Otto Trötscher

Otto Trötscher (born September 1, 1918 in Reichenberg , Austria-Hungary , † June 17, 2008 in Berlin ) was a German politician ( KPTsch / SED ), resistance fighter against the Nazi regime and journalist .

Life

Trötscher, the son of a typesetter, attended the elementary and community school. He completed an apprenticeship as a dental technician and then worked in the profession.

In 1924 he became a member of the Young Pioneers and in 1932 of the Communist Youth Association of Czechoslovakia. In 1936 he joined the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KPTsch). After the occupation of the Sudeten areas , Trötscher operated illegally in Reichenberg. After the start of the Second World War , he was drafted into the army in 1939 . On December 29, 1941, he ran in Feodosia on the Crimean to the Red Army over. After attending an anti-fascist school , he served in the Red Army for the National Committee “Free Germany” .

In 1947 Trötscher went to the SBZ and became a member of the SED. Trötscher worked as a journalist for numerous newspapers and magazines: in 1947/48 he was initially editor at Nacht-Express , then in 1948/1949 head of the local editorial office of New Germany and in 1949/1950 head of the service of the journal Friedenspost . 1950/1951 he was editor-in-chief of the magazine Blick nach Polen and 1952/1953 editor and head of the foreign policy department of the Berliner Zeitung . In 1953 he joined the German People's Police and was deputy editor-in-chief from 1953 to 1957, then editor-in-chief of the magazine Der Grenzpolizist . Between 1953 and 1957 Trötscher completed a distance learning course at the Faculty of Journalism at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig .

From 1957 to 1986 he was an employee or sector head of the security department of the SED Central Committee and editor-in-chief of the newsletter of the combat groups Der Kampf . He had the rank of colonel in the People's Police and retired in 1984.

Awards

• Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze (1965), silver (1968) and gold (1978)
• Gold Medal for the Patriotic Order of Merit (1988)
• Order Banner of Labor Stage I (1974)

literature

• Walter Habel (Ed.): Who is who? The German who's who . Volume II. Arani-Verlag, Berlin-Grunewald 1965, p. 343.
• Gabriele Baumgartner, Dieter Hebig (Hrsg.): Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ / DDR. 1945–1990 . Volume 2: Maassen - Zylla . KG Saur, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-598-11177-0 , p. 942.
• Gottfried Hamacher et al. (Ed.): Against Hitler. Germans in the Resistance, in the armed forces of the anti-Hitler coalition and the "Free Germany" movement. Short biographies (series: Manuscripts / Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung , Volume 53) (PDF; 894 kB). 2., corr. Edition. Dietz, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-320-02941-X , pp. 202f.
• Andreas Herbst :  Trötscher, Otto . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ New Germany of October 4, 1974.