The Investigation
In January 1947, however, two Weimar-era policemen recognized Mielke at an official function. Informing the head of the criminal police in West Berlin, the policemen demanded that Mielke be arrested and prosecuted for the murders of Captains Anlauf and Lenck. Prosecutor Wilhelm Kühnast of the Kammergericht was immediately informed and ordered a search of the archives. To his astonishment, the files of the 1931 murders had survived the wartime bombing of Germany. Finding ample evidence of Mielke's involvement, Kühnast ordered the arrest of the communist policeman.
According to John Koehler,
"At that time, the city administration, including the police, was under the control of the Allied Control Commission, which consisted of U.S., British, French, and Soviet military officers. All actions by city officials, including the judiciary, were to be reported to the Commission. The Soviet representative alerted the MGB. Action was swift. Marshal Vasily Sokolovsky, who had replaced Zhukov, protested, and his representatives at the Commission launched a vicious campaign to discredit Kühnast."
The Soviet representatives falsely claimed that Kühnast, a longtime anti-Nazi, had been an official of Roland Freisler's People's Court. As a result, the Western Allies agreed to remove Kühnast from his position and placed him under house arrest. During the Berlin airlift, Kühnast escaped from his home in the Soviet Zone and was granted political asylum in the west.
Meanwhile, the Soviet authorities confiscated all documents relating to the murders of Captains Anlauf and Lenck. These were handed over to Mielke, who subsequently kept them in his personal safe.
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