Leonhard Helmschrott

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Leonhard Helmschrott (born June 5, 1921 in Unterthürheim , † October 28, 2011 in Berlin ) was a German journalist and politician . He was a founding member of the National Committee Free Germany (NKFD) and from 1948 to 1989 editor-in-chief of the DBD - central organ Bauernecho .

Life

Born as the son of a farmer, Helmschrott worked in his parents' farm from 1935 after leaving school. In 1941 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht . Used on the Eastern Front, Helmschrott was taken prisoner of war by the Soviets in early September 1942 in the rank of private. He declared himself ready to cooperate with the Red Army and very soon started agitating with leaflets and trench loudspeakers on the Soviet-German front. However, he was soon withdrawn and worked in the Antifa-Aktiv of the POW camp 27 in Krasnogorsk. From February to July 1943, helmet scrap was sent to the central Antifa school in Krasnogorsk. There he took part in the founding conference of the National Committee “Free Germany” (NKFD). Helmschrott became an elected member of the NKFD. In the following years he was also the author of the newspaper and the “Free Germany” channel of the National Committee.

On December 8, 1945 he was flown with Luitpold Steidle , Matthäus Klein and other prisoners of war on behalf of the NKFD from Moscow to Berlin, where they were received by Walter Ulbricht . Helmschrott joined the KPD in 1945 , which in 1946 was merged into the SED when the KPD and SPD were forced to merge. He became editor of the KPD organ Volkszeitung , which was later renamed the Landeszeitung as an organ of the SED in Mecklenburg. In 1947 and 1948 he worked as a freelance journalist. Helmschrott was delegated to the Karl Marx party college in 1948 .

While still studying at the party college, Helmschrott was commissioned by the SED to take part in the SED-initiated founding of the Democratic Peasant Party of Germany (DBD). He immediately became a member of the party executive committee and editor-in-chief of the DBD central organ Bauernecho , which he remained until 1989. In 1949 Helmschrott was elected to the People's Chamber for the DBD , of which he chaired the parliamentary group from 1963 to 1986. From 1958 he was also a member of the People's Chamber Committee for National Defense, and from 1986 he was deputy chairman of this committee. In 1963, he declared a right to conscientious objection in the GDR to be unthinkable. From 1971 to 1976 he was deputy chairman of the GDR Interparliamentary Group. From 1950 to 1988 he was an unofficial employee of the GDR State Security .

After completing a distance learning course at the University of Leipzig , Helmschrott was able to call himself a qualified journalist from 1962. From 1986 to March 1990 Helmschrott was a member of the State Council of the GDR . On November 15, 1989, at his own request, he was replaced as editor-in-chief and member of the executive committee and secretariat of the DBD. In January 1990 he also resigned from the party executive committee of the DBD. When the DBD merged with the CDU (East) , Helmschrott became non-party.

Leonhard Helmschrott was honored in 1970 with the Patriotic Order of Merit (VVO) in gold and in 1975 with the Star of Friendship of Nations . In 1981 he was awarded the VVO.

Fonts (selection)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Luitpold Steidle: Decision on the Wolga , Union Verlag Berlin, p. 400.
  2. ↑ Leonhard Helmschrott in the mirror
personal data
SURNAME Helm scrap, Leonhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (DBD), MdV, editor-in-chief of the DBD central organ "Bauern-Echo"
DATE OF BIRTH June 5, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Unterthürheim
DATE OF DEATH October 28, 2011
Place of death Berlin