Martin Appelfeller
Martin Appelfeller (born August 12, 1921 in Meuselbach ; † April 1, 2001 in Berlin ) was a German major general of the Ministry for State Security (MfS) in the GDR and from 1975 to 1986 sector leader of the MfS in the Central Committee (ZK) of the SED .
Life
After primary school and training as a machine worker, the worker's son Martin Appelfeller was drafted into the Reich Labor Service in 1940 and drafted into the German Wehrmacht in April 1941 and fought as an artillery soldier in World War II until 1945 .
After the end of the war until 1946 he worked as a machine worker. Appelfeller became a member of the KPD in 1945 and became a member of the SED in 1946 when the SPD and KPD were forced to merge . From 1946 to 1948 he was the registration controller for the Rudolstadt district council and 1948/49 mayor of Meuselbach in Thuringia . In 1949 Appelfeller went to the German People's Police (DVP) and in 1950 with the formation of the Ministry for State Security (MfS) in the GDR, he became a member of the MfS and was an “operative employee” there until 1952.
With the formation of the districts in the GDR in July 1952, Appelfeller became head of the department (political and cultural director) and first secretary of the SED district leadership of the MfS district administration in Gera . In 1954 he was seconded to the Central Committee for the newly created security department as an officer in special operations (OibE) of the State Security and political employee. From 1957 to 1960 he studied at the Karl Marx party college of the SED and obtained a diploma in social sciences . By 1969 he completed a distance learning course at the Law School of the MfS and became a qualified lawyer .
From 1975 to 1986 Appelfeller was sector leader of the MfS in the security department of the Central Committee of the SED (successor to Fritz Renckwitz ). On February 1, 1980 Appelfeller was appointed major general by the Chairman of the National Defense Council of the GDR , Erich Honecker . When he reached the age limit, he retired in 1986.
Awards
- 1981 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold (GDR)
- 1986 Scharnhorst Order (GDR)
literature
- Günther Buch: Names and dates of important people in the GDR. 4th, revised and expanded edition. Dietz, Berlin (West) / Bonn 1987, ISBN 3-8012-0121-X , p. 5.
- Andreas Herbst : Martin Appelfeller . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
- Manfred Wilke (ed.): Anatomy of the party headquarters . Studies by the SED State Research Association at the Free University of Berlin. Akademieverlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-05-003220-0 .
- Silke Schumann: Party education in the secret police . On the role of the SED in the MfS in the fifties. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 1997.
- Walter Süß : The relationship between the SED and the State Security . A sketch of its development. BStU , Berlin 1997 ( bund.de [PDF; 161 kB ]).
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Appelfeller, Martin |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German major general of the Ministry for State Security in the GDR |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 12, 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Meuselbach |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 1, 2001 |
| Place of death | Berlin |