German politician (1928?2023)
Hans Modrow
(
German pronunciation:
[?hans
?moːd?o]
; 27 January 1928 ? 10 February 2023) was a German politician best known as the last communist
premier of East Germany
.
Taking office in the middle of the
Peaceful Revolution
, he was the
de facto
leader of the country for much of the winter of 1989 and 1990. He was a transitional figure, paving the way to
the first and only free elections in East Germany
and including many opposition politicians in
his cabinet
.
After the end of Communist rule and
reunification of Germany
, he was convicted of
electoral fraud
and
perjury
by the Dresden District Court in 1995, on the basis that he had been the Socialist Unity Party (SED) official nominally in charge of the electoral process. He was later convicted of the first charge and was given a nine-month suspended sentence. One of the few high-ranking former SED officials to not have been expelled, he was the honorary chairman of the
Party of Democratic Socialism
(PDS)
[2]
and was the president of the "council of elders" of the
Left Party
from 2007.
[3]
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Modrow was born on 27 January 1928 in
Jasenitz
, Province of Pomerania, German Reich, now
Jasienica
, part of the town of
Police
in Poland.
[4]
[5]
As a child he was a
Hitler Youth
leader and attended a
Volksschule
. He trained as a
machinist
from 1942 to 1945 when he was filled with intense hatred of the
Bolsheviks
, whom he deemed as
subhumans
, inferior to Germans physically and morally.
[6]
[7]
For six months during the
Allied bombing
of
Stettin
he served as a volunteer firefighter.
[7]
He later served briefly in the
Volkssturm
in January 1945,
[7]
[5]
and was subsequently captured as a
prisoner of war
by the Soviet
Red Army
in
Stralsund
in May 1945. He and other German prisoners were sent to a farm in
Hinterpommern
to work. Upon arrival, his backpack was stolen, making him begin to rethink the Germans' so-called camaraderie. Days later, he was appointed a driver to a Soviet captain, who asked him about
Heinrich Heine
, a German poet. Modrow had never heard of him and felt embarrassed that the people he thought of as "subhumans" knew more about
German culture
than he. Transported to a
POW camp
near Moscow, he joined a
National Committee for a Free Germany
anti-fascist school run by future SED Politburo member
Alfred Neumann
for
Wehrmacht
members and received training in
Marxism?Leninism
, which he embraced.
[6]
[7]
Upon release in 1949 he worked as a machinist for
LEW Hennigsdorf
.
[5]
That same year he joined the
Socialist Unity Party
(SED).
[5]
From 1949 to 1961, Modrow worked in various functions for the
Free German Youth
(FDJ) in
Brandenburg
,
Mecklenburg
, and Berlin and in 1952 and 1953 studied at the
Komsomol
college in Moscow.
[5]
In 1953, he attended the
state funeral of Joseph Stalin
. After
Nikita Khrushchev
's
Secret Speech
at the
20th Party Congress
condemning Stalin and beginning
de-Stalinization
, Modrow claimed to have complained to his former teacher Neumann "Comrade, this is unacceptable ? you are accusing us of having learned Stalin off by heart, but I never had the inclination to do this myself, you asked us to!"
[7]
From 1953 to 1961, he served as an FDJ functionary in
East Berlin
.
[5]
From 1954 to 1957, he studied at the SED's Karl Marx school in Berlin, graduating as a social scientist.
[5]
In 1959 to 1961 he studied at the University of Economics in Berlin-
Karlshorst
and obtained the degree of graduate economist.
[5]
He gained his doctorate at the
Humboldt University of Berlin
in 1966.
[5]
West Germany's
Federal Intelligence Service
(BND) kept Modrow under observation from 1958 to 2013.
[8]
[9]
Communist party career
[
edit
]
Modrow had a long political career in East Germany, serving as a member of the
Volkskammer
from 1957 to 1990 and in the SED's
Central Committee
(ZK) from 1967 to 1989, having previously been a candidate for the ZK from 1958 to 1967.
[5]
From 1961 to 1967 he was first secretary of the district administration of the SED in Berlin-
Kopenick
and secretary for
agitation and propaganda
from 1967 to 1971 in the SED's district leadership in Berlin.
