Ewald Munschke

Ewald Munschke (born and died Berlin: 20 March 1901 – 21 October 1981) was a General in the East German quasi-military Kasernierte Volkspolizei (People's Police in Barracks) and subsequently one of the creators of the National People's Army.

Between 1930 and 1945, he was a member of the German Communist Party and actively engaged in resisting National Socialism.

Life Early years Ewald Munschke was born into a working-class family in Berlin a few weeks after the start of the twentieth century. His father was a stonemason and his mother was a cook. In 1940 the German army invaded the Netherlands and Munschke became a resistance leader. He quickly mastered the Dutch language to the point where, armed with a forged Dutch passport, he was able to work for the Communist Party under a false identity as a Dutch businessman called Anton Bakker. That was not so unusual for someone at his level: since the army's creation in 1956 Munschke had sat as a member of the government defence committee, and been a member of the army's leadership circle, but on 31 January 1961 he had resigned from his military post. He now moved on to a position with The Party, serving as President of the Party Control Commission within the central political administration of the People's Army. The party was present and ultimately in control at various levels in every significant institution in the German Democratic Republic, so that Munschke's appointment at the top of the party control apparatus over the army was an important one. In addition, between 1962 and 1971 he was listed as a candidate for membership of the Party Central Committee itself. By 1971, however, he was no longer in a position to become a Central Committee member, having retired on 31 January 1969. He died ten years later.

Awards and honours 1955 Patriotic Order of Merit in Silver 1956 Hans Beimler Medal 1961 Banner of Labor 1966 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold 1971 Patriotic Order of Merit Gold clasp 1976 Order of Karl Marx 1981 Scharnhorst Order After he had died, on 1 March 1961, an army battalion was given the honorary title "Ewald Munschke" Battalion.