# Arthur Franke

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**Arthur Franke** (5 August 1909 in [Berlin](/source/Berlin) – 23 October 1992 in [Rüdersdorf](/source/R%C3%BCdersdorf)) was a leading political policeman in East Germany; he became a military officer when the [country's army](/source/National_People's_Army) was established in 1956.[1] Three years later he became Chief of [Military Intelligence](/source/National_People's_Army#Military_Intelligence) of the [National People's Army](/source/National_People's_Army), ending up, in 1974, with the rank of [Lieutenant general](/source/Lieutenant_general).[1][2]

## Life

Arthur Franke was born into a working-class family, and on leaving school was apprenticed as a [cabinet maker](/source/Joiner) from 1923 till 1927, then working at the trade between 1927 and 1930. In 1930, he joined the [Communist Party (KPD)](/source/Communist_Party_of_Germany). 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](/source/Philipp_Holzmann) in Berlin.[1]

In January 1933, the [NSDAP (Nazi Party)](/source/NSDAP) seized power in [Germany](/source/Weimar_Germany) and quickly set about creating a one-party state. Membership of the [Communist Party](/source/Communist_Party_of_Germany) became illegal. Franke continued with illegal anti-fascist activities in [Moabit (Berlin)](/source/Moabit) until February 1934 when he moved to Czechoslovakia. He continued working for the German Communist party, smuggling imperiled German Communists across the border between the two countries. Disguising himself as a businessman, in January 1938 he then took a flight from [Prague](/source/Prague) to [Brussels](/source/Brussels). He managed to get to [Spain](/source/Spain) via [Paris](/source/Paris), joining the [International Brigades](/source/International_Brigades) and taking part in the [Spanish Civil War](/source/Spanish_Civil_War) in 1938/39. In 1938 he was badly wounded in [fighting](/source/Battle_of_the_Ebro) outside [Gandesa](/source/Gandesa).[1][4] Between 1939 and 1941 Franke was interned in France, spending time in concentration camps at St. Cyprien and Le Vernet. In April 1941 he was handed over to the [Gestapo](/source/Gestapo) and sent back to Berlin where he was held on remand at [Tegel Prison](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justizvollzugsanstalt_Tegel). He was then sentenced to 18 months in custody and returned to the same prison as before. However, in 1942 he was transferred to the [concentration camp](/source/Sachsenhausen_concentration_camp) at [Sachsenhausen](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachsenhausen_(Oranienburg)), a short distance to the north of Berlin, and where he would remain till April/May 1945. As the [Soviet army](/source/Soviet_army) approached and national defeat loomed, plans were implemented to start emptying the Sachsenhausen concentration camp of its surviving internees, and in April 1945 Arthur Franke was one of a group of prisoners who set off on a [Death march](/source/Death_marches_(Holocaust)), during the course of which he managed to escape from his guards.[1]

With the end of the [war](/source/Second_World_War) in May 1945 membership of the [KPD](/source/Communist_Party_of_Germany) was no longer illegal and Arthur Franke was (again) a member. In April 1946 the [KPD (Communist party)](/source/Communist_Party_of_Germany) in what was now becoming the [German Democratic Republic (East Germany)](/source/German_Democratic_Republic) [merged](/source/Merger_of_the_KPD_and_SPD_into_the_Socialist_Unity_Party_of_Germany) with the [SPD (party)](/source/Social_Democratic_Party_of_Germany): members of both parties were invited, with a simple signature, to switch their party allegiance to the [SED (party)](/source/Socialist_Unity_Party_of_Germany). In 1946 Arthur Franke joined the SED, becoming a member of the new party's district leadership team in the [Tiergarten (Zoo)](/source/Tiergarten_(Berlin)) quarter of [Berlin](/source/Berlin). Between 1945 and 1947 he was also the party's local [Agitation and Propaganda](/source/Agitprop) secretary.[1]

