS for frontline deployment 1944 - 1945 ( Memento of the original from September 14, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Henschke, Erich |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kastro, Karl |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German resistance fighter, editor-in-chief of the Berliner Zeitung |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 23, 1907 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Danzig |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 22, 1988 |
| Place of death | Berlin |