Fritz Koehn
Fritz Köhn (born June 20, 1901 in Flensburg , † July 17, 1981 ) was a major general of the barracked People's Police and the National People's Army of the German Democratic Republic .
Life
As the son of an employee, he learned the trade of a locksmith after eight years of attending school from 1916 to 1918 . He experienced the last months of the First World War as a sailor in the Imperial Navy and took part in the Kiel sailors' uprising . In 1920 he returned to civilian life as a farm worker. From 1925 to 1931 he worked as a driver. In 1931, Köhn became unemployed during the Great Depression. He joined the KPD in the same year and took part in illegal communist actions until 1936. From 1934 to 1936, Köhn worked as a driver and then as a locksmith until 1937. In 1937 Köhn emigrated to France and later fought on the side of the international brigades until 1939 in the context of the Spanish Civil War . Following this, he was first interned and later taken to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp . On April 22, 1945 he managed to escape together with Walter Joswig - Ernst Thälmann's former driver.
After the war, Köhn was an employee of the KPD and later the SED district leadership in Treptow until 1947 . In 1947 he became a cadre instructor at the Central Committee of the SED . On October 1, 1949, he joined the German People's Police , where he was - initially as VP inspector, from January 1, 1950 as chief inspector - until June 1952, head of the personnel department in the staff of the headquarters for training. From July 1952 to September 1952 he was chief of the management cadre of the barracked people's police . On October 1, 1952, he was appointed major general and deputy head of the administration cadre of the Ministry of the Interior and, from 1953, the KVP. From March 1956 until his retirement on December 31, 1961, Köhn was deputy head of the cadre administration in the Ministry of National Defense (MfNV). From 1958 to 1963 he was a member of the Central Revision Commission of the SED.
His urn was in the grave conditioning Pergolenweg the memorial of the socialists at the Berlin Central Cemetery Friedrichsfelde buried.
Awards
- June 30, 1955 Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze
- 1961 Order Banner of Labor
- 1966 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold
- 1976 Karl Marx Order
- 1981 Gold Medal for the Patriotic Order of Merit
- Battle medals "For services to people and fatherland" in gold
- Medal for fighters against fascism 1933 to 1945
literature
- Klaus Froh, Rüdiger Wenzke : The generals and admirals of the NVA. A biographical manual. Christoph-Links Verlag, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-86153-209-3 , p. 124/125
- Torsten Diedrich, Hans Ehlert u. Rüdiger Wenzke, In the service of the party - Handbook of the armed organs of the GDR , Links Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-86153-160-7 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ People's Army (newspaper) No. 24 - June 1986
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Koehn, Fritz |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German officer, most recently major general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 20, 1901 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Flensburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | 17th July 1981 |