Forbidden political work
CDU membership card of Erwin Köhler, 1945.
Forbidden political work
In the summer of 1945, the Soviet occupying power also allowed parties to be founded in its zone. As early as 1946, however, the forced merger of the KPD and SPD to form SED led to the first party-political restrictions. Many members of the CDU, LDP(D) and NDPD tried to resist the increasing appropriation and control by the state party SED.
In response to the escalating conflicts, the West German parties CDU, SPD and FDP set up offices in the East, which maintained contact with members in the GDR from West Berlin. These offices supported persecuted party members or, in the case of the SPD, former Social Democrats and their families. Their work ranged from humanitarian aid to conspiratorial party work.
This made them a thorn in the side of the MGB, SED and the MfS. Contacts with the Western parties and their “Cold War agencies” led to the persecution of those concerned as “spies”. The MGB executed at least 71 members of the LDP(D), 37 members of the NDPD and 34 members of the CDU in Moscow.
Köhler spouses
Erwin Köhler, ca. 1949.
Charlotte Köhler, ca. 1949.
CDU membership card of Charlotte Köhler, 1945.
CDU membership card of Erwin Köhler.
The Köhler couple were arrested in their home on March 28, 1950. They were sentenced to death for alleged “espionage” and “counter-revolutionary agitation and propaganda” on December 2, 1950 in Potsdam by SMT No. 48240. Their appeals for clemency were rejected on February 10, 1951. Erwin Köhler was executed on February 20, 1951 and Charlotte Köhler on April 10, 1951. The Köhlers’ four children were able to escape to West Berlin. Erwin and Charlotte Köhler were rehabilitated on May 20, 1992. On September 26, 2002, a memorial plaque to the couple was unveiled in the Potsdam town hall.
Group of Arno Esch