On 1 January 1949 he joined the ["People's Police" (*"Volkspolizei"*)](/source/Volkspolizei) as a commissioner and department head with the Criminal Police in Berlin's Police Headquarters. In 1950/51 he undertook a period of study at the [Party's Karl Marx Academy](/source/Parteihochschule_Karl_Marx) in [Berlin](/source/Berlin) before being promoted, in 1951 as a Police Inspector (colonel level) and deputy head, as well as being leader of the Police airborne department and aero-club. Directly after the [war](/source/Second_World_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](/source/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 [national army (NVA / *Nationale Volksarmee*)](/source/National_People's_Army) was formally founded in 1956, Franke became a Deputy Head and Leader of the Political Department of the [Air Force Commandos (LVA / *Luftstreitkräfte der Nationalen Volksarmee*)](/source/Air_Forces_of_the_National_People's_Army), a position he retained till 10 February 1959.[1] At the same time he was a member of The Party's regional leadership in [Cottbus](/source/Cottbus). There was another switch in February 1959 from when he served, initially as deputy Chief and then, from August 1959 through till November 1974 as the Chief of [Military intelligence (Mil-ND / *Militärnachrichtendienst*)](/source/Military_intelligence) of the [National People's Army](/source/National_People's_Army).[2] Franke's predecessor in this position, whose early retirement in 1959 came officially on health grounds, was [Willy Sägebrecht](/source/Willy_S%C3%A4gebrecht) whom he had already got to know on the [Sachsenhausen](/source/Sachsenhausen_concentration_camp) [Death march](/source/Death_marches_(Holocaust)). During his fifteen years in charge of military intelligence Arthur Franke was promoted to the rank of [Major general](/source/Major_general) by [Walter Ulbricht](/source/Walter_Ulbricht) in 1966 and then to that of [Lieutenant general](/source/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](/source/Gesellschaft_f%C3%BCr_Sport_und_Technik) Diving Club, an office he held till 1987.

During his final years he lived at [Schöneiche](/source/Sch%C3%B6neiche) on the eastern edge of Berlin.[5]

## Awards and honours

- 1955 [Patriotic Order of Merit](/source/Patriotic_Order_of_Merit) in Bronze,
- 1959 [Patriotic Order of Merit](/source/Patriotic_Order_of_Merit) in Silver
- 1958 [Medal for Fighters Against Fascism](/source/Medal_for_Fighters_Against_Fascism)
- 1969 [Banner of Labor](/source/Banner_of_Labor)
- 1974 [Order of Karl Marx](/source/Order_of_Karl_Marx)
- 1976 [Ernst Schneller Medal](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst-Schneller-Medaille) in Gold
- 1977 [Artur Becker Medal](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artur-Becker-Medaille) in Gold
- 1979 [Patriotic Order of Merit](/source/Patriotic_Order_of_Merit) in Gold
- 1982 Honorary Diploma of the Central Council of the [FDJ](/source/Free_German_Youth)
- [Scharnhorst Order](/source/Scharnhorst_Order)

## Further reading

- [Andreas Herbst](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Herbst_(Historiker)) and others (Edited): *So funktionierte die DDR. Vol 3: Lexikon der Funktionäre.* Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-499-16350-0, page 89.
- Klaus Froh & [Rüdiger Wenzke](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%BCdiger_Wenzke), (Edited): *Die Generale und Admirale der NVA: Ein biographisches Handbuch.* 5., durchges. Auflage. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-86153-438-9, page 94.

## References

1. [Bernd-Rainer Barth](/source/Bernd-Rainer_Barth) & [Helmut Müller-Enbergs](/source/Helmut_M%C3%BCller-Enbergs). ["Franke, Arthur * 5.8.1909, † 23.10.1992 Chef der Verwaltung Aufklärung im Ministerium für Nationale Verteidigung"](http://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/wer-war-wer-in-der-ddr-%2363%3B-1424.html?ID=857). Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur: Biographische Datenbanken. Retrieved 13 December 2014.

1. Editor in chief: [Rudolf Augstein](/source/Rudolf_Augstein) (10 August 1992). ["Start in ein besseres Leben: Die Nationale Volksarmee der DDR unterhielt 37 Jahre lang eine eigene Spionageorganisation, die sich ...."](http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-9283356.html). [Der Spiegel](/source/Der_Spiegel) (online). Retrieved 13 December 2014.

1. Volksarmee NR. 49/1981

1. Volksarmee NR. 24/1986

1. [Neues Deutschland](/source/Neues_Deutschland) 5 August 1989

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Arthur Franke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Franke) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Franke?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.