Erich Mielke
Erich Fritz Emil Mielke (December 28, 1907 – May 21, 2000) was a German communist politician and Minister of State Security—and as such head of the Stasi of the German Democratic Republic between 1957 and 1989. Mielke spent more than a decade as an operative of the NKVD during the rule of Joseph Stalin. He was one of the perpetrators of the Great Purge as well as the Stalinist decimation of the International Brigade during the Spanish Civil War.
Following the 1945 Battle of Berlin, Mielke returned to Germany and had a major role in organizing the Soviet Zone into a dictatorship under the Socialist Unity Party. For nearly fifty years, he held the military rank of Armeegeneral. After German reunification, he was tried and convicted of murdering police officers Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck in 1931.
Read more about Erich Mielke: Early Life, Murders of Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck, Fugitive, Working For The Soviet Union, Spanish Civil War, World War II, Building East Germany, The Investigation, Aftermath, Mielke The Football Fan, Tenure As Stasi Head, The Peaceful Revolution, Trial and Conviction, Death, East German Jokes About Mielke, Honours and Awards