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Erich Mielke

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Erich Mielke

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German politician (1907-2000)

OverviewAI-generated

Erich Fritz Emil Mielke was a German military officer, politician, and minister who served as a general of the army. Born in Berlin on December 28, 1907, he held citizenship in the German Empire, Weimar Republic, Soviet Union, and German Democratic Republic. A member of the Communist Party of Germany and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, he participated in the Spanish Civil War with the International Brigades and in World War II. His allegiance was to the Soviet Union.

Mielke received several honors, including the Hero of the Soviet Union, Order of Lenin, Order of the October Revolution, and Order of the Red Banner. He was convicted of murder and detained at Moabit Prison. He died in Berlin on May 21, 2000, and was buried at Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde. He spoke German and Russian.

Synthesized by Vinony from 42 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, OpenAlex, Crossref, MusicBrainz, Last.fm, TMDb, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Works
1

Top works

  • Sozialismus und Frieden, Sinn unseres Kampfes

via Open Library + Wikidata

Film & TV

Acting · Berlin, Germany

Known for

  • Stasi FC — Self (Archive Footage)2025
  • Stasi: A State Against Its People — Self (archive footage)2021
  • Inside HVA — Self - MfS-Chef (archive footage)2019
  • Störung Ost — Chief State Security1996
  • Streng vertraulich oder Die innere Verfassung — Self (archive footage)1990

via TMDB

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Gender
Male
Origin
Germany

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
43
Total plays
152

<a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Erich+Mielke">Read more on Last.fm</a>

via Last.fm · Erich Mielke

Key facts

Chairman of the council of ministers
Otto Grotewohl Willi Stoph Horst Sindermann Willi Stoph
First deputy
Otto Walter Bruno Beater
Preceded by
Ernst Wollweber
Succeeded by
Position abolished , Wolfgang Schwanitz , (as Head of the Office for National Security )
Minister
Wilhelm Zaisser Ernst Wollweber
Born
Erich Fritz Emil Mielke , ( 1907-12-28 ) 28 December 1907, Wedding , Berlin , Kingdom of Prussia , German Empire (now Germany )
Died
21 May 2000 (2000-05-21) (aged 92), Neu-Hohenschönhausen , Berlin , Germany
Party
Socialist Unity Party (1946–1989)
Other political affiliations
Communist Party of Germany (1928–1946)
Spouse
Gertrud Müller
Children
Frank, Ingrid
Occupation
Politician Civil servant Freight forwarder
Allegiance
East Germany
Branch service
National People's Army
Rank
Armeegeneral
Battles wars
Spanish Civil War , World War II
Criminal status
Served prison sentence 7 December 1989 – 9 March 1990; 26 July 1990 – 1 August 1995, released on parole in 1995 due to poor health
Convictions
Murder ( 2 counts ), attempted murder

via Wikipedia infobox

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Erich Fritz Emil Mielke ( German: [ˈeːʁɪç ˈmiːlkə]; 28 December 1907 – 21 May 2000) was a German communist official who served as head of the East German Ministry for State Security (Ministerium für Staatsicherheit – MfS), better known as the Stasi, from 1957 until shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Dubbed "The Master of Fear" (German: der Meister der Angst) by the West German press, Mielke was one of the most powerful, feared, and hated men in East Germany.

A working-class native of the Wedding slum district of Berlin and a second-generation member of the Communist Party of Germany, Mielke was one of two gunmen in the 1931 murders of Berlin Police captains Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck. After learning that a witness had survived, Mielke escaped arrest by fleeing to the Soviet Union, where the NKVD recruited him. He was one of the key figures in the decimation of Moscow's many German Communist refugees during the Great Purge as well as in the Red Terror; the witch-hunt by the Servicio de Información Militar for both real and imagined members of the anti-Stalinist Left within the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Erich Mielke” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (13)