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Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht was a German communist politician and revolutionary. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later in the early development and establishment of the German Democratic Republic. As the First Secretary of the Communist Socialist Unity Party from 1950 to 1971, he was the chief decision-maker in East Germany. From…
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politics · Leader of East Germany from 1950 to 1971 · politician · resistance fighter · communist · joiner · also Walter Ulbricht, Ulbricht
Born 30 June 1893 · Died 1 August 1973 · Q2628
44 published statements · 0 followers
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2026· 2 entries
Public attention spiked: 2,797 Wikipedia readers in one day, 5.4× the usual 519, with 2 article edits. Editors noted: Cult of personality
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2010· 1 entry
Summarized the consensus of scholars about the state that Ulbricht headed for its first two decades:
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1991· 1 entry
As "the hag", adding that she was "cold-hearted and egoistic"
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1973· 1 entry
Died 1973-08-01.
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1969· 1 entry
Ulbricht's Soviet guests at the State Council (Staatsrat) showed clear signs of dissatisfaction when he lectured them heavily on East Germany's supposed economic successes
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1968· 1 entry
Awarded Order of the October Revolution (1968).
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1965· 2 entries
Ulbricht was awarded the Great Collar of the Order of the Nile by Nasser
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At the 11th Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the SED, he made a critical speech about copying culture from the Western world by referring to the "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" of the Beatles song: "Is it truly the case th
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1963· 2 entries
Awarded Hero of the Soviet Union (1963).
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Awarded Hero of Labour (1963).
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1961· 1 entry
Which triggered a diplomatic crisis but succeeded in curtailing emigration
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1960· 6 entries
Was also the East German head of state until his own death in 1973
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The SED wrote the president's post out of the constitution
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Career landmark: Chairman of the State Council (1960–1973).
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Career landmark: chairperson (1960–1971).
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Career landmark: Chairman of the National Defence Council of the GDR (1960–1971).
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Later than Ulbricht had expected
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1958· 2 entries
Awarded Hero of Labour (1958).
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1963 and 1968, the cult of personality around him was extended
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1957· 1 entry
Ulbricht arranged a visit to an East German collective farm at Trinwillershagen in order to demonstrate the GDR's modern agricultural industry to the visiting Soviet Politburo member Anastas Mikoyan
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1956· 3 entries
When Destalinisation started both in the Soviet Union as well as the Eastern Bloc countries, the newspaper Neues Deutschland published an article titled: "With Walter Ulbricht for the fortune of humanity
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The Dresden Sophienkirche in 1963, the Potsdam Garrison Church in June 1968 and the fully intact Leipzig Paulinerkirche in May 1968
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Ulbricht was awarded the Hans Beimler Medal, for veterans of the Spanish Civil War, which caused controversy among other recipients, who had actually served on the front line
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1953· 2 entries
Awarded Hero of Labour (1953).
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Were however cut short because of the crisis developing into the 1953 East German uprising: An already finished propaganda movie about him was not published and a stamp with his image was not publicised either
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1950· 4 entries
The socialist German government destroyed the monument and the square was renamed Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz
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As the SED restructured itself along more orthodox Soviet lines, he became General Secretary of the SED Central Committee, replacing Grotewohl and State President Wilhelm Pieck as co-chairmen
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Ulbricht announced a five-year plan concentrating on the doubling of industrial production
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Rapidly expanded and employed to intensify the regime's repression of the people
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1944· 1 entry
To a Ukrainian forced laborer in Leipzig
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1934· 1 entry
The Nazi government erected a memorial to Anlauf and Lenck at the square where they were killed, then renamed Horst-Wessel-Platz after a Nazi martyr
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1933· 1 entry
And the Nazi-led investigation into his role in ordering the 1931 murder of police captains Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck, Ulbricht lived in Paris and Prague from 1933 to 1937 and in the Soviet Union from 1937 to 1945
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1926· 1 entry
And went on to assist the newly appointed party chief Ernst Thälmann
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1920· 5 entries
Ulbricht and Schmelinsky had a daughter in 1920, who grew up and lived separated from Ulbricht for almost her entire life.
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He married twice: in 1920 to Martha Schmellinsky and from 1953 until his death to Lotte Ulbricht née Kühn (1903–2002).
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Who grew up and lived separated from Ulbricht for almost her entire life
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To Martha Schmellinsky and from 1953 until his death to Lotte Ulbricht née Kühn (1903–2002)
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And became a leading party functionary, serving in its Central Committee from 1923 onward
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1918· 1 entry
As he had opposed the war from the beginning
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1917· 1 entry
Became a member of the Independent Social Democratic Party (USPD) after it split off from the Social Democratic Party over support of Germany's participation in World War I
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1912· 1 entry
Later joining the anti-World War I Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) in 1917
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1893· 2 entries
Born 1893-06-30.
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In Leipzig, Saxony, into a Protestant family to Pauline Ida (née Rothe) and Ernst August Ulbricht, an impoverished tailor
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