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 German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

. 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 transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

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. H ...

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 German National People's Army and in their respective police services. The rank was ...

. 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 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 maintaining state autho ...

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 w ...

. 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. 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