Karl Maron (1903–1975) was a German politician, who served as the interior minister of
East Germany
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
. He also assumed different posts in East Germany's government.
Early life and education
Maron was born in Berlin on 27 April 1903 and was educated in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
.
[
]
Career
Maron was a metal worker. In 1926, he joined the Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...
(KPD).[ During the ]Nazi regime
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, he left Germany in 1934 for Denmark and then settled in Russia.[ He returned to Berlin under the protection of a Russian general a few days after the Red Army captured the city in 1945.][ Following his return he became deputy lord mayor of Berlin and the chief of police.] As a deputy mayor one of his significant tasks was to rename the streets of Berlin.[ In 1946, he joined the ]Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...
(SED).[ From 1946 to 1950 he was the chief editor of daily '']Neues Deutschland
''Neues Deutschland'' (''nd''; en, New Germany, sometimes stylized in lowercase letters) is a left-wing German daily newspaper, headquartered in Berlin.
For 43 years it was the official party newspaper of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany ...
'', which was founded in 1946 by the SED.[ He was also the director of Berlin municipality's economy department at the end of the 1940s.
He became the chief of the German people’s police or more commonly ]Volkspolizei
The ''Deutsche Volkspolizei'' (DVP, German for "German People's Police"), commonly known as the ''Volkspolizei'' or VoPo, was the national police force of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1945 to 1990. The Volkspolizei was a h ...
in June 1950 when former chief Kurt Fischer died. In February 1953, he publicly argued "the Volkspolizei can never be neutral or unpolitical."[ In 1954, he was named as the member of SED's central committee.][ During his tenure as the chief of Volkspolizei he also assumed the role of deputy interior minister.
Maron was appointed interior minister on 1 July 1955, replacing ]Willi Stoph
Wilhelm Stoph (9 July 1914 – 13 April 1999) was a German politician. He served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Prime Minister) of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1964 to 1973, and again from 1976 until 1989. He ...
in the post. In this position he was promoted in 1962 to Generaloberst
A ("colonel general") was the second-highest general officer rank in the German ''Reichswehr'' and ''Wehrmacht'', the Austro-Hungarian Common Army, the East Germany, East German National People's Army and in their respective police services. ...
. In 1961, he became a member of the working group formed by the Politburo to develop ways to end refugee flow from East Germany. The other members of the group were then security chief Erich Honecker
Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts ...
and Stasi
The Ministry for State Security, commonly known as the (),An abbreviation of . was the Intelligence agency, state security service of the East Germany from 1950 to 1990.
The Stasi's function was similar to the KGB, serving as a means of maint ...
chief Erich Mielke
Erich Fritz Emil Mielke (; 28 December 1907 – 21 May 2000) was a German communist official who served as head of the East German Ministry for State Security (''Ministerium für Staatsicherheit'' – MfS), better known as the Stasi, from 1957 u ...
.[ Maron's tenure as interior minister ended on 14 November 1963. He was succeeded by ]Friedrich Dickel
Friedrich Dickel (9 December 1913 – 23 October 1993) was a German politician, who served as the interior minister of East Germany for nearly twenty-six years.
Early life
Dickel was born on 9 December 1913 in Wuppertal-Vohwinkel in the Pru ...
as interior minister. From 1958 to 1967 he served as the representative of Volkskammer
__NOTOC__
The Volkskammer (, ''People's Chamber'') was the unicameral legislature of the German Democratic Republic (colloquially known as East Germany).
The Volkskammer was initially the lower house of a bicameral legislature. The upper house ...
.[ In 1964, Maron founded the Institute for Demoscopy (''Institut für Meinungsforschung'' in German) that was a demoscopic research body sponsored by the SED.
]
Personal life and death
Maron was the step-father of author Monika Maron
Monika Maron (born 3 June 1941 in Berlin) is a German author, formerly of the German Democratic Republic.
Biography
She moved in 1951 from West to East Berlin with her stepfather, Karl Maron, the GDR Minister of the Interior. She studied theatre ...
. Karl Maron married her mother in 1955. He died in 1975.[
]
Legacy
A street in East Berlin was named after him, Karl-Maron-Straße, in the 1970s and 1980s.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maron, Karl
20th-century German journalists
20th-century German politicians
1903 births
1975 deaths
Communist Party of Germany politicians
Executive Committee of the Communist International
German male journalists
German male writers
Government ministers of East Germany
Members of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
Members of the 3rd Volkskammer
Members of the 4th Volkskammer
Politicians from Berlin
Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit (honor clasp)
Recipients of the Scharnhorst Order
Refugees from Nazi Germany in the Soviet Union
German newspaper editors