Ernst Melis

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Ernst Melis (born March 5, 1909 in Kassel , † August 31, 2007 in Berlin ) was a German resistance fighter in the Resistance and SED functionary. He was chairman of the Association of Germans in the Resistance, in the armed forces of the anti-Hitler coalition and the movement "Free Germany" eV (DRAFD).

Life

Ernst Melis was the son of a locksmith . He learned the metalworking trade lathe and became a member of the DMV . In 1927 he became a member of the KJVD and the KPD . From 1928 to 1930 he was a member of the KJVD Reichsleitung. During this time he also became a member of the RGO , Red Aid Germany and the Red Front Fighters League .

From 1929 he was also active in the military apparatus of the KPD, for which he did illegal work in Hanover and Kassel in 1932/33. From 1931 he was head of this KPD underground organization in the Hesse-Waldeck district . In 1931 he was accused in Kassel of "murdering a police officer", but acquitted for lack of evidence. However, he was sentenced to one year in prison for "breach of the peace and possession of weapons" and spent the turn of the year 1931/32 in prisons in Kassel and Wiesbaden.

In 1933 he emigrated to France via Holland. From 1934 to 1937 he attended the International Lenin School of the Comintern , where he worked for the German section leadership. He was then sent to the editorial office of the Deutsche Volkszeitung in Prague and Paris. In 1940 he was interned on the orders of the French government. After escaping from the internment camp, he managed to join the Resistance. Until 1943 he worked “illegally” in Toulouse and then took over the management of the newspaper Soldat am Mediterranean , which was published in German by the Resistance after the occupation of southern France for educational purposes among the Wehrmacht soldiers. From September 1943 he was a member of the “Free Germany” committee for the West (CALPO). From 1943 to 1947, in addition to his previous membership, he was also a member of the FKP and the French trade union CGT . In 1944/45 he was editor of the newspaper Our Fatherland or People and Fatherland .

In December 1947, Ernst Melis returned to Germany, became a member of the SED and was a teacher until 1950, and in 1950/51 full-time party secretary at the SED party college . From 1951 he became a full-time employee at the Central Committee of the SED and from 1958 to 1989 he was a member of the Central Revision Commission of the SED . From 1951 to 1957 he was the editorial secretary of the theory magazine Einheit . From 1951 to 1989 he was a member of the editorial collective and from 1957 to 1979 the deputy editor-in-chief.

From 1953 to 1989 he was a member of the central management of the Committee of Antifascist Resistance Fighters in the GDR . After the SED was renamed PDS in 1990, he remained a member. He was a co-founder of the interest group of those persecuted by the Nazi regime (IVVdN), 1992 co-founder of DRAFD e. V.

Awards

literature

Melis price

The sons of the resistance fighters Ernst and Reina Melis, François and Charles Melis, support the anti-fascist youth competition of the Berlin association Civil Courage United eV and praise one participant every year. For this they donate from their parents' inheritance.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ten years of anti-fascist organization DRAFD
  2. ↑ Melis Prize on www.zivilcouragevereint.de
personal data
SURNAME Melis, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German anti-fascist resistance fighter, editor and SED functionary
DATE OF BIRTH March 5, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH kassel
DATE OF DEATH August 31, 2007
Place of death Berlin