[5]
During this time he was involved in the formation of the
Union Berlin
football club,
[10]
[11]
which is based in the Kopenick district. From 1971 to 1973 he worked as the head of the SED's department of agitation.
[5]
In 1975 he was awarded the GDR's
Patriotic Order of Merit
in gold
[12]
and received the award of the
Order of Karl Marx
in 1978.
[13]
From 1973 onward, he was the SED's first secretary in
Bezirk Dresden
, making him
de facto
leader of East Germany's third-largest
Bezirk
.
[5]
He was prevented from rising any further than a regional party boss, largely because he was one of the few SED leaders who dared to publicly criticise longtime SED chief
Erich Honecker
. He developed some important contacts with the
Soviet Union
, including eventual Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev
. Modrow initially supported Gorbachev's
glasnost
and
perestroika
reforms.
[7]
In early 1987, Gorbachev and the
KGB
explored the possibility of installing Modrow as Honecker's successor.
[14]
From 1988 to 1989, the
Stasi
, under the orders of Honecker and
Erich Mielke
, conducted a massive surveillance operation against Modrow with the intention of gathering enough evidence to convict him of
high treason
.
[15]
Peaceful Revolution and premiership
[
edit
]
During the Peaceful Revolution of 1989, Modrow ordered thousands of
Volkspolizei
, Stasi,
Combat Groups of the Working Class
, and
National People's Army
troops to crush a demonstration at the
Dresden Hauptbahnhof
on 4?5 October. Some 1,300 people were arrested. In a top secret and encrypted
telex
to Honecker on 9 October, Modrow reported: "With the determined commitment of the comrades of the security organs, anti-state terrorist riots were suppressed".
[16]
When Honecker was toppled on 18 October, Gorbachev hoped that Modrow would become the new leader of the SED.
Egon Krenz
was selected instead.
[17]
He became premier following the resignation of
Willi Stoph
on 13 November, four days after the
Berlin Wall
fell. The SED formally abandoned power on 1 December. Krenz resigned two days later, on 3 December. Since the premiership was the highest state post in East Germany, Modrow became the
de facto
leader of the country.
[18]
[19]
To defeat the opposition's demand for the complete dissolution of the Stasi, it was renamed as the "Office for National Security" (Amt fur Nationale Sicherheit ? AfNS) on 17 November 1989. Modrow's attempt to re-brand it further as the "Office for the Protection of the Constitution of the GDR" (Verfassungsschutz der DDR) failed due to pressure from the public and the opposition parties and the AfNS was dissolved on 13 January 1990.
The Modrow government gave orders to destroy incriminating Stasi files.
[16]
On 7 December 1989, Modrow accepted the proposal of the
East German Round Table
opposition groups to hold
free elections
within six months. Modrow and the Round Table agreed on 28 January to bring the elections forward to 18 March. By this time, the SED had added "
Party of Democratic Socialism
" to its name; the SED portion was dropped altogether in February. Some of the Round Table parties strove for a "third way" model of
democratic socialism
and therefore agreed with Modrow to slow down or block a reunification with capitalist West Germany. As the SED-PDS regime grew weaker, Modrow on 1 February 1990 proposed a slow, three-stage process that would create a neutral German confederation and continued to oppose "rapid" reunification. The collapse of the East German state and economy in early 1990 and the approaching East German free elections allowed
Helmut Kohl
's government in
Bonn
to disregard Modrow's demand for neutrality.
From 5 February 1990 on, Modrow included eight representatives of opposition parties and civil liberties groups as
ministers without portfolio
in
his cabinet
. On 13 February 1990, Modrow met with West German Chancellor
Helmut Kohl
, asking for an accommodation loan of 15 billion
DM
, which was rejected by Kohl.
[22]
Modrow remained premier until the
18 March 1990 elections
.
[5]
The PDS expelled
Honecker
,
Krenz
, and other Communist-era leaders in February 1990.
[23]
Criminal sentence
[
edit
]
On 27 May 1993, the Dresden District Court found Modrow guilty of
electoral fraud
committed in the Dresden municipal elections in May 1989, specifically, understating the percentage of voters who refused to vote for the official slate.
