Erich Honecker

Erich Honecker (25 August 1912–29 May 1994) was a German Communist politician who led East Germany from 1971 until 1989. After German re-unification, he first fled to the Soviet Union but was extradited by the new democratic Russian government to Germany, where he was imprisoned and tried for high treason and crimes committed during the Cold War (specifically the deaths of 192 Germans who tried to escape the Honecker regime). However, as he was dying of cancer, he was released from prison. He died in exile in Chile shortly after.

Early political career

Honecker was born in Neunkirchen (Saar), now in Saarland, as the son of a politically militant coal miner. He joined the Young Communist League of Germany (KJVD), the youth section of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), in 1926 and joined the KPD itself in 1929. That year he was sent to Moscow to study at the International Lenin School. He returned to Germany in 1931 and was arrested in 1935 after the Nazis had come to power (Machtübernahme). In 1937 he was sentenced to ten years for Communist activities and remained in captivity until the end of World War II.

Related Topics:
Neunkirchen (Saar) - Saarland - Young Communist League of Germany - Communist Party of Germany - 1926 - 1929 - Moscow - International Lenin School - 1935 - Nazi - Machtübernahme - World War II

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At the end of the war, Honecker resumed activity in the party under leader Walter Ulbricht. In 1946, Honecker was one of the first members of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, SED), made up of the old KPD and the Social Democrats of eastern Germany. Following a sweeping victory in the October 1946 elections, he took his place amongst the SED leadership in the short-lived parliament. The German Democratic Republic was proclaimed on October 7, 1949 in the Soviet Occupation Zone with the adoption of a new constitution. In a political system similar to that of the Soviet Union, he was a candidate member for the secretariat of the Central Committee in 1950 and full member in 1958.

Related Topics:
Walter Ulbricht - Socialist Unity Party of Germany - October 7 - 1949 - Constitution - Soviet Union

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