[1] As an unofficial collaborator (IM) codenamed "Lehmann," he reported to the Stasi about the Farmers' Party.

[1] In July 1967, he was made Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of East Germany, responsible for agriculture and water management,[5] succeeding his party colleague Paul Scholz.

[1][5] He additionally became member of the Volkskammer that year,[1][3] nominally representing a constituency in the northeast of Bezirk Frankfurt (Oder).

[6] Between October 1967 and September 1968, he led a working group of 21 researchers who presented a 118-page scientific analysis on environmental hazards in the GDR as part of the "Forecast on the Planned Development of Socialist National Culture.

[3] When the Stasi then urged the leadership of the DBD to take personnel actions against Titel,[3] he suddenly died under unexplained circumstances at the age of 40.

[1][3][5][8] According to historian Tobias Huff, who published an environmental history of the GDR in 2015, Titel died of a rare heart disease.