[24]
The judge declined to impose a prison sentence or a fine.
[24]
The Dresden District Court revoked the decision in August 1995 and Modrow was sentenced to nine months on probation.
[25]
[26]
Modrow did not directly deny the charges, but argued that the trial was politically motivated and that the court lacked jurisdiction for crimes committed in East Germany. "We were all members of a political system," he said, speaking to the court in Dresden. "Some perhaps had the good fortune not to come into contact with manipulation, while others could not or were not allowed to turn away."
[24]
Later life and death
[
edit
]
After
German reunification
, Modrow served as a member of the
Bundestag
(1990?1994)
[5]
and of the
European Parliament
(1999?2004).
[27]
After leaving office, he wrote a number of books on his political experiences, his continued Marxist political views, and his disappointment at the dissolution of the
Eastern Bloc
.
[28]
[29]
Although a supporter of Gorbachev's reforms in the 1980s, after the
fall of Communism
he criticised them for weakening the
Eastern Bloc
's economy.
[7]
In 2006, he suggested both
West Germany
and East Germany were responsible for the killings of East Germans by the communist regime at the
Berlin Wall
, and later defended the construction of the wall as a necessary measure to prevent a war over West Berlin.
[30]
He also called
East Germany
an "effective democracy".
[31]
He was criticised for maintaining contacts with
Neo-Stalinist
groups.
[32]
In 2018, he sued the
Federal Intelligence Service
for access to West German intelligence files on him from the
Cold War
.
[33]
In 2019 he criticised the
enlargement of NATO
, which he also opposed reunified Germany's membership in.
[30]
Modrow died on 10 February 2023, aged 95.
[34]
[35]
He was buried at
Dorotheenstadt Cemetery
.
[36]
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
Schmidt, Arthur.
"
Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1986?1990
, Seite 29"
(PDF)
.
gvoon.de
. Retrieved
24 July
2023
.
- ^
"West German Secret Service Opens GDR Files"
.
Der Spiegel
. 16 October 2009
. Retrieved
18 February
2010
.
- ^
"Modrow: "Die Gefahr von Krieg war nach 1945 noch nie so hoch wie jetzt"
"
.
Markische Allgemeine
. 22 February 2019.
- ^
Osmond, Jonathan; Alsop, Rachel (1992).
German Reunification: A Reference Guide and Commentary
. Longman. p. 226.
ISBN
978-0-582-09650-9
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
"Findbucher / 04 Bestand: Dr. Hans Modrow, MdB (1990 bis 1994)"
(PDF)
(in German).
Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
. June 2001
. Retrieved
28 February
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Applebaum, Anne (2012).
Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944?1956
. New York: Doubleday. p.
17
-18.
ISBN
9780385515696
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Alex Brown (2019).
"I Was the Last Communist Premier of East Germany"
.
Jacobin Magazine
(interview with Hans Modrow)
. Retrieved
5 April
2022
.
- ^
Heilig, Rene (2015).
"BND spionierte mindestens 71.500 DDR-Burger aus"
.
Redaktion nd
(in German)
. Retrieved
11 February
2023
.
- ^
David Martin (28 February 2018).
"Last East German leader Hans Modrow demands access to West's intelligence files"
.
Deutsche Welle
. Retrieved
17 February
2019
.
- ^
Schuetze, Christopher F. (15 February 2023).
"Hans Modrow, 95, Dies; One of East Germany's Last Communist Leaders"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
16 February
2023
.
- ^
Ludewig, Alexander (12 February 2016).
"Der 1. FC Union als Hauptstadtklub im geteilten Berlin"
.
Neues Deutschland
(in German). Berlin: Neues Deutschland Druckerei und Verlag GmbH
. Retrieved
16 February
2023
.
- ^
"Vaterlandischer Verdienstorden in Gold"
.
Neues Deutschland
(in German). 1 October 1975. p. 5.
- ^
"Karl-Marx-Orden an Hans Modrow verliehen"
.
Neues Deutschland
(in German). 28 January 1978. p. 2.
- ^
"Did KGB plot a coup against the East German leader in 1987?"
.
Bild
. 30 October 2009
. Retrieved
17 July
2019
.
