Ernst Kamieth

Ernst Kamieth (born September 26, 1896 , † November 7, 1951 in Berlin ) was a German railroad worker . He gained notoriety through his death, which led to conflicts between government agencies in East and West Berlin .

Life

Ernst Kamieth was married and had no children. At the time of his death he was supervisor for the Deutsche Reichsbahn . Kamieth was the head of the service vehicle depot at Potsdamer Güterbahnhof in West Berlin .

death

On November 7, 1951, West Berlin police officers, led by Police Inspector Hermann Zunker, searched the lounges of the rail vehicle depot at the Potsdam freight yard in Berlin for communist material. Ernst Kamieth came along and, after a brief discussion, was hit in the face by Hermann Zunker. However, he was able to continue his service. Four hours later, he left for the operating celebrations for the anniversary of the October Revolution collapsed and died shortly afterwards in the in East Berlin located Charité . The autopsy was also carried out there, which determined that the cause of death was a stroke .

After death

Shortly after Kamieth's death, a propaganda battle began between East and West Berlin over the cause of death. For the GDR , Kamieth was a victim of neo-fascist police violence. The evidence provided was the report by medical expert Hans Anders , director of the Charité's Pathological Institute, according to which it was likely that the stroke was a direct result of Zunker's attack. State authorities in West Berlin initially claimed that no police officers had visited the freight yard on November 7th. They later admitted the use of force, but denied a direct connection between it and Kamieth's death.

30,000 people attended Kamieth's funeral in St. Matthäi Cemetery . The West Berlin police had only approved a funeral procession of twenty people, which would have to take place without political confessions. The DEFA weekly report Der Augenzeuge reported in detail about the funeral. In the GDR propaganda , Kamieth was described as a “murdered peace fighter”. On the evening of the funeral, the West Berlin police exhumed Kamieth in order to subject him to another autopsy. Kamieth was buried without a brain, however, as it was removed during the first autopsy in East Berlin. Therefore, the renewed section did not provide any new information.

The East Berlin Groscurth Committee described Zunker as a murderer.

Zunker was initially sentenced on November 17, 1952 to a prison term of two years and three months by the Moabit jury court. The Federal Court of Justice later overturned this judgment . On May 10, 1954, however, he was again sentenced by the regional court "for six, sometimes dangerous physical injuries in office" to a prison term of 22 months.

Honors

Various honors were given to Ernst Kamieth in the GDR. Some streets and squares were named after him. After the reunification , these were partly renamed again. Today there is still one Ernst-Kamieth-Straße in Angermünde , Halle (Saale) , Lutherstadt Wittenberg and Muldenstein as well as Ernst-Kamieth-Platz in Neuseddin . In 1967 the children's rest home in Lubmin was named after Kamieth. A sports hall in Frankfurt (Oder) bears his name.

There was a memorial plaque for Ernst Kamieth on the railway site in Cordesstrasse in West Berlin. The railway workers Erich Steinfurth and Fritz Schönherr were also honored there. The plaque has been removed and is now kept by the Left Party .

Web links

• Hans-Joachim Weise: Snatch from oblivion. 60 years ago - Ernst Kamieth, a victim of the Cold War . In: Our New Newspaper . November 15, 2011 ( unz.de ).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Erich Steinfurth, Ernst Kamieth and Fritz Schönherr. In: Gedenkenafeln-in-berlin.de. Retrieved August 17, 2017 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Why are you beating? In: Der Spiegel . No. 44 , 1952, pp. 12-14 ( online ).
3. ↑ ^{a b c} The Eyewitness, Edition 48/1951. DEFA, 1951, accessed September 28, 2017 . 
4. ^ Stadtsportbund Frankfurt (Oder). Retrieved September 28, 2017 . 
5. ↑ Andreas Fritsche and Wilfried Neisse: Memorial plaque landed on the rubble. In: New Germany . October 6, 2007, accessed on February 10, 2018 (full access subject to charge).