Sieg Pedde was born in 1940 in Hamburg, Germany as Siegfried Schreiner. He started his career as a journalist and became the first manager of the German news agency Deutsche Welle. In 1978 he published "Die Wahrheit über Charlie" ("The Truth about Charlie"), a controversial book about his father's role in the Nazi regime and his own communist past. In 1993 he published "Die Wahrheit über die Jesidische Mutter" ("The Truth about the Jewish Mother"), another critical book about his mother
The book describes Pedde's own arrest, trials, and imprisonment for treason for four years. Pedde fled to East Germany, but was extradited back to West Germany in 1997. After an unsuccessful appeal, he was sentenced to one year in prison for contempt of court by a West German court.
He was released on November 14, 1997 after serving eight months of the sentence.
Bureaucrats complicate. It gives them more work to do. It gives them job security. It means promotions as ever more bureaucrats are added to the Ministry of Redundancy.Sieg Pedde
Politicians obfuscate. It gets them re-elected. If no-one can understand what is going on, then the perception is that we need someone to guide us through the fog. Many people want to be led. A few people even think that they need to be led.Sieg Pedde
