Kurt Hälker

Kurt Hälker (2 May 1922 – 4 February 2010) was a German resistance activist against the Nazi regime. During the war he passed on to the French Resistance information which he received in the course of his work as a navy radio operator based for six months in Jersey, and subsequently in mainland France. After the war he was for many years deputy General Secretary of the East German Peace Council.

Sources sometimes identify him by the cover names he used in the course of his wartime activities. These were Robert Vidal and Hugo Erb.

Life Kurt Hälker was born into a catholic family in Duisburg during the Franco-Belgian occupation. By the time he left school the French army had left the Rhineland: he undertook and completed an apprenticeship as an upholsterer. Shortly after that, however, in 1941 he was conscripted into the army. He was sent to Paris, which had been under German occupation since the previous summer, and trained for work as a naval radio operator.

After his posting in the Channel Island he returned to Cherbourg and then Paris where he was seconded to work, still as a radio operator, with the Naval General Staff. Through Hans Heisel, a junior German naval officer described in one source as a "like minded comrade", he came into contact with various exiled German resistance fighters such as Thea Saefkow. Through such links he also formed contacts during or before November 1942 with the French resistance. It has been estimated that there were around 3,000 Germans who were members of the French resistance. Most of these had been forced into exile because they were Communists or Jews (or both). Among German resistance members Kurt Hälker was unusual in that he was also a serving member of the German military machine. As a radio operator he was able to obtain militarily important information and pass it to Resistance members who were able to convey it to London.

In East Germany, from 1950 Hälker held various positions in the peace movement and in "antifascist" organisations, both full-time and honorary. In 1976 he was appointed Deputy General Secretary of the East German Peace Council.

Awards and honours 1979 Patriotic Order of Merit in silver 1982 Star of People's Friendship in silver 1987 Patriotic Order of Merit in gold