Edgar Braun (born 9 June 1939) is a former Major general in the

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

Ministry for State Security (MfS / ''"Stasi"''). He was in charge of the service's Central Department for transport, mail and tele-communications (''" / Section XIX"'').

Life

Edgar Braun was born in Molbitz, some 30 km (18 miles) south of

Jena Jena (; ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 in ...

, in

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

. His early years were marked by the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

which broke out a few months after his birth, and involved the repeated destructive bombing of Molbitz which was adjacent to a

Mineral Oil Mineral oil is any of various colorless, odorless, light mixtures of higher alkanes from a mineral source, particularly a distillate of petroleum, as distinct from usually edible vegetable oils. The name 'mineral oil' by itself is imprecise, ...

facility. His father worked as a

dispatcher A dispatcher is a Communication, communications worker who receives and transmits information to coordinate operations of other personnel and vehicles carrying out a service. Emergency organizations including police, police departments, fire de ...

. In May 1945 the war ended and after the invading armies had rearranged themselves the whole of

became part of the

Soviet occupation zone The Soviet occupation zone in Germany ( or , ; ) was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 2 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republ ...

of what had been Germany. While Braun was at school, the occupation zone was transformed into a new separate German state, the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, formally founded in October 1949. Directly after successful completion of his schooling, in 1957 he enrolled at the local office of the Ministry for State Security (MfS) in

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

. There followed a two-year training at the MfS Academy on the edge of Potsdam. 1959, the year of his twentieth birthday, was the year in which Edgar Braun joined East Germany's ruling SED (party), and it was also when he joined "Section II" of the service (counter-intelligence) in the Stasi's Leipzig district. In 1961 he was transferred to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, still as a member of the counter-intelligence section. In 1977 he was promoted, becoming deputy head of "Section I" (internal security). In this capacity he was charged with hunting down suspected and actual dissenters inside

The Service "The Service" is an essay written in 1840 by Henry David Thoreau. He submitted it to ''The Dial'' for publication, but they declined to print it. It was not published until after Thoreau's death. The essay uses war and military discipline as ...

. It was later reported that three of the dissidents he had identified during this period were executed, the best known of the three in the west being , a naval captain who is believed to have been working for western intelligence. Braun took a five-year correspondence course with the Karl Marx Party Academy which led in 1980 to a degree in Social Sciences. The Ministry then, in 1982, promoted him to "Section XIX" (transport, mail and tele-communications), of which shortly afterwards he took on the leadership in succession to Helmut Griebner. In 1986 he was raised to the rank of Major general. November 1989 marked a terminal crisis for the East German regime, and it was the month in which Edgar Braun became a leading member of the National Security Office (AfNS / ''Amt für Nationale Sicherheit''). This was a short-lived successor organisation to the Ministry for State Security (MfS). Braun's role within the AfNS is considered controversial by those who believe he used his position to try and force out the "Citizens' Committees" (''"Bürgerkomitees"'') that had sprung up and were seeking to take over Stasi offices and preserve Stasi records that were likely to incriminate Stasi officers, Stasi collaborators and in some cases Stasi victims. There were also objections and that he tried, at the same time, to ensure amnesties for former Stasi officers and for their many secret collaborators as a quid pro quo for their silence. Following

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, which formally took place in October 1990, Edgar Braun worked as a

real estate agent Real estate agents and real estate brokers are people who represent sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and age ...

. However, he continued to defend the interests of those who had served as officers and associates of his former service. In 1992 he was one of several former senior Stasi officers who signed an

open letter An open letter is a Letter (message), letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter (mess ...

to the regional prime ministers of the New Federal States (former East Germany), in which the signatories condemned the ongoing "witch-hunt" against former Stasi collaborators and called for "silent solutions, behind closed doors" (''"stille Lösungen unter Ausschluss der Öffentlichkeit"'') in respect of disclosures of past Stasi activities. In 2003 he was one of those behind a two volume compilation entitled "Die Sicherheit, a justification of former Stasi-officers". Edgar Braun is a member of the Society for legal and humanitarian support, an organisation created in 1993 by former East German government ministers and officials, Stasi officers and border guards to counter threats of legal action following in the wake of the

regime change Regime change is the partly forcible or coercive replacement of one government regime with another. Regime change may replace all or part of the state's most critical leadership system, administrative apparatus, or bureaucracy. Regime change may ...

of 1990. Braun continued to live in Berlin after his retirement.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, Edgar Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Stasi officers 1939 births Military personnel from Thuringia Living people People from Altenburger Land