Paul_Merker

Paul Merker (1 February 1894 – 13 May 1969) was an activist member of Germany's Communist Party (KPD / Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands) who later became a politician and a top official of East Germany's ruling SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany/Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands).Merker featured for several years in the show trial culture of the time, placed under a lengthy investigation process that formally began in 1950, and jailed for eight years as a spy in 1955. Released less than a year later, he appeared as a reluctant witness against his friend Walter Janka at another show trial in 1957.