Friedrich Dickel

Friedrich Dickel (9 December 1913 – 23 October 1993) was a German politician, who served as the interior minister of East Germany for nearly twenty-six years.

Friedrich Dickel
Minister of Interior
In office
14 November 1963 – 18 November 1989
Preceded byKarl Maron
Succeeded byLothar Ahrendt
Personal details
Born9 December 1913
Vohwinkel, today Wuppertal, Rhine Province, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Died23 October 1993(1993-10-23) (aged 79)
Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany
NationalityGerman
Political partySocialist Unity Party of Germany
Military service
RankArmeegeneral

Early life

Dickel was born on 9 December 1913 in Wuppertal-Vohwinkel in the Prussian Rhine Province of the German Empire.[1]

Career

Dickel joined the Communist Party of Germany in 1931.[2] He was a military officer with the rank of colonel general.[3][4] He fought in the international brigades in the civil war of Spain together with others, including future Stasi chief Erich Mielke.[2][3] After the Nazi rule in Germany, he settled in the Soviet Union and returned to East Germany in 1946.[1] Then Dickel became a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and of its central committee.[5] He served as a police chief in East Berlin.[6]

Dickel was appointed interior minister on 14 November 1963, replacing Karl Maron in the post.[7] He also led the Volkspolizei during his tenure.[5][8] Dickel's term ended on 18 November 1989 when he was dismissed as a result of the atmosphere of change and reform in the country which began leading up to German reunification.[6] He was succeeded by Lothar Ahrendt as interior minister.[8] In December 1989 Dickel retired from politics.[1]

Death

After a long illness Dickel died in Berlin on 23 October 1993.[9] He was 79.[10]

References
  1. "Friedrich Dickel". Chronic der Wende. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  2. Nessim Ghouas (2004). The Conditions, Means and Methods of the MfS in the GDR: An Analysis of the Post and Telephone Control. Cuvillier Verlag. p. 139. ISBN 978-3-89873-988-7.
  3. Arnold Krammer (April 2005). "Sammelrez: Internationale Brigaden in der DDR". H-Soz-u-Kult.
  4. "Bonn Officials are Barred from Traveling to Berlin". St. Petersburg Times. 10 February 1969. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  5. Gareth M. Winrow (5 November 2009). The Foreign Policy of the GDR in Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-521-12259-7.
  6. Divided in Unity: Identity, Germany, and the Berlin Police. University of Chicago Press. 2000. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-226-29784-2.
  7. The End of the Cold War. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. 2001. p. 164.
  8. Nancy Travis Wolfe (1992). Policing a Socialist Society: The German Democratic Republic. New York: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0-3132-6530-3.
  9. "Friedrich Dickel (1913–1993), Innenminister der DDR". LVR. Archived from the original on 14 October 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  10. "Friedrich Dickel". Der Spiegel (44). 1993.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.