16 Facts About Ernst Wollweber

Ernst Friedrich Wollweber was a German politician who was State Secretary of State Security from 1953 to 1955 and Minister of State Security of East Germany from 1955 to 1957.

In November 1918, Ernst Wollweber participated in the Wilhelmshaven mutiny, a high-profile sailor rebellion in Kiel, and, following the end of the German Revolution, joined the Communist Party of Germany in 1919.

Ernst Wollweber rose quickly through the party ranks and by 1921 had become a member of the KPD's Central Committee and Political Secretary of Hesse-Waldeck.

Two years later, Ernst Wollweber became a leader of the militant wings of the KPD in Hesse-Waldeck, Thuringia, and Silesia.

Ernst Wollweber's activities led to his arrest in 1924, after which time he was charged with high treason.

Ernst Wollweber was released in 1926, and in 1928 he was elected a representative of the Prussian Federal State Parliament, a position he held until 1932.

From 1936 to 1940, Ernst Wollweber organized the "Organisation Against Fascism and in Support of the USSR", better known as the Ernst Wollweber League which conducted 21 known acts of sabotage against the ships of Fascist nations sailing from Scandinavian and other northern European ports.

In 1937, Ernst Wollweber became a weapons supplier to the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War.

In June 1953, Ernst Wollweber was made Undersecretary of State for the Shipping Office, but a month later he became State Secretary of State Security after Wilhelm Zaisser was removed from the post as Minister of State Security and the Stasi was downgraded to a State Secretariat.

In November 1955, Ernst Wollweber was made Minister of State Security, after the Stasi had been restored to a ministry.

Ernst Wollweber tried to improve the Stasi's domestic powers in the search of what he saw as Western intelligence infiltration of the GDR but this brought him into conflict with the mainstream in the SED party leadership, in particularly with its head Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker.

In 1954, Ernst Wollweber became a delegate to the Volkskammer or People's Parliament and a member of the SED's Central Committee.

Besides, a new opposition group led by Politburo member Karl Schirdewan had formed within the SED Politburo to oppose Ulbricht's policies and Ernst Wollweber had unwisely taken Schirdewan's side.

In 1957, Ernst Wollweber was forced to resign as head of the Stasi and was succeeded by his deputy, Erich Mielke.

In 1958, Ernst Wollweber was accused of anti-SED activity and was removed from the Central Committee.

Shortly thereafter, Ernst Wollweber resigned from the Volkskammer and lived in obscurity in East Berlin eking out a living as a translator until his death in 1967.