Heinz Gronau

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Heinz Gronau (born January 1, 1912 in Leipzig ; † October 28, 1977 ) was a German communist resistance fighter against National Socialism , a prisoner in the Buchenwald concentration camp , member of the illegal German section of the International Military Organization Buchenwald (IMO) and major general in the guard regiment in the GDR Feliks Dzierzynski and Head of Department I of the Ministry of State Security .

Life

Gronau, the son of a printer, attended elementary school and then completed an apprenticeship as a dental mechanic from 1926 to 1930. Then Gronau was unemployed. During the time of the Weimar Republic , he joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in 1930 and was a member of the district leadership of the KJVD Saxony . Gronau took part in the fight against the emerging National Socialism . After the transfer of power to the NSDAP , he was taken into " protective custody " several times in 1933 and worked as an unskilled worker until 1935. Gronau was arrested in 1935 again because of high treason accused and two and a half years prison sentenced.

He spent his time in various detention centers. In 1938 he was admitted to the Buchenwald concentration camp and assigned to the " electrician workshop" and then to the "electroplating workshop" command. Here he took part in conspiratorial resistance activities and worked in the military section of the IMO. The IMO also had poison , e.g. Partly obtained from the electroplating systems in Gronau. He was involved in the installation of secret transmission systems, but he also made cutting and stabbing weapons .

When the Nazi rule was eliminated, Gronau initially headed the social welfare and youth welfare office in Leipzig until 1946. In the Soviet occupation zone and in the GDR, Gronau was active in the newly created military organs. Gronau entered the police force in 1946 , headed the district police offices in Rochlitz and Großenhain and was then deputy chief of the state police authority of Saxony. From 1949 to 1950 he completed a tank course at the Moscow Military Institute . From 1950 he was an inspector as head of main department I (defense in the VP readiness) for the Ministry for State Security (MfS). In 1951 he became chief inspector and in 1953 a colonel. He later held senior positions in the border police and border service . From 1958 to 1962 he graduated from the border troops faculty at the KGB University. From 1962 to 1972 he was the successor to Colonel Günter Wolf, commander of the Feliks Dzierzynski Guard Regiment . Gronau was appointed major general in 1966 and retired in 1972.

Gronau remained connected to historical and political memory work. In 1958 he reported on illegal production for the prisoner infirmary. A valuable machine will be destroyed was another report about an act of sabotage on a machine for arms production .

Awards

In 1986 the 23rd Polytechnic Oberschule in Hohenschönhausen (today Gutenberg Oberschule) was named after Heinz Gronau, as was the 76th Oberschule in Leipzig-Mitte in 1987 in the presence of his widow Dr. Margit Gronau.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Jens Gieseke:  Gronau, Heinz . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
  2. ↑ Author collective: Buchenwald. Reminder and obligation. Documents and reports . German publisher d. Sciences, Berlin 1983, p. 592.
  3. ↑ Author collective: Buchenwald. Reminder and obligation. Documents and reports . German publisher d. Sciences, Berlin 1983, p. 590.
  4. ↑ Jens Gieseke: Who was who in the Ministry for State Security (MfS manual). Ed. BStU. Berlin 2012.
  5. ↑ Klaus Froh & Rüdiger Wenzke, (ed.): The generals and admirals of the NVA: A biographical manual. 5th, through. Edition. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-86153-438-9 , p. 31
  6. ↑ Author collective: Buchenwald. Reminder and obligation. Documents and reports . German publisher d. Sciences, Berlin 1983, p. 469.
  7. ↑ Author collective: Buchenwald. Reminder and obligation. Documents and reports . German publisher d. Sciences, Berlin 1983, p. 468.
  8. ^ New Germany of May 7, 1955
  9. ^ New Germany of December 21, 1961
  10. ^ Berliner Zeitung of October 27, 1986 and Neues Deutschland of January 17, 1987
personal data
SURNAME Gronau, Heinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German resistance fighter, commander of the Feliks Dzierzynski guard regiment
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1912
PLACE OF BIRTH Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 1977