Arthur Franke

Arthur Franke
Arthur Franke
	Germany
Died	23 October 1992 (aged 83); Rüdersdorf, Brandenburg Germany
Nationality	German
Occupation	Military Intelligence Chief
Political party	KPD; SED

Arthur Franke (5 August 1909 in Berlin – 23 October 1992 in Rüdersdorf) was a leading political policeman in East Germany; he became a military officer when the country's army was established in 1956.^[1] Three years later he became Chief of Military intelligence (Mil-ND / Militärnachrichtendienst) of the National People's Army, ending up, in 1974, with the rank of Lieutenant general.^[1]^[2]

Life

Arthur Franke was born into a working-class family, and on leaving school was apprenticed as a

cabinet maker from 1923 till 1927, then working at the trade between 1927 and 1930. In 1930, he joined the Communist Party (KPD). He rose to become the treasurer, organiser and leader of a street cell.^[3] He was unemployed for the next three years, before getting a job in 1933/34 with Philipp Holzmann AG in Berlin.^[1]

In January 1933, the

Death march, during the course of which he managed to escape from his guards.^[1]

With the end of the

merged with the SPD (party): members of both parties were invited, with a simple signature, to switch their party allegiance to the SED (party). In 1946 Arthur Franke joined the SED, becoming a member of the new party's district leadership team in the Tiergarten (Zoo) quarter of Berlin. Between 1945 and 1947 he was also the party's local Agitation and Propaganda secretary.^[1]

On 1 January 1949 he joined the

war there had been shared opposition to the idea of a German army among the allied occupying powers. Opinion shifted in the ensuing ten years, however, and when, in 1956, the German Democratic Republic was permitted to establish its own National People's Army

, what emerged was partly based on quasi-military structures that had already been fashioned within the nation's police service.

When the

Death march. During his fifteen years in charge of military intelligence Arthur Franke was promoted to the rank of Major general by Walter Ulbricht in 1966 and then to that of Lieutenant general

by Erich Honecker in 1974.

He was released from military service on 31 January 1975, and in June 1975 he succeeded Helmut Wolff as President of the Sport and Technology Society Diving Club, an office he held till 1987.

During his final years he lived at Schöneiche on the eastern edge of Berlin.^[5]