Erich Mückenberger

Erich Mückenberger (1910 in Chemnitz – 1998 in Berlin) was a German socialist politician. He began his political career in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He became a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) when the East German branches of SPD and the Communist Party of Germany merged after the Second World War. Mückenberger was one of the most high-ranking former Social Democrats in the German Democratic Republic and held several positions in the SED.

Mückenberger spent his childhood in Chemnitz. He later worked there as a machine-fitter apprentice. In 1924 he joined the Social Democratic youth organization. In 1927 he became a SPD member. Mückenberger became an activist of its paramilitary wing, Reichsbanner. After the National Socialist takeover, he engaged in underground resistance against the new regime. In 1935 he was arrested and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He was released after several months. In 1938 he was again arrested and was put in jail for ten months. In 1942 he was drafted to the German military and sent to the frontline.

After returning home in 1945, Mückenberger again became active in the SPD. Through the merger of SPD and KPD in the Soviet Occupation Zone, Mückenberger became a SED member. He became First Secretary of the SED Party District Organization in Saxony in 1948. Mückenberger then served as First Secretary of the Thuringia Party District Organization of SED 1949–1952. As the Thuringia District was divided along the geographic reorganization of the German Democratic Republic, Mückenberger became First Secretary of the Erfurt Party District Organization (one of the districts created out of the Thuringia organization). He remained as the First Secretary of the Erfurt SED District until 1953.

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