Rudolf Maerker

Rudolf Maerker (born September 7, 1927 in Neuwied ; † November 24, 1987 in Bonn ) was a German journalist , politician and unofficial employee (IM) of the Ministry for State Security .

Life

During the time of National Socialism , Rudolf Maerker was listed as a member of the NSDAP since April 1944 ( membership number 10.039.576). After the Second World War , Maerker was initially a member of the FDJ in the Rhineland and, from May 1947, of the KPD . On September 11, 1948, the student Maerker and the Neuwied teacher Herbert Bartholmes (1923-1999), district chairman of the FDJ, were arrested by the French military government for no reason after their group was banned. Maerker then moved to East Berlin , studied for two semesters and became a member of the SED . Maerker became Leo Bauer's employee at Deutschlandsender . In 1952 Maerker fled to West Berlin , was a member of the SPD and worked for the SPD's East Office . After moving to Bonn, he first worked as an employee of the SPD party executive, later as a freelance journalist for the "East-West editorial team" of Deutschlandfunk .

Maerker preferred to write criticism of the GDR . In 1978 the Stasi main department XX, which was not informed about his activity as IM for the Enlightenment Headquarters (HVA), classified his articles as " inflammatory " and "directed against the Marxist-Leninist worldview ".

From 1958 to 1980 he was chairman of the SPD local association Beuel and from 1967 to 1986 chairman of the SPD sub-district of Bonn; from 1973 to 1987 was a member of the Central Rhine District Board. In October 1973 Maerker participated as a member of an observation group of the SPD executive committee at the World Peace Congress in Moscow. At the Bonn peace demonstration in 1983 he spoke on the stage of the trade unions at Poppelsdorf Castle. Maerker was considered a representative of the left wing and confidante of Willy Brandt and Herbert Wehner .

As IM "Max" Maerker worked from October 1968 until his death under the registration number XV / 1628/68 for the HVA of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR . He mainly delivered reports on the SPD leadership. The Stasi assigned this information to the highest category, "A" (reliable). Maerker provided the HVA with over 1,700 items of individual information by the time he died.

Web links

Literature by and about Rudolf Maerker in the catalog of the German National Library
Spy Max unmasked ( Tagesspiegel , August 9, 2000)
The Stasi mole from Bonn ( Welt online , April 28, 2004)

literature

SPD sub-district Bonn (Ed.): Rudolf Maerker 1927–1987. Necrology on the occasion of the inauguration of the Rudolf Maerker House of the SPD, Bonn, on November 24, 1989 . o. o. o. J. [Bonn 1989]
Hubertus Knabe: The discreet charm of the GDR. Stasi and western media . Propylaeen, Berlin 2001, pp. 216-223.
The Federal Commissioner for the Documents of the State Security Service of the former GDR (Ed.): The German Bundestag 1949 to 1989 in the files of the Ministry for State Security (MfS) of the GDR. Report to the German Bundestag in accordance with Section 37 (3) of the Stasi Records Act . Berlin 2013, pp. 71, 99, 109, 132 and 135

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Cf. Eric Waldman: Germany's way into socialism . Hase & Koehler, Mainz 1976, p. 26.
^ Cf. Manfred W. Hellmann: HERBERT BARTHOLMES (1923-1999) . In: Mitteldeutsches Jahrbuch für Kultur und Geschichte 8 (2001), pp. 235–238 ( PDF on the publication server of the Institute for German Language).
↑ See Henning Müller (Ed.): Friedrich Wolf , Weltbürger from Neuwied. Self-testimonies in poetry and prose, documents and documentaries, pictures and letters . Kehrein, Neuwied 1988, pp. 182-184
↑ See Jürgen Schreiber: The Stasi is alive - reports from an infiltrated country , Munich 2009, p. 135.
↑ Cf. Stephan Konopatzky: The possibilities and limits of the use of SIRA databases using the example of the Stiller and Guillaume cases . In: Horch and Guck 39 (2002), 46–55 ( digitized version of the Citizens Committee Leipzig eV, sponsor of the museum memorial in the "Round Corner").

personal data
SURNAME	Maerker, Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German journalist, spy for the State Security Service of the GDR
DATE OF BIRTH	September 7, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH	Neuwied
DATE OF DEATH	November 24, 1987
Place of death	Bonn

[Waldman-1] Cf. Eric Waldman: Germany's way into socialism . Hase & Koehler, Mainz 1976, p. 26.

[2] Cf. Manfred W. Hellmann: HERBERT BARTHOLMES (1923-1999) . In: Mitteldeutsches Jahrbuch für Kultur und Geschichte 8 (2001), pp. 235–238 ( PDF on the publication server of the Institute for German Language).

[3] See Henning Müller (Ed.): Friedrich Wolf , Weltbürger from Neuwied. Self-testimonies in poetry and prose, documents and documentaries, pictures and letters . Kehrein, Neuwied 1988, pp. 182-184

[4] See Jürgen Schreiber: The Stasi is alive - reports from an infiltrated country , Munich 2009, p. 135.

[5] Cf. Stephan Konopatzky: The possibilities and limits of the use of SIRA databases using the example of the Stiller and Guillaume cases . In: Horch and Guck 39 (2002), 46–55 ( digitized version of the Citizens Committee Leipzig eV, sponsor of the museum memorial in the "Round Corner").