According to Koehler, "In mid-March 1933, while attending the Lenin School, Mielke received word from his OGPU sponsors that Berlin police had arrested Max Thunert, one of the conspirators in the Anlauf and Lenck murders.
Within days, fifteen other members of the assassination team were in custody.
Mielke had to wait six more months before the details of the police action against his Berlin comrades reached Moscow.
On 14 September 1933, Berlin newspapers reported that all fifteen had confessed to their roles in the murders.
Arrest warrants were issued for ten others who had fled, including Mielke, Ziemer, Ulbricht, Kippenberger, and Neumann."

Koehler also stated, "Defenders of Mielke later claimed that confessions had been obtained under torture by the Nazi Gestapo.
However, all suspects were in the custody of the regular Berlin city criminal investigation bureau, most of whose detectives were SPD members.
Some of the suspects had been nabbed by Nazi SA men and probably beaten before they were turned over to police.
In the 1993 trial of Mielke, the court gave the defense the benefit of the doubt and threw out a number of suspect confessions."

On 19 June 1934, the 15 conspirators were convicted of first degree murder.
The three deemed most culpable, Michael Klause, Max Matern, and Friedrich Bröde were sentenced to death.
Their co-defendants received sentences ranging from nine months to fifteen years incarceration at hard labor.
Klause's sentence was commuted to life in prison based upon his cooperation.
Bröde hanged himself in his cell.
As a result, only Matern was left to be executed by beheading on 22 May 1935.

Matern was subsequently glorified as a martyr by KPD and East German propaganda.
Ziemer was officially killed in action while fighting on the Republican-side during the Spanish Civil War.
Mielke, however, would not face trial for the murders until 1993.
According to Koehler, "In mid-March 1933, while attending the Lenin School, Mielke received word from his OGPU sponsors that Berlin police had arrested Max Thunert, one of the conspirators in the Anlauf and Lenck murders. Within days, fifteen other members of the assassination team were in custody. Mielke had to wait six more months before the details of the police action against his Berlin comrades reached Moscow. On 14 September 1933, Berlin newspapers reported that all fifteen had confessed to their roles in the murders. Arrest warrants were issued for ten others who had fled, including Mielke, Ziemer, Ulbricht, Kippenberger, and Neumann."
Koehler also stated, "Defenders of Mielke later claimed that confessions had been obtained under torture by the Nazi Gestapo. However, all suspects were in the custody of the regular Berlin city criminal investigation bureau, most of whose detectives were SPD members. Some of the suspects had been nabbed by Nazi SA men and probably beaten before they were turned over to police. In the 1993 trial of Mielke, the court gave the defense the benefit of the doubt and threw out a number of suspect confessions."
On 19 June 1934, the 15 conspirators were convicted of first degree murder. The three deemed most culpable, Michael Klause, Max Matern, and Friedrich Bröde were sentenced to death. Their co-defendants received sentences ranging from nine months to fifteen years incarceration at hard labor. Klause's sentence was commuted to life in prison based upon his cooperation. Bröde hanged himself in his cell. As a result, only Matern was left to be executed by beheading on 22 May 1935.
Matern was subsequently glorified as a martyr by KPD and East German propaganda. Ziemer was officially killed in action while fighting on the Republican-side during the Spanish Civil War. Mielke, however, would not face trial for the murders until 1993.
Erich Mielke