Fritz Burde

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Fritz Burchard Burde (born September 20, 1901 in Berlin ; † February 15, 1938 in Moscow ) was a German resistance fighter against National Socialism , communist ( KPD ) and agent . He was a functionary in the KPD's illegal intelligence service , the so-called Antimilitary Apparat (M-Apparat), which existed until 1937 , and later worked for the Communist International (Comintern). Burde was a victim of Stalinist purges during the Great Terror of the Soviet Union and was shot in 1938.

Life

After elementary school Burde learned the trade of locksmith and later worked as a businessman . In 1923 he became an employee of the Soviet trade agency in Berlin. In 1920 he joined the KPD. In the mid-1920s, Burde became Reichsleiter of the "Betriebsberichtichten (BB)" department of the KPD's illegal intelligence service. This department actually served industrial espionage on behalf of the KPD and later the 4th Department of the General Staff of the Soviet Red Army . Burde's alias was Edgar and he worked with the head of the M apparatus, Hans Kippenberger .

From 1931 Burde was on behalf of the Central Committee of the KPD concerned with preparations for a possible illegality of the party, which actually occurred in March 1933 after the transfer of power to the National Socialists and the ban on the KPD. As early as 1931/32 Burde procured quarters throughout the Reich for future illegal party and resistance work. In 1932 Burde was posted to Moscow and became an employee of the OMS secret service of the Communist International. In this role he was used in Denmark , Sweden and Czechoslovakia until 1934 . In 1934 he returned to Moscow and worked in a department of the GRU , the military intelligence service of the Red Army.

On September 7, 1937, Burde was arrested by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs of the USSR (NKVD) in the course of the Stalinist purges in Moscow , sentenced to death on February 15, 1938 and shot on the same day.

literature

  • Hermann Weber , Andreas Herbst : German communists. Biographical Handbook 1918 to 1945 . 2nd, revised and greatly expanded edition. Dietz, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-320-02130-6 ( online ).
  • Siegfried Grundmann: The secret apparatus of the KPD in the sights of the Gestapo . Karl Dietz Verlag, Berlin 2008.
  • Bernhard H. Bayerlein: “The traitor, Stalin, you are!” From the end of left solidarity. Comintern and communist parties in the Second World War 1939–1941 (= Archives of Communism - Paths of the 20th Century. Vol. 4). Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-351-02623-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Siegfried Grundmann, Einstein's Files: Science and Politics - Einstein's Berlin Time , Springer, 2004 ( online )
  2. ^ Siegfried Grundmann, The KPD's secret apparatus in the sights of the Gestapo , Karl Dietz Verlag, Berlin, 2008 ( review )
personal data
SURNAME Burde, Fritz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Burde, Fritz Burchard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German resistance fighter against National Socialism, KPD functionary and agent
DATE OF BIRTH September 20, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH February 15, 1938
Place of death Moscow