Johann Burianek

Burianek was born in the Rheinland at Düsseldorf, the son of a master shoe maker.^[3] He underwent an apprenticeship as a machinist and in 1932 relocated to Czechoslovakia, taking Czechoslovak nationality in 1932/33.^[3] He served in the Luftwaffe during the 1930s and in 1939 took back his German nationality.^[3]

During the Second World War, Burianek served in the Wehrmacht. In the final days of the war, Burianek arrested Herbert Kloster, a deserter whom he then delivered to his military headquarters. Kloster was nearly executed as a result of Burianek's actions. In November 1949, an East German court found Burianek guilty for reporting the deserter and sentenced him to one year in prison.^{[citation needed]}

Burianek was released on probation in April 1950, having served nearly half his sentence. He found work as a truck driver with the Volkseigener Betrieb (publicly owned business) Secura-Mechanik.^[4] Between July 1950 and March 1951 he smuggled several thousand copies of the western newsheets Kleiner Telegraf and Tarantel into the Soviet sector of Berlin. In March 1951 he joined the anti-communist resistance group "Struggle against Inhumanity" group (KgU / Kampfgruppe gegen Unmenschlichkeit) which was then being established by Rainer Hildebrandt with backing from the Americans.^[5] His attacks on the part of the KgU included numerous acts of sabotage and unsuccessful arson attacks^[6] on the 1951 World Festival of Youth and Students.

His most ambitious project, planned for 21 February 1952, would have involved blowing up a civilian railway bridge at Erkner, on the south-eastern edge of Berlin, which would have de-railed the "Blue Express", the long-distance train running between Berlin and Moscow via Warsaw. Despite knowing this might cause civilian casualties, Burianek proceeded with the plot. The necessary explosives would be provided by the KgU. However, the project failed to progress beyond the planning stage, as it proved impossible to get hold of a suitable truck to carry the explosives.^[7] On 5 March 1952, Burianek was arrested.

Some ten weeks later, on 15 May 1952, Burianek was tried in a show trial before the Supreme Court.^[8] The presiding judge was Hilde Benjamin, the court's vice-president. Burianek was accused and found to be an agent of the KgU.

The court delivered its verdict on 25 May 1952, and Johann Burianek became the first defendant in the German Democratic Republic to receive a death sentence. Two months after receiving his sentence, Burianek was executed by guillotine.^[9]

In 2005 Johann Burianek's conviction was found to have been unconstitutional, because of "serious disregard for basic rules [of justice]"^[9][10] in the original trial. The 1952 verdict was reversed. This reversal arose from an initiative by the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft 13. August" organisation^[11] which had been established, like the KgU before it, by Rainer Hildebrandt, and which now successfully applied to the Berlin District Court to have the 1992 Criminal Rehabilitation Act invoked for the Burianek case. In a judgement delivered on 2 September 2005, the court also held that between his arrest on 5 March 1952 and his execution on 2 August 1952 Johann Burianek had been unlawfully deprived of his freedom.^[12][13]