Friedrich Menzel

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Friedrich ("Fritz") Menzel (born May 15, 1904 in Graefenort , Oppeln district ; † July 26, 1977 ) was a German politician ( KPD / SED ), trade unionist and a member of the resistance against the Nazi regime .

Life

Menzel, son of a railroad worker, attended elementary school and completed an apprenticeship as a machine fitter from 1919 . He then worked in this profession until 1931.

In 1920 he joined the railroad workers 'union and became a member of the workers' sports movement . In 1922 he became a member of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and worked as a KPD functionary in Upper Silesia. From 1931 to 1933 he was an instructor in the Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition .

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists, Menzel took part in the communist resistance. He was arrested in March 1933 and sentenced in June 1934 to 15 years in prison by the 1st Criminal Senate of the Breslau Higher Regional Court "for preparation for high treason " . Menzel was imprisoned in the Sonnenburg concentration camp and in the Emsland camp as well as in the prisons in Groß Strelitz and Brandenburg-Görden .

In June 1945 Menzel arrived in Waren (Müritz) as a member of the initiative group of the Central Committee of the KPD ( Sobottka Group ) . He was a city councilor there and was one of the founders of the preparatory trade union committee in August 1945. Menzel actively campaigned for the unification of the SPD and KPD , which took place in Waren on March 24, 1946. Menzel was elected to the newly constituted SED district executive. Menzel remained chairman of the FDGB district board until 1949. 1949/1950 he was secretary of the FDGB regional association Mecklenburg in Schwerin . From 1950 to 1952 he was secretary of the SED company party organization in the general management of the Deutsche Reichsbahn . 1952/1953 he studied at the party college of the CPSU in Moscow . From 1953 to 1955 he acted as the second secretary of the SED district leadership in Halle . From 1955 to 1969 Menzel was chairman of the district party control commission (BPKK) of the SED Halle and member of the secretariat of the SED district leadership Halle.

Menzel's younger brother Robert (1911–2000) was Deputy Minister for Transport in the GDR and a member of the Central Committee of the SED.

Awards

literature

  • Federal Ministry for All-German Issues (Ed.): SBZ biography . Deutscher Bundes-Verlag, Berlin 1964, p. 235
  • Walter Habel (Ed.): Who is who? The German who's who . Volume II. Arani-Verlag, Berlin-Grunewald 1965, p. 215.
  • Gabriele Baumgartner, Dieter Hebig (Hrsg.): Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ / DDR. 1945–1990. Volume 2: Maassen - Zylla. KG Saur, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-598-11177-0 , p. 534.
  • Andreas Herbst , Gerd-Rüdiger Stephan, Jürgen Winkler (eds.): The SED. History, organization, politics. A manual. Dietz, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-320-01951-1 , p. 1028.
  • Peter Hamann, Otto Görisch: 60th anniversary of the union of the district associations of SPD and KPD in the district of Waren on March 24, 1946 . Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Rostock 2006, passim.
  • Mario Niemann :  Menzel, Friedrich . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Neues Deutschland , May 1, 1969, p. 6.
  2. ↑ Neues Deutschland , April 27, 1974, p. 5.
personal data
SURNAME Menzel, Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Menzel, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (KPD / SED) and trade unionist
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH Graefenort
DATE OF DEATH July 26, 1977