Günter Stempel

Günter Stempel (17 November 1908 – 22 October 1981) was a German politician (LDPD). He was involved in the formation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), despite which he was a victim of political repression in both the GDR and the USSR.

Life Stempel was born in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland).

In 1949 he was a member of the German People's Council, Turn-out was unfailingly high, and in subsequent East German elections prior to 1990 the ruling party's candidate list was never supported by fewer than 99% of those voting. Similarly impressive results were achieved in regional elections. However, Stempel voted against the Election Law which established the system and on 8 August 1950 he was arrested by officers of the newly established Ministry for State Security. He was handed over to the Soviet secret police and deported to Siberia. and on 6 September 1950 he was excluded from the party, which some reports at the time were able to present as a result of internal party rivalries.

On 7 January 1952 Stempel faced a Soviet military tribunal which sentenced him to 25 years of forced labour, citing his "agent and espionage activities" ("Agenten- u. Spionagetätigkeit"). Hamann had been in government in the German Democratic Republic as a Minister for Trade and Supply: he had been arrested and accused of sabotaging supplies ("Sabotage der Versorgung"). In December 1953 Stempel was returned from Siberia to the German Democratic Republic on a train that was ironically known as the "Grotewohl Express" (Otto Grotewohl was the prime minister of the German Democratic Republic at the time). In May 1954 Stempel was required to testify at a show trial against Hamann: it may or may not have been a comment on the quality of his testimony that in August 1954 he was sent back to the Vorkuta labour camp. At some stage he refused to work and was transferred to another Soviet prison-camp.

In December 1955 he was one in a group of detainees handed over by the Soviets to the East German authorities at Frankfurt (Oder) which, following border changes mandated ten years earlier, had become a crossing point between the German Democratic Republic and Poland. However, in view of his official status, which was given as "non-amnestied war criminal", he was not immediately released. Sources comment on the contrast between the "war criminal" official status accorded him by the Soviet authorities in 1955, and the career damage Stempel sustained from his refusal to join the Nazi Party between 1933 and 1945.

On 28 April 1956 Stempel was released from the Bautzen penitentiary. He was able to flee to West Berlin where he obtained clerical work. From West Berlin, in collaboration with West Germany's Justice Minister, Thomas Dehler, he campaigned for the release of Karl Hamann. The campaign succeeded: Hamann was released from prison in October 1956 and permitted to flee to West Germany in May 1957.

In consequence of his treatment in the Soviet Union, Stempel never fully recovered physically. He died in Celle on 22 October 1981.