Otto Walter (politician)

Otto Walter (born October 2, 1902 in Tarnowitz ; † May 8, 1983 in East Berlin ) was a German politician ( KPD , SED ) and Deputy Minister for State Security of the GDR .

Life

Born as the son of a carpenter , Otto Walter also learned the carpentry trade from 1917 after attending elementary school in Gleiwitz . He worked as such until 1928. In 1919/20 he was a member of the Free Socialist Youth (FSJ). In 1920 Walter joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). In 1927 he attended the Reichsparteischule of the KPD in Hohnstein and in 1929/30 he was the head of the organization and later of the chief of the KPD district leadership in Upper Silesia and in 1929 a KPD city councilor in Gleiwitz. Since 1919 Walter was unionized in the Central Association of Carpenters and Related Professional Associations in Germany (ZvdZD). In 1929 Walter joined the Revolutionary Trade Union Opposition (RGO), and two years later he joined the Unified Association for the Construction Industry (EVfdB). From 1930 to 1933 Walter was the secretary of the KPD district of Halle-Merseburg. In July 1932 , Walter was elected to the Reichstag as a candidate of the KPD for constituency 11 (Merseburg) , of which he was a member until March 1933.

After the National Socialist " seizure of power ", Walter was initially able to go into hiding under the code names Artur and Heinrich Nauer . On December 28, 1933, he was arrested for his work in the illegal underground KPD. The Karlsruhe Higher Regional Court sentenced him to three years in prison on January 24, 1935 for preparing for high treason . After serving his sentence, he was held in concentration camps until May 3, 1945 , including three years in Sachsenhausen concentration camp .

After the war, Walter resumed his political activities. Initially he was employed in the state management of Saxony-Anhalt . From July 1945 to April 1946 Walter was a member of the secretariat of the provincial leadership of the KPD. After the forced unification of the SPD and KPD , he was a member of the secretariat of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). From 1946 to 1951 Walter was a member of the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt . From May 1949 he worked for the establishment of the MfS predecessor, head office for the protection of the national economy . From 1949 he worked as Erich Mielke's “second man” in what would later become the Ministry for State Security of the GDR in East Berlin. From October 1951 to July 1953, Walter headed the Political Culture Department at the Stasi main headquarters in Berlin as Inspector General and Deputy Minister. In February 1953 he was reassessed major general. In November 1953 he was appointed "Deputy State Secretary for Administrative Matters" of the State Secretariat for State Security as successor to Rudolf Menzel and, after the Ministry was restored in 1955, as Deputy Minister. On May 6, 1955, he received the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver. From November 1957 to 1964 he served as the first deputy minister. In October 1959 he received the rank of lieutenant general and in 1962 was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold. In January 1964, he was dismissed and retired because of differences with Mielke. In 1977 he received the Karl Marx Order .

His urn was in the grave conditioning Pergolenweg the memorial of the socialists at the Berlin Central Cemetery Friedrichsfelde buried.

literature

Hermann Weber , Andreas Herbst : German communists. Biographisches Handbuch 1918 to 1945. Karl Dietz Verlag, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-320-02044-7 , p. 838.
Susanne Blohm: Otto Walter (1902–1983). In: Siegfried Mielke , Stefan Heinz (eds.) With the collaboration of Julia Pietsch: Trade unionists in the Oranienburg and Sachsenhausen concentration camps. Biographical Handbook, Volume 4 (= trade unionists under National Socialism. Persecution - Resistance - Emigration. Volume 6). Metropol, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-86331-148-3 , pp. 718-721.
Jens Gieseke : Otto Walter. In: BStU : Who was who in the Ministry for State Security? (PDF, 537 kB), MfS-Handbuch V / 4, Berlin 1998, p. 75.
Jens Gieseke: Walter, Otto . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
Jens Gieseke : Otto Walter. In: Roger Engelmann , Bernd Florath , Helge Heidemeyer , Daniela Münkel , Arno Polzin, Walter Süß (eds.): Das MfS-Lexikon. 3rd updated edition, Ch. Links, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86153-900-1 , p. 368, online version .

Web links

Otto Walter in the database of members of the Reichstag

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Roger Engelmann, Helge Heidemeyer, Daniela Münkel, Arno Polzin, Walter Suess (eds.): The MfS Lexicon, terms, people and structures of the state security of the GDR . 2nd revised edition. 2012, ISBN 978-3-86153-681-9 , pp. 368 .
↑ Martin Schumacher (Ed.): MdR The Reichstag members of the Weimar Republic in the time of National Socialism. Political persecution, emigration and expatriation 1933–1945. Droste-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1991, ISBN 3-7700-5162-9 , pp. 609f.
^ Dierk Hoffmann, Hermann Wentker: The last year of the SBZ. 2000, p. 143.
↑ Andreas Schmidt: ... ride with you or be thrown off. The forced unification of the KPD and SPD in the Province of Saxony / in the state of Saxony-Anhalt 1945–1949 . LIT-Verlag, Münster 2004, p. 82.

personal data
SURNAME	Walter, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German politicians (KPD, SED), MdR, MdV
DATE OF BIRTH	October 2, 1902
PLACE OF BIRTH	Tarnowitz
DATE OF DEATH	May 8, 1983
Place of death	Berlin

[Lexikon-1] A ^b Roger Engelmann, Helge Heidemeyer, Daniela Münkel, Arno Polzin, Walter Suess (eds.): The MfS Lexicon, terms, people and structures of the state security of the GDR . 2nd revised edition. 2012, ISBN 978-3-86153-681-9 , pp. 368 .

[2] Martin Schumacher (Ed.): MdR The Reichstag members of the Weimar Republic in the time of National Socialism. Political persecution, emigration and expatriation 1933–1945. Droste-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1991, ISBN 3-7700-5162-9 , pp. 609f.

[3] Dierk Hoffmann, Hermann Wentker: The last year of the SBZ. 2000, p. 143.

[4] Andreas Schmidt: ... ride with you or be thrown off. The forced unification of the KPD and SPD in the Province of Saxony / in the state of Saxony-Anhalt 1945–1949 . LIT-Verlag, Münster 2004, p. 82.