Home > Erich Mielke

Mielke became a member of the German Communist Party during the 1920s. In 1931 he took part, along with two fellow Communists, in the murder of a pair of Berlin police officers. Fleeing arrest for that crime, he escaped to the Soviet Union where he joined numerous other German Communist exiles in Moscow. Due to his record as a reliable Stalinist, Mielke survived Stalin's purgeIn history and political science, to purge is to remove 'undesirable' people from a government, political party, profession, or from community/society as a whole, usually by violent means. Purges are often associated with the Stalinist and Maoist regimes.s, which decimated the exile German community. From 1936 to 1939 he was sent to fight in the Spanish Civil WarTeruel, east of Madrid. For an article about the 1820-1823 civil war in Spain, see: Spanish Civil War, 1820-1823 The Spanish Civil War ( 1936 1939) was the result of complex political differences between the Republicans — supporters of the government of t on the Communist side; during World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough he found himself caught in FranceThe French Republic or France ( French: Republique francaise or France is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in western Europe, and which is further made up of a collection of overseas islands and territories located in other continents., interned as an enemy alien by the VichyVichy is a spa and resort town of around 60,000 in central France, near Clermont-Ferrand, in the departement of Allier, of which it is a sous-prefecture''. Vichy is remembered as the capital of Vichy France. Vichy shower Vichy is also a kind of shower in government.

In 1945Events January January 5 The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland. January 7 British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge. January 12 World War II: Mielke was returned to Germany by the Soviet authorities, with a mandate to build up a security force which would ensure the dominance of the Communist Party in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany. He eventually rose to head the Ministry for State Security, known in Germany as the 'MfS' and internationally (and infamously) as the Stasi.

Mielke headed the Stasi from 1957 until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. His network of 85,000 full-time domestic spies and 170,000 voluntary informers kept tabs on millions of people. So many people collaborated with the Stasi that when the records were opened, it was discovered that in every public building, at least one of it's members kept the Stasi informed on all the activities within it. At his orders and with his full knowledge, Stasi officers also engaged in arbitrary arrest, kidnapping, brutal harassment of political dissidents, and the inhumane imprisonment of tens of thousands of citizens. Mielke oversaw financial corruption on a very large scale, as well. He was one of the most powerful – and most hated – men in East Germany, feared even by members of his own Stasi.

In 1989 Mielke was responsible for one of the most famous TV-incidents of East Germany: When questioned about his actions by an angry crowd he said: "But I love you all". (Laughter in the crowd).

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Mielke was arrested by the new German authorities and charged with the murder of the police officers. Sentenced in October 1993 to six years, he was paroled after less than two, and in 1998 all legal action against him was ended on the grounds of his poor health.

Mielke died on May 22 2000 aged 92 in an Berlin nursing home. About 100 people reportedly attended the funeral. He is buried in the Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde in Berlin. Mielke's grave is outside the memorial section established at the entrance in 1951 by East German leaders for communist heroes. Among those buried there are Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg, co-founders of the German Communist Party who were arrested and killed by army irregulars in 1919, as well as one-time East German leaders Wilhelm Pieck and Walter Ulbricht.