Heinz Fiedler

Heinz Fiedler (29 April 1929 – 15 December 1993) was a major general in East Germany's Ministry for State Security (Stasi). Between 1970 and 1990 he was in charge of the organisation's Department VI which gave him responsibility for border security and tourist traffic. In December 1993 he hanged himself.

Life Fiedler was born six months before the Wall Street crash heralded worldwide economic retrenchment: he was born and grew up in Leubnitz, an industrial quarter of Zwickau. His father was a fitter and his mother was a weaver. On leaving primary school he embarked on a successful period of study at a commercially focused "Handelsschule". However, war had broken out in 1939, and in 1945 he was conscripted for Labour service which, at this point in the war, meant the army. His short career as a soldier ended with a spell as an American prisoner of war. Long before completing his degree, in 1961 Heinz Fiedler was appointed deputy head of Operations for the Karl-Marx-Stadt region. Then, from 1968, he was department head of the Permanent Operational Staff of the Ministry for State Security nationally, before in 1970 taking charge of the organisation's Department VI which gave him responsibilities that included passport control and oversight of cross border travel (including entry and exit permits and transit traffic). As the senior officer in charge of border control he was also responsible for radio-active (and at the time secret) systems that employed traditional X-ray technology to search vehicles entering or leaving the country. Fiedler was promoted to the rank of major general in 1975. His funeral was attended by numerous formerly high ranking Stasi officers including Wolfgang Schwanitz, Gerhard Neiber, Rudi Mittig and Werner Großmann.