Helmut Zinke

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Helmut "Max" Zinke (born August 20, 1930 in Dippach (today in the Wartburg district ); died February 19, 2020 ) was a German demolition master and head of the Erfurt ammunition recovery service . His place of birth Dippach and the city of Nordhausen made him an honorary citizen . It defused over 800 bombs , 246 of them in Nordhausen, and was highly decorated.

Live and act

Helmut Zinke was born as the son of the miner Willy Zinke and the housewife Luise Zínke. In the last days of the Second World War , as a 14-year-old, he was assigned to the Volkssturm and was trained in the bazooka . The Red Army obliged him to dismantle the remaining machines as a reparation payment. From 1948 to 1950, Zinke trained as a brewer in Berka / Werra . He got tuberculosis. In Springen near Dorndorf an der Werra, he then worked in a potash company . A key experience for the young Helmut Zinke and his further career choice was the sight of five children killed by a grenade in the early 1950s. After appropriate training, he became a certified demolition expert in 1955 , and in 1962 operations manager at the Erfurt ammunition recovery company with over 100 employees. He became a member of the SED . From 1964, Zinke belonged to the German People's Police and soon held the rank of major in the VP. During the Vietnam War in 1974 he took part in a “Socialist Aid” project, in which he trained Vietnamese people in their country to defuse bombs. Zinke's area of ​​responsibility in Thuringia included the recovery and destruction of found ammunition , from rifle cartridges to 40-hundredweight mine bombs (of which he defused five himself). The rendering and disposal of chemical weapons , as well as the destruction of self-made incendiary devices and bombs. A large part of the training was also given to employees, among whom there were no fatal accidents in Zinc's time. With particular devotion he devoted himself to public relations work on the dangers of found ammunition, especially among schoolchildren.

By 1990, Zinke had defused a total of 800 bombs and air mines from World War II. In Nordhausen alone, which experienced the heaviest bombing raids on Thuringia on April 3 and 4, 1945 , Zinke defused 248 duds in 600 missions . On October 7, 1969 (121 bombs had been defused by then) he was given honorary citizenship by the city of Nordhausen .

In 1986, Zinke was diagnosed with a disease of the larynx , which was successfully operated on. In 1990 he was disabled . His last rank in the People's Police was a lieutenant colonel , later a senior police officer . D. On the grounds that he was too close to the GDR system, Zinke had his pension cut after reunification, against which he successfully sued.

Zinke was married and had a son Jörg with his wife Christa, born in 1964.

In a tribute to Helmut Zinke published in the press after his death, the incumbent mayor of Nordhausen and five former ( lord ) mayors wrote: "The city of Nordhausen will keep him in good memory and will always face him with humility".

honors and awards

Zinke received a total of 45 medals and decorations for his services.

literature

  • Bodo Schwarzberg: Images of people from the Harz and Kyffhäuser region . Volume 1. Nordhausen 2011

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bodo Schwarzberg: retired senior counselor Helmut Zinke
  2. ^ Advertisement by the city of Nordhausen in the Thuringian regional newspaper on February 29, 2020

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Zinke, Helmut
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Prong, max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German demolition master
DATE OF BIRTH 20th August 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Dippach
DATE OF DEATH 19th February 2020