Artur Hofmann

Artur Hofmann (24 June 1907 – 4 May 1987) was a German Communist Party politician.

He was a member of the Ackermann Group that arrived in Saxony from Moscow in 1945 to prepare the way for Soviet Military Administration in the parts of Germany destined to be transformed into the German Democratic Republic. Between 1949 and 1952 he was the Minister of the Interior for Saxony until the abolition of a regional tier of government following national administrative reforms. He then became a senior functionary in the new country's Ministry for State Security (Stasi), where he served between 1953 and 1970, ending up as a colonel in the organisation.

Life

Early years Hofmann was born in Plauen, a mid-sized town in central southern Germany approximately 100 miles (160 km) south-west of Dresden. His father was a locksmith and his mother worked in a factory. On leaving school Hofmann got a job helping out in the market. In 1921 he undertook an apprenticeship, and then took a series of jobs as a locksmith/machinist and in related trades. He relocated several times in the 1920s, working successively in Thuringia, Bavaria and the Ruhr region.

Awards and honours 1955 Patriotic Order of Merit in Bronze 1960 Banner of Labor 1967 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold 1977 Patriotic Order of Merit Gold clasp 1982 Order of Karl Marx