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.

Post-1989

After the GDR was abolished, Honecker initially remained in a Soviet military hospital near Berlin before he fled to Moscow, trying to avoid prosecution over Cold War crimes, specifically the 192 deaths of those trying to escape over the Berlin Wall, and high treason. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union he was extradited to Germany in 1992. But when he did come to trial in 1993 he was released due to ill-health and moved to Chile where he died in exile of liver cancer in Santiago some months later, in May 1994.

Related Topics:
Cold War - Collapse of the Soviet Union - Chile - Liver cancer - Santiago

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