Wilhelm Zaisser

Vocation

Traits

German communist politician and the first Minister for State Security of the German Democratic Republic (1950–1953). In 1947, Zaisser returned to Germany and joined the Socialist Unity Party (SED). Zaisser’s career took off rapidly soon afterwards, and by 1948 he was Minister of the Interior and Deputy Minister-President of Saxony-Anhalt. From 1949 to 1954, Zaisser served as a representative in the Volkskammer and in 1950 worked on military and tactical issues at the Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin Institute, a facility to which very few non-Soviets had access. After the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in March 1953, Moscow favored replacing East Germany's Stalinist party leader Walter Ulbricht and considered Zaisser a potential candidate. However, the workers' uprising, which was suppressed by the Soviet army on 17 June led to a backlash and secured Ulbricht's position. An attempt, to depose Ulbricht shortly after the uprising failed, because the Soviet leadership feared that deposing Ulbricht might be construed as a sign of weakness. Subsequently Ulbricht consolidated his power and removed Zaisser and other potential threats from national leadership. Zaisser was forced to resign his ministry in July 1953. However, in 1953 Zaisser was decorated with the Order of Karl Marx Zaisser's downfall was also hastened by his power hungry deputy, Erich Mielke, who actively worked to tarnish Zaisser's standing in the party. Ultimately, Zaisser and others in the Politburo and the Central Committee were accused of being hostile to the party and removed from their positions. Ulbricht also accused Zaisser of not using the repressive power of the Stasi to a sufficient extent during the uprising of June 1953. Zaisser was stripped of all his posts and classified as an enemy of the people. Zaisser subsequently spent his final years working as a translator and at the Institute of Marxism and Leninism in East Berlin. He died in obscurity in East Berlin in 1958, and was posthumously rehabilitated by the Party of Democratic Socialism, the former SED, in 1993. Link to Wikipedia biography