Fritz Storch (1899-1951)
Fritz Storch (1899-1951)
Born on 21 September 1899 in Stettin, Pomerania, son of building contractor Wilhelm Storch and his wife Anna • After completing a commercial apprenticeship as an accountant, worked primarily for insurance companies • Married Selma Gerda Rieger in 1928 • From March 1941 to October 1944, worked as a clerk for the head of the Lublin district (General Government) in the finance department, responsible for travel expenses • Member of the Nazi motor corps • After the war, employed as an accountant at various companies in Berlin • 1947 Joined the SED • From August 1950, economic director at the Reichsbahnfernmeldewerk in Berlin-Oberschöneweide • Lived in Berlin-Treptow and had two daughters • 27 January 1951 Arrested by the MfS in Berlin • 4 July 1951: shot in Moscow • 29 March 1999: rehabilitation
Fritz Storch (centre rear) surrounded by his family, Christmas 1929. / Private
The family of Fritz Storch (back right) were left with only a few photographs and personal documents as mementos. / Private
Report by Gerda Storch on the arrest of her husband during the family’s application for recognition as political refugees on 22 September 1953.
On 27 January 1951, Storch was arrested in his flat at around 6 a.m. and handed over to the MGB on charges of making derogatory remarks about the SED regime, possessing Western newspapers, having contact with a former SS officer and passing on information about the railway system in Berlin and the SAG Wismut to the British secret service. Storch remained imprisoned in Berlin-Karlshorst until the end of March 1951. His wife fled to West Berlin with their children after she too had been interrogated by the MGB.
Zeugenaussage des Heimkehrers Hans Heinrich Zimmermann über die Verurteilung seines Mithäftlings Fritz Storch. Auszug aus dem Schreiben der Rechtsanwaltskanzlei Dr. Behling an Gerda Storch vom 20. August 1954.
At the end of March/beginning of April 1951, Storch was transferred to the SMT in Berlin-Lichtenberg. On 25 April 1951, SMT No. 48240 sentenced him to death under Article 58 of the Russian Criminal Code for alleged espionage, anti-Soviet agitation and the organisation of a terrorist gang. The MGB then deported Storch to Moscow.
MGB-Untersuchungsakte von Fritz Storch im FSB-Zentralarchiv Moskau, 2005.
Am 30. Juni 1951 lehnte das Präsidium des Obersten Sowjets sein Gnadengesuch ab. Am 4. Juli 1951 wurde Storch in den Kellern der Butyrka erschossen und seine Asche auf dem Friedhof Donskoje in ein Massengrab geschüttet.
Bescheid der UN Genf zum Verfahren der Todeserklärung für Fritz Storch vom 28. Dezember 1956.
From 1951 until today, the relatives who fled to West Berlin have been trying to obtain information about the whereabouts of their husband and father from the authorities of the GDR, the KgU, the Investigative Committee of Liberal Lawyers, the DRK, the Federal Archives, the BStU and the Federal Foreign Office. On 17 July 1957, the Berlin-Schönberg District Court declared Fritz Storch dead. It was not until December 2002 that the family learned of his execution through the German Embassy in Moscow. The Russian Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office had already rehabilitated Storch on 29 March 1999.
Eintrag zu Fritz Storch im Totenbuch zum Friedhof Donskoje, Berlin 2005.
Eintrag zu Fritz Storch im Totenbuch zum Friedhof Donskoje, Moskau 2005.
Since 2004, Memorial and Facts & Files have been researching Fritz Storch in German and Russian archives. Since June 2005, they have been in contact with one of Storch’s daughters, who has allowed them to inspect her father’s personal documents.
