Rolf Fister

Rolf Fister (born October 12, 1929 in Großdeuben ; † March 19, 2007 in Berlin ) was from 1973 to 1990 head of the investigative department of the Ministry for State Security (MfS). As such, he was responsible for the guidance and control of investigative proceedings against numerous GDR opposition members .

Childhood and youth

Fister was born in Großdeuben in 1929 as the son of a locksmith. After elementary school he began an apprenticeship as a chemigrapher in 1944 . From 1948 he worked as an operations assistant before joining the MfS in 1952. With his wife Edit, Fister had a son and a daughter.

Career in the MfS

After his employment with the MfS, Fister initially worked in Department IV (counter-espionage) of the state administration of Saxony . A year later he was transferred to the investigative body (main department IX) in Berlin. From 1956 to 1960 he completed a correspondence course to become a criminalist at the Central School of the People's Police in Arnsdorf and the Middle Police School in Aschersleben .

In 1958 he was first deputy head, later department head within the main department IX. Between 1962 and 1966 he completed another distance learning course at the Humboldt University in Berlin . With a thesis "on the methodology in recruiting and training the American CIA for use in espionage against the GDR " he earned the title of qualified criminalist. In 1965 he rose to the position of deputy head of HA IX. In 1973 he took over the post from Walter Heinitz as head of the investigative body and was thus the superior of all state security prisons . During his term of office, prominent dissidents like Rudolf Bahro and Gerulf Pannach were arrested . The arrest warrant against Jürgen Fuchs and the initiation of the preliminary investigation against Lutz Eigendorf also bear his signature. Fister was thus also primarily responsible for the harassing, humiliating and torture-like interrogation practices.

In 1975 he received his doctorate with Heinz Fiedler at the University of the Ministry of State Security in Potsdam to Dr. jur. with the text The fight against subversive human trafficking . Three years later he was appointed major general. With the dissolution of the Ministry of State Security, Fister was released in 1990.

After the end of the SED dictatorship

After his release from the service of the State Security, Fister lived as a pensioner in Berlin. In 1996 the Berlin public prosecutor brought charges of inciting perversion of the law and deprivation of liberty . However, due to his incapacity to stand trial, he did not have to answer for any offenses. In March 2001 he and 22 other former high-ranking MfS officers signed an open letter in the young world , in which they complained about a “witch hunt” on former employees of the State Security. Fister died on March 19, 2007 in Berlin.

literature

Jens Gieseke : Rolf Fister . In: BStU : Who was who in the Ministry for State Security? MfS-Handbuch V / 4, Berlin 1998, p. 18 (PDF; 537 kB) .
Jens Gieseke: Fister, Rolf . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
Roger Engelmann, Bernd Florath , Helge Heidemeyer, Daniela Münkel, Arno Polzin, Walter Süß : The MfS Lexicon. 3. updated edition, Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86153-900-1 , page 92, bstu.de .

Web links

MfS lexicon: Rolf Fister

Individual evidence

↑ Cf. Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial: Headquarters of the investigative department of the MfS ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2

↑ Cf. Förster, Günter: The Law School of the Ministry for State Security, p. 358.

^ Karl Wilhelm Fricke: Mielke's minions. April 13, 2015, accessed June 12, 2018 .

↑ Making the East controllable - Propaganda of old clans. Archived from the original on February 12, 2013 ; accessed on June 12, 2018 (originally published in Junge Welt , April 20, 2001).

↑ Hubertus Knabe : The perpetrators are among us. About the glossing over of the SED dictatorship. Berlin 2008, p. 284.

↑ See obituary in the Berliner Zeitung , April 7, 2007.

personal data
SURNAME	Fister, Rolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German secret service agent, head of the investigation department of the Ministry for State Security
DATE OF BIRTH	October 12, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH	Großdeuben
DATE OF DEATH	March 19, 2007
Place of death	Berlin

[1] Cf. Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial: Headquarters of the investigative department of the MfS ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2

[2] Cf. Förster, Günter: The Law School of the Ministry for State Security, p. 358.

[3] Karl Wilhelm Fricke: Mielke's minions. April 13, 2015, accessed June 12, 2018 .

[4] Making the East controllable - Propaganda of old clans. Archived from the original on February 12, 2013 ; accessed on June 12, 2018 (originally published in Junge Welt , April 20, 2001).

[5] Hubertus Knabe : The perpetrators are among us. About the glossing over of the SED dictatorship. Berlin 2008, p. 284.

[6] See obituary in the Berliner Zeitung , April 7, 2007.