Walter Graul

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Walter Graul (born November 11, 1913 in Berlin ; † May 1992 ) was a German journalist . He was General Secretary of the Association of the German Press and the Association of German Journalists and Director of Intertext - Foreign Language Service of the GDR .

Life

Graul, the son of a working-class family, attended elementary school . In 1928 he joined the Socialist Workers' Youth and in 1931 the Communist Youth Association of Germany . From 1928 to 1931 he was an errand boy and apprentice in the Landau law firm in Berlin. From 1931 to 1934 he worked as a commercial clerk at the collecting society for copyrights Gema and Stagma in Berlin, then from 1935 to 1939 at the Rheinisch-Westfälische Versicherungsgesellschaft in Berlin and then from 1939 to 1943 at Benzolvertrieb Berlin.

After the " seizure of power " by the National Socialists in 1933, Graul did illegal work in Berlin-Neukölln . In 1943 he was drafted into the armed forces for military service and in 1945 was taken prisoner by the Soviets , where he remained until 1949. During his imprisonment, he attended an antifa school .

In 1949 he returned to Germany and joined the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). From 1949 to 1954 he was an editor, member of the editorial board and at times head of the management department of the New Germany (ND), the central organ of the SED. Graul was also secretary of the SED factory party organization at the ND. In connection with the Herrnstadt - Zaisser affair, he was relieved of all functions.

From 1954 to 1956 Graul was head of the VEB translation and clipping service Globus . Between May 1956 and 1960 he acted as General Secretary and First Secretary of the Association of the German Press (VDP) and Association of German Journalists (VDJ). After completing his studies (1960/61) as a graduate social scientist at the party college "Karl Marx" at the Central Committee of the SED , he became director of the newly founded foreign language service Intertext in August 1961. In November 1979 Graul retired and was replaced by Rolf Birkigt . Graul was also co-editor of the magazine Fremd Sprachen .

Awards

literature

  • Federal Ministry for All-German Issues (Ed.): SBZ biography . Deutscher Bundes-Verlag, Berlin 1964, p. 115.
  • Walter Habel (Ed.): Who is who? The German who's who . Part II. Arani-Verlag, Berlin-Grunewald 1965, p. 97.
  • Walter Graul on his 65th birthday . In: Fremdsprache (1978), p. 242f.
  • Andreas Herbst (eds.), Winfried Ranke, Jürgen Winkler: This is how the GDR worked. Volume 3: Lexicon of functionaries (= rororo manual. Vol. 6350). Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-499-16350-0 , p. 110.
  • Gabriele Baumgartner, Dieter Hebig (Hrsg.): Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ / DDR. 1945–1990 . Volume 1: Abendroth - Lyr . KG Saur, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-598-11176-2 , p. 240.
  • Gerd-Rüdiger Stephan et al. (Ed.): The parties and organizations of the GDR. A manual . Dietz, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-320-01988-0 , p. 948.
  • Kirsten Nies:  Graul, Walter . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Minutes No. 135/79 of the meeting of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the SED on November 19, 1979 - BArch DY 30 / J IV 2/3/2987.
personal data
SURNAME Graul, Walter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist, General Secretary of the VDJ
DATE OF BIRTH November 11, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH May 1992