Post-war Period
After the Second World War they settled in East Berlin. In 1949 Kreikemeyer became Director General of the East German railway company Deutsche Reichsbahn.
When in 1950 the slandering campaign started against Noel Field – he was accused of having built an anti-Communist spy network while pretending to be a Communist sympathizer – Kreikemeyer was arrested and never seen again. At least one propaganda article against the alleged spy was published in an East German newspaper and a show trial against him was prepared, but never took place. Mrs Kreikemeyer wrote dozens of letters to the GDR authorities inquiring about her husband's fate. For seven years the authorities pretended that Willi Kreikemeyer was alive and well, waiting for his trial. Fearing her own arrest, Mrs Kreikemeyer escaped to her home country France in 1954. She continued writing her letters. In 1957 she was told that Willi Kreikemeyer had died a few days after his imprisonment.
Erich Mielke (later the East German Minister of State Security) had been responsible for the detainee. In a confidential document he claimed that Kreikemeyer had committed suicide in his prison cell on 31 August 1950. This story has been proven to be a lie. But what really happened to Kreikemeyer can hardly be reconstructed.
Today it is known that Kreikemeyer named Mielke as one of the persons supported by Noel Field. That information threatened Mielke's career: according to a Soviet order, people, who had spent the war in the West had to resign from public office. (In his official CV, Mielke claimed that he had fought in the Red Army during World War II). What's more, alleged collaboration with an "American spy" could have led to the death penalty.
It is therefore likely that Willi Kreikemeyer was murdered on behalf of Erich Mielke.
Read more about this topic: Willi Kreikemeyer
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