Walter Beling (19 May 1899 – 31 May 1988) was a German political activist and party official (KPD) who became a resistance activist during the Hitler years. He was released from prison, possibly due to an administrative error, in 1936 and fled the country. He spent much of his time during the war in the so-called "free zone" of occupied France. He returned to occupied Germany in November 1945 and took over as editor-in-chief at the Berliner Rundfunk (radio station). A succession of senior political appointments followed till 1950 when, like many senior party officials at around the same time, he abruptly fell from favour. He was grudgingly more or less rehabilitated in 1956, and at one point transferred to the Foreign Ministry: he undertook a diplomatic posting in Geneva between 1959 and 1