Hilde Benjamin

Politician

1902 – 1989

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Who was Hilde Benjamin?

Hilde Benjamin was an East German judge and Minister of Justice. She is best known for presiding over a series of political show trials in the 1950s.

Hilde Lange was born in Bernburg, Anhalt. She studied law in Berlin, Heidelberg, and Hamburg from 1921 to 1924. Afterwards, she worked as a practicing attorney in Berlin-Wedding for the Rote Hilfe, a Communist aid organization. In 1926 she married Georg Benjamin, the brother of writer Walter Benjamin, and in 1927 she joined the Communist Party. Forbidden to practice law after 1933, she worked for the Soviet trade association in Berlin. During World War II, she was forced to work in a factory from 1939-45. Her Jewish husband was killed at the KZ Mauthausen in 1942.

After the war, she joined the Socialist Unity Party of Germany in 1946 and was vice president of the Supreme Court of the German Democratic Republic from 1949 to 1953. In that capacity, she assisted with the Waldheim Trials and presided over a series of show trials against political undesirables, such as against the Burianek group and Jehovah's Witnesses. Her frequent death sentences earned her the popular sobriquets "The Red Guillotine" and "Bloody Hilde".

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Born
Feb 5, 1902
Bernburg
Nationality
  • Germany
Profession
Died
Apr 18, 1989
Berlin

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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