PURGE LEADING COMMUNISTS, ECONOMIC SABOTEURS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600370052-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2011
• Sequence Number: 52
• Publication Date: December 21, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/27: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600370052-3
1
Newspapers as indicated.
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1950
CD NO.
DATE DIST. A I Dec 1950
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
PURGE LEADING COMMUNISTS, ECONOMIC SABOTEURS
EAST GERMANS FILLING GAPS CAUSED BY PURGES -- Stockholm, Svenska Dagbladet,
12-Nov 50
Berlin, 11 November -- East Germany has now begun to 'ill the vacancies
caused by the, extensive purges of high Communist officials.
The East German railroads have been given a new chief, Erwin Kramer of the
SED. He succeeds Willi Kreikemeyer, who was removed from office in early Sep-
tember for Titoist activity and for sabotage of the East German economy.
Kreikemeyer is now under arrest, probably somewhere in East Germany.
Along with Kreikemeyer, five other leading East German Communists were
purged: Paul Merker, a member of. the East German Politburo, Leo Bauer, editor
in chief for the Soviet-controlled Berlin radio, Bruno Goldmann, director of
the East-German information control bureau under Minister of Propaganda Eisler,
Lex Ende,?editor in chief of the party organ Neues Deutschland, and Maria
Weiterer, one of the party's leading women members.
All were accused of having had liaison with "the chief-American agent,
Noel H. Field," a social worker in postwar Germany who disappeared in Czecho-
slovakia over a year ago.
Besides these leading Communists, an unknown number of other^fune-cionaries
_-_. v Into _e
vere also purged. Numerous reports or this purge -ve ha in re-
cent weeks.
As rroently as 11 November, Neue Zeicung reported that three officials in
the Sachsen. Ministry of Agriculture had been-ousted, that the director of the
health department in Dresden and two of his co-workers had been removed from
office, and that all the directors of the people-awned paper mills in Sachsen
ing
had been arrested. The newspaper stated further that one third dg fithe.leading
.officials in the railroad aCministration in Magdeburg,
and his closest associate, have been arrested for treasonable activity in con-
nection with the Kreikemeyer affair.
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY,
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
CLASSIFICATION
COUNTRY German Democratic Republic
SUBJECT Political - Purges
HOW
PUBLISHED Daily newspapers; weekly periodical
WHERE
PUB14SHED Sweden; Switzerland
DATE
`PUBLISHED
LANGUAGE
5 Oct ?? 12 Nov 1950
German; Swedish
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DEPORTS NEW PURGE IN EAST GERMANY -- Stockholm, Svenska Dagbladet, 26 Oct 50
Berlin, 25 October -- The Christian Democratic Union in East Germany has
excluded the Minister of Commerce of Thueringen, Walter Rueckert, from the
party. An official an.- uncemen t, believed to be the prelude to a new purge of
"saboteurs" from the East German provincial governments and affiliated parties,
warned of other disciplinary measures to be taken because of insufficient or-
thodoxy.
OFFICIALS ARRESTED FOR SABOTAGE -- Stockholm, Morgon Tidningen, 26 Oct 50
It is reported officially that several East German officials have been ar-
rested for economic sabotage and espionage. They will be tried for smuggling
newsprint from the East Zone to West Berlin, lowering the quality of paper. in
the Soviet Zone, raising prices illegally, evading taxes, and'transmitting eco-
nomic information to a research institute in West Germany.
ENTHUSIASM FOR PARTY COURSES DEFICIENT -- Stockholm, Svenska Dagbladet,
12 Nov 50
Berlin, 11 November -- The first week of the Communist-controlled SED's
so-called "party instruction year," according to the party leadership, has
passed in an atmosphere of "general lack of interest on the part of the party
members."
In many districts,-it has not yet been possible to begin the political
courses because party officials who had signed up simply did not show up. Of
21 who had signed up for the party instruction course in Gustrow in Mecklenburg,
only two reported when the instruction was to begin. The others had preferred
participation in a silver wedding anniversary celebration to attendance at the
"Stalin circle." The party press remarked critically that the courses had
barely begun in some places in the Soviet sector of Berlin.
PEOPLE'S JUDGES REPLACE REGULAR JUDGES -- Zurich, Die Tat, 16 Oct 50
According to West Berlin press reports, 326 judges and 27 district at-
torneys have been dismissed recently in Thueringen. To replace these men, who
attained their position after regular study and experience in the legal field,
166 graduates of the so-called "people's judge" courses have been installed as
people's judges and people's district attorneys.
PLAN REVISION OF BIBLE -- Stockholm, Svenska Dagbladet, 3 Nov 50
Berlin, 2 November -- According to the independent West German newspaper
Die Welt, the.SED is currently selecting a group of pastors to prepare a re-
vised edition of the Bible. The preparations are being directed by the SED's
section for political culture.
FISHING CREW ARRESTED FOR PLTJNDERING -- Goteborg, Svensk Sjofarts Tidning, No 40,
5 Oct 50
The Soviet Zone ::oast guard has seized the East German fishing vessel
Ernst Thaelmann and arrested its entire crew, consisting of members of the
"'.'ree German Youth" Communist organization.
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?d DEt 50X1-HUM
The vessel was delivered to the5O??man crew this year at the "People's Ship-
yard" in Stralsund, amid great S.stiv~ties in conjunction with the SED Party
Conference. Instead of fishing, however, the youths used the vessel to plunder
wrecks off Sassnitz. They salvaged mostly metal, which they then sold to West
Germany.
FREE GERMAN YOUTH MEMBERSHIP TO BE COMPULSORY -- Stockholm, Svenska Dagbladet,
1 Nov 50
Berlin, 31 October -- It is reported from well-informed official circles
in the SED that compulsory membership in the Communist youth organization "Free
German Youth" or in the children's organization "Young Pioneers" will be intro-
duced in East Germany in the spring.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/27: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600370052-3