Willi Bürger (politician, 1907)
Willi Bürger also Willy Bürger (born March 7, 1907 in Hagen ; † September 17, 1988 in Berlin ) was a German KPD politician , resistance fighter against National Socialism and from 1946 to 1950 a member of the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament .
Life
Bürger's father was a lathe operator and iron cutter, his mother a factory worker. He attended elementary school and was then trained as a locksmith. In 1921 he joined the DMV , from 1921 to 1929 he was a member of the Socialist Proletarian Youth or the SAJ and the Workers' Gymnastics and Sports Association . From 1927 Bürger worked for the KPD's M-Apparat , in 1927 he joined the Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold on behalf of the KPD , but was excluded in 1929. In 1929 he became a member of the KPD. In 1929/30 he was a laborer in Hohenlimburg . From 1929 to 1932 he was a member of the state management of the interest group for the restoration of unity in workers' sport , later of the combat group for red sports unit . In 1930 he became Org.-Ltr. of the KPD sub-district of Hagen and instructor of the Lower Rhine district management. In 1931 he attended the party school of the KPD "Rosa-Luxemburg" in Fichtenau and then became an employee of the RGO Niederrhein. In 1933 he was a trainee in the KPD district leadership Berlin-Brandenburg and cashier in Stuttgart. He then joined the KPD.
On March 1, 1933, Bürger was arrested and sentenced to three weeks' imprisonment for possession of weapons. He was imprisoned in the Heuberg and Oberer Kuhberg concentration camps (near Ulm). In 1934 he was the cashier of the KPD sub-district of Hagen and did illegal political work in the Saar region and on the border, among other places. From 1935 Bürger was head of organization in the central emigration management of the KPD in Paris. In 1936 he organized the emigration of KPD members via England to Moscow as a technical assistant in the Western European office of International Red Aid . From 1936, Bürger was adjutant to Ludwig Renn , head of the Thälmann battalion, in the Spanish Civil War . In 1938 he was wounded and spent six months in the hospital. After the defeat of the Republicans, he was interned in France and North Africa from February 1939 to 1942. During this time he was an employee of the closer KPD camp management and involved in camp mutinies. In 1942 he was extradited from the secret prison Castres to the Gestapo and in 1943 sentenced to three years in prison by the Hamm Higher Regional Court for “preparing for high treason”. He served the sentence in Münster until 1945.
After the liberation from National Socialism, Bürger was head of the KPD Hagen in 1945. He was a member of the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia from October 2, 1946 to June 17, 1950 and was chairman of the reconstruction committee there from 1947 to 1950. In 1947/48 he was also a member of the Zone Advisory Board of the British Zone. At the same time he was a city councilor in Hagen. From 1946 to 1948 he was a member of the KPD district leadership in South Westphalia and the KPD state leadership in North Rhine-Westphalia and from 1949 to 1952 he worked in the KPD's news apparatus (code name "Klaus").
In 1952 Bürger moved to the GDR. He initially worked as an employee in the planning office of the IFA vehicle factory in Zittau. From 1954 to 1957 he was chairman of the works union management there .
From 1957 to 1963 he was a political officer in the NVA. As a colonel, he was deputy head of the control department in the Ministry of National Defense and from 1958 to 1960 a member of the SED district leadership of the NVA.
From 1963 he worked as a manager in the foreign trade company Maschinen-Export. In 1964 he retired, but was reactivated in 1965 by the head office for intelligence for unofficial tasks in the Federal Republic of Germany. Later he was a member of the Berlin District Committee of the Committee of Anti-Fascist Resistance Fighters and head of the activities of former Spain fighters in Berlin.
Awards
- 1956 Hans Beimler Medal
- 1956 Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze
- 1970 battle request "For services to the people and fatherland"
- 1977 Patriotic Order of Merit
- 1980 Medal of Honor from the GDR Writers' Association
- 1982 Gold medal for the Patriotic Order of Merit
- 1987 Karl Marx Order
literature
- Friedhelm Geraedts (Red.): 50 years of the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia. The state and its representatives (= writings of the state parliament North Rhine-Westphalia 9, ZDB -ID 1392309-2 ). The President of the State Parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia, Düsseldorf 1996.
- Bernd-Rainer Barth : Citizen, Willi . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
Web links
- Willi Bürger at the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia
- Detlef Kühn : The All-German Institute in the sights of the State Security (PDF; 371 kB) Berlin 2011, ISBN 978-3-934085-11-4 (series of publications by the Berlin State Commissioner for the Documents of the State Security Service of the former GDR, Volume 13, 3rd, added Edition, 2011)
Individual evidence
- ^ New Germany of October 7, 1956
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Citizen, Willi |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Citizen, Willy |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German politician (KPD), MdL |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 7, 1907 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hagen |
| DATE OF DEATH | 17th September 1988 |
| Place of death | Berlin |