Arthur Franke

Arthur Franke (5 August 1909 in Berlin – 23 October 1992 in Rüdersdorf) was a leading political policeman in East Germany; he became a military officer when the country's army was established in 1956.

Life Arthur Franke was born into a working-class family, and on leaving school was apprenticed as a cabinet maker from 1923 till 1927, then working at the trade between 1927 and 1930. In 1930, he joined the Communist Party (KPD). He rose to become the treasurer, organiser and leader of a street cell. He was unemployed for the next three years, before getting a job in 1933/34 with Philipp Holzmann AG in Berlin. 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 and sent back to Berlin where he was held on remand at Tegel Prison. 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 at Sachsenhausen, a short distance to the north of Berlin, and where he would remain till April/May 1945. As the 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, during the course of which he managed to escape from his guards.

Awards and honours 1955 Patriotic Order of Merit in Bronze, 1959 Patriotic Order of Merit in Silver 1958 Medal for Fighters Against Fascism 1969 Banner of Labor 1974 Order of Karl Marx 1976 Ernst Schneller Medal in Gold 1977 Artur Becker Medal in Gold 1979 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold 1982 Honorary Diploma of the Central Council of the FDJ Scharnhorst Order