“unity of economic and social politics”
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Erich Honecker
Erich Ernst Paul Honecker was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts of General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and Chairman of the National Defence Council; in 1976, he replaced Willi Stoph as Chairman of the State Council, the official head of state…
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politics · Leader of East Germany, 1971–1989 · politician · autobiographer · resistance fighter · head of state · also Erich Honecker, Honecker
Born 25 August 1912 · Died 29 May 1994 · Q2607
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2026· 1 entry
2025· 1 entry
Bild: Erich Honecker taucht im Leipziger Wahlkampf auf
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2024· 6 entries
Berliner Kurier: Witze aus der DDR: Erich Honecker und Margot fahren an die Ostsee ...
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Ruhr Nachrichten: Seiffen: Erich Honecker und Helmut Kohl als Räuchermännchen
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Bild: Erich Honecker: Polizei schließt Brandstiftung in Geburtshaus aus
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Leipziger Volkszeitung: Erich Honecker: Brand zerstört Geburtshaus von Ex-DDR-Staatschef
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Morgenpost: Erich Honecker: Geburtshaus des DDR-Chefs stand in Flammen
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Yahoo: Fire damages birthplace of former East German leader Erich Honecker
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2017· 1 entry
Berliner Zeitung: Persönliche Briefe: Erich Honecker gefiel sich als Chef-Charmeur der DDR
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2012· 2 entries
Berliner Zeitung: Erich Honecker: Der Uneinsichtige
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Intelligence reports collated by West German spies alleged that both Honecker and his wife had secret affairs but did not divorce for political reasons; however, his bodyguard Bernd Brückner, in a book about his time spe
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1994· 2 entries
Died 1994-05-29.
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“Que se disparaba a la gente en el muro [de Berlín], que yo era el Presidente del Consejo de Defensa Nacional, el Secretario General, el Presidente del Consejo de Estado de la RDA, y que por ende, era el funcionario vivo de más alto rango responsable por este muro, eso lo sabía incluso cada niño en Alemania.”
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1990· 1 entry
Honecker sought asylum in the Chilean embassy in Moscow, but was extradited back to Germany in 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union, to stand trial for his role in the human rights abuses committed by the East German
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1989· 3 entries
Corrected after the suspicion of cancer was confirmed
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That Communism was still secure in East Germany:
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“That this Habsburg drove the nail into my coffin.”
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1987· 3 entries
Won Gold medal with hero rank of GDR (1987).
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Awarded Order of Lenin (1987).
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Awarded Order of the Victory of Socialism (1987).
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1985· 2 entries
Earned Gold Olympic Order (1985).
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Awarded Order of Karl Marx (1985).
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1982· 4 entries
Awarded Hero of the Soviet Union (1982).
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Won Gold medal with hero rank of GDR (1982).
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Awarded Order of Karl Marx (1982).
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Awarded Order of Lenin (1982).
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1980· 2 entries
Won Medal "For Strengthening of Brotherhood in Arms" (1980).
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“For Strengthening of Brotherhood in Arms”
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1977· 3 entries
Awarded Order of the October Revolution (1977).
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Awarded Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (1977).
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Awarded Order of Karl Marx (1977).
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1976· 3 entries
Tokyo's Nihon University in 1981 and the London School of Economics in 1984 and the Olympic Order from the IOC in 1985
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Replaced Willi Stoph as Chairman of the State Council, the official head of state
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Career landmark: Chairman of the State Council (1976–1989).
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1975· 1 entry
Which attempted to improve relations between the West and the Eastern Bloc, and became a full member of the United Nations
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1972· 4 entries
Awarded Order of Karl Marx (1972).
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Awarded Order of Lenin (1972).
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Awarded Hero of Labour (1972).
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Sought to normalise contacts between the two governments
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1971· 2 entries
Honecker was eventually also elected Chairman of the State Council (a post equivalent to that of president) on 29 October 1976
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Career landmark: Chairman of the National Defence Council of the GDR (1971–1989).
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1970· 2 entries
Won Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1970).
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Honecker initiated a political power struggle that led, with support of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, to him replacing Walter Ulbricht as General Secretary of the SED and chairman of the National Defence Council
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1969· 2 entries
Awarded Order of Karl Marx (1969).
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“In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin”
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1961· 4 entries
And, in this function, bore administrative responsibility for the "order to fire" along the Wall and the larger inner German border
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That a "Third World War with millions dead" would be unavoidable without this action
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For the construction of the Berlin Wall and also, at subsequent meetings, ordered the extensive expansion of the border fortifications around West Berlin and the barriers to the West so as to make any passing impossible
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And had repeatedly reiterated that command (most specifically in 1974)
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1958· 1 entry
Honecker became a fully-fledged member of the Politburo, taking over responsibility for military and security issues
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1951· 1 entry
Although the latter was beset with organisational problems
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1947· 1 entry
Or 1949, but in 1952 he fathered an illegitimate daughter with Margot Feist, a People's Chamber member and chairperson of the Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation
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1946· 2 entries
And serving as the group's chairman until 1955
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Honecker became the co-founder of the Free German Youth (FDJ), whose chairmanship he also undertook
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1945· 1 entry
Married the prison warden Charlotte Schanuel (née Drost), nine years his senior, on 23 December 1946
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1934· 1 entry
And worked alongside Johannes Hoffmann on the campaign against the region's re-incorporation into Germany
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1933· 1 entry
Communist activities within Germany were only possible undercover; the Saar region however still remained outside the German Reich under a League of Nations mandate
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1931· 1 entry
Following his studies at the International Lenin School, he became the leader of the KJVD in the Saar region
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1930· 1 entry
Aged 18, Honecker entered the KPD, the Communist Party of Germany
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1928· 1 entry
Returned to Wiebelskirchen and began a traineeship as a roofer with his uncle, but quit to attend the International Lenin School in Moscow and Magnitogorsk after the KJVD handpicked him for a course of study there
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1922· 1 entry
Erich Honecker became a member of the Spartacus League's children's group in Wiebelskirchen
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1912· 3 entries
Born 1912-08-25.
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“in Deseret News (3 December 1992) I bear the main political responsibility . . . for the fact that people trying to cross the border without authorization were shot.”
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“in Deseret News (3 December 1992) Without the wall through Berlin there could have been a nuclear war with thousands or millions of dead.”
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