Early Life
In handwritten biographies written for Stalin's secret police, Mielke described his background as follows,
"I, Erich Mielke, was born on December 28, 1907, in Berlin, (Prussia). My father was a poor, uneducated woodworker, and my mother died in 1911. Both were members of the SPD Social Democratic Party and joined the KPD
Mielke became a member of the Communist Party of Germany in 1925, and worked as a reporter for the communist newspaper Rote Fahne from 1928 to 1931. He then joined the Parteiselbstschutz ("Party Self Defense Unit").
According to John Koehler,
Like their Nazi counterparts, the Selbstschutz men were thugs who served as bouncers at Party meetings and specialized in cracking heads during street battles with political enemies. Besides the Nazis, their arch foes included the Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands (SPD) – the Social Democratic Party of Germany – and radical nationalist parties. They always carried a Stahlrute, two steel springs that telescoped into a tube seven inches long, which when extended became a deadly, fourteen inch weapon. Not to be outdone by the Nazis, these streetfighters were often armed with pistols as well.
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