In December 1949 he was appointed as the first State prosecutor of the German Democratic Republic, [1] which at that time was a new country being created out of the Soviet occupation zone of what had till recently been Germany.

[2] Melsheimer was born in the Saar region, a mining area in the extreme west of Germany, close to the border with France.

He was therefore successful in building his career under the Nazi regime without the need fully to demonstrate "Total Loyalty to the National Socialist State" ("die Treue zum nationalsozialistischen Staat").

[5] Immediately after the end of World War II, Ernst Melsheimer joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD / Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands).

[6] Even before his appointment as Chief State Prosecutor, at the Third Session of Legal Affairs Group of The Party's Central Committee in January 1948, Melsheimer set out his commitment to a strong state:[7] Melsheimer's first position under the new regime was as a prosecutor in Berlin, where he was noted, among other things, for requesting politically motivated death sentences.

Between 1946 and 1949 he also served as Vice-President of the (East) German Central Justice Administration (DJV / Deutsche Zentralverwaltung der Justiz).

[8] On 7 December 1949 Ernst Melsheimer was appointed to the position for which he is best remembered, as the first Attorney general, and thereby Chief Prosecutor, in the Number 1 Criminal Division of the East German Supreme Court.

[11] Victims of other high-profile show trials prosecuted by Melsheimer included Wolfgang Harich, Walter Janka, Leo Herwegen,[12] Otto Fleischer[13] und Leonhard Moog.

He pointed out that in the trial of the editor Wolfgang Harich,[17] which had taken place in March 1957, three months earlier, the journalist Heinz Zöger and the radio commentator Richard Wolf who had turned up to testify on behalf of the defendant had been arrested in the courtroom, charged with membership of the same conspiracy as the defendant, detained, and a few months later convicted and sentenced themselves.