- ^
Andreas Debski (5 June 2018).
"Honecker wollte Modrow ins Gefangnis sperren lassen"
.
Leipziger Volkszeitung
(in German)
. Retrieved
16 February
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Gerhard Besier (25 November 1996).
"SED/PDS Vom ehrlichen Hans"
.
Focus
(in German). Archived from
the original
on 17 July 2019
. Retrieved
17 July
2019
.
- ^
Sebetsyen, Victor (2009).
Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire
. New York City:
Pantheon Books
.
ISBN
978-0-375-42532-5
.
- ^
Wilke, Manfred (13 November 2013).
"Sundenbock der Partei"
[Party scapegoat].
Focus
(in German)
. Retrieved
16 February
2023
.
- ^
Wehner, Markus (16 April 2007).
"Die Partei, die Partei, die hat niemals Schuld"
[The party, the party, is never to blame].
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
(in German).
ISSN
0174-4909
. Retrieved
17 February
2023
.
- ^
Holger Schmale (12 February 2015).
"Treffen von Hans Modrow und Helmut Kohl 1990: Die Delegation aus Ost-Berlin fuhlte sich gedemutigt"
.
Berliner Zeitung
.
- ^
Stefan Reinecke (20 January 2020).
"PDS-Rauswurf von Egon Krenz 1990"
.
die Tageszeitung
.
- ^
a
b
c
Kinzer, Stephen (28 May 1993).
"Ex-East German Leader Convicted Of Vote Fraud but Not Punished"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
18 February
2010
.
- ^
(in German)
Urteil: Bewahrungsstrafe fur Hans Modrow
Mitteldeutsche Zeitung
. 10 May 2009. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
- ^
(in German)
Modrow, Hans
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk
. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
- ^
"Hans Modrow"
.
European Parliament MEPs
. European Parliament
. Retrieved
3 May
2015
.
- ^
Hans Modrow (2014).
Perestroika and Germany: the truth behind the myths
. Artery Publications.
ISBN
9780955822858
.
- ^
Hans Modrow (1989).
Aufbruch und Ende
(in German). Edition Berolina.
ISBN
9783867898157
.
- ^
a
b
Sebastian Seibt (6 November 2019).
"The post-Wall, Cold War world of Hans Modrow, East Germany's last leader"
.
France 24
. Retrieved
5 April
2022
.
- ^
Dirk von Nayhauss (May 2006).
"- "Ich war kein Held"
"
.
Cicero Magazine
(interview with Hans Modrow) (in German)
. Retrieved
11 February
2023
.
- ^
Stefan Berg (3 May 2009).
"Vergangenheitsbewaltigung: Modrows Kontakte zu Neostalinisten belasten die Linke"
.
Der Spiegel
(in German)
. Retrieved
16 February
2019
.
- ^
"Last East German leader Hans Modrow demands access to West's intelligence files"
.
Deutsche Welle
. 28 February 2018
. Retrieved
5 April
2022
.
- ^
"Hans Modrow ist tot"
.
Eulenspiegel Verlagsgruppe
(in German). 2023.
"Ex-DDR-Regierungschef Modrow gestorben"
.
Tagesschau
(in German). 11 February 2023
. Retrieved
11 February
2023
.
- ^
"East Germany's last Communist premier dies aged 95"
.
Reuters
. 11 February 2023
. Retrieved
11 February
2023
.
- ^
"Abschied von Hans Modrow: Altkanzler Schroder kam zur Trauerfeier in Berlin"
. 16 March 2023
. Retrieved
18 March
2023
.
Maritta Adam-Tkalec (16 March 2023).
"Gaste enttauscht: Trauerfeier fur Hans Modrow ohne Reprasentanten des Staates"
.
Berliner Zeitung
. Retrieved
18 March
2023
.
Programm der Trauerfeier fur Hans Modrow
auf www.youtube.com, retrieved 18 March 2023.
References
[
edit
]
- Friedheim, Daniel V. (1995). "Accelerating collapse: The East German road from liberalisation to power-sharing and its legacy". In Shain, Yossi; Linz, Juan J. (eds.).
Between States: Interim Governments and Democratic Transitions
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
0-521-47417-5
.
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