1993
Search results
Erich Ernst Paul Honecker ( German: [ˈeːʁɪç ˈhɔnɛkɐ]; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) [7] was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic ( East Germany) 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 ...
May 25, 2024 · Erich Honecker was a communist official who, as first secretary of East Germany’s Socialist Unity Party of Germany (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, or SED), was East Germany’s leader from 1971 until he fell from power in 1989 in the wake of the democratic reforms sweeping eastern
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Jul 29, 2017 · Erich Honecker became a communist at 10 years old. At that tender age, and under the influence of his socialist father, he joined the communist youth organization "Young Spartacus League" in 1922.
Learn about the political career of Erich Honecker, who became the leader of the GDR after Walter Ulbricht and pursued a policy of détente with West Germany and the West. Explore the challenges and failures of his foreign, economic and social policies, and the role of the Stasi and the peace movement in his downfall.
- Honecker's Political Commitment as Early as The Age of 10
- Abandonment of Roofing Apprenticeship in Favour of Politics
- Honecker's Imprisonment During National Socialism
- Honecker: Co-Founder of The Fdj and Entry Into The Sed
- Honecker Successor to Walter Ulbricht as of 1971
- After A Tentative Upswing in The 1970s, The (Down)Fall Followed
- Preliminary Proceedings Opened Against Erich Honecker in 1989
- Flight, Imprisonment, Exile and Death of Honecker
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
Erich Honecker was born on 25 August 1912 in the Saarland district town of Neunkirchen. Growing up in the modest circumstances of a working-class family, Honecker became a member of the local communist youth group at the age of 10. Further career steps in the Weimar Republic were membership in the Communist Youth League of Germany (KJVD) at 14 and ...
However, due to his delegation by the KJVD to study at the Moscow International Lenin School, he abandoned the apprenticeship and concentrated on his political career. After successfully completing the political training in Moscow, Honecker returned to Saarland and became district leader of the KJVD in the Saar region. After the Nazis seized power ...
Honecker was subsequently arrested several times by the Gestapo national socialist police because of his political views and commitment, and in 1937 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The young Honecker spent his prison term in the Brandenburg-Görden prison. Due to good conduct during his time in prison, Honecker, unlike many other communists,...
The following year, Honecker co-founded the Free German Youth (FDJ) and took over the chairmanship of the youth organisation. In the same year he also joined the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) after the KPD and SPD were forcibly united in April 1946. After the founding of the DDR in 1949, Honecker proved himself in the organisation of the G...
After Honecker had secured Brezhnev's backing in Moscow, the ageing Ulbricht was forced to resign on 3 May 1971, making Erich Honecker First Secretary of the Central Committee and Chairman of the National Defence Council. With the »unity of economic and social policy« initiated by Honecker, which was supposed to raise the standard of living and lab...
In the 1980s, the deficits of the failed »unity of economic and social policy« were visible for all to see in the decay of the infrastructure, whereupon environmental groups and other opposition movements formed. The ageing Honecker was equally unconcerned with the glasnost and perestroika reform movements initiated by Mikhail Gorbachev in the mid-...
On 5 December 1989, a preliminary investigation was opened against him. Honecker was »suspected of having abused his function as Chairman of the Council of State and the National Defence Council of the DDR and his usurped political and economic power as General Secretary of the Central Committee of the SED« and »of having misused his powers of disp...
In December 1991, Honecker was ordered to leave the country by the new Russian ruler Boris Yeltsin. He then fled to the Chilean embassy in Moscow, hoping for asylum. Barely six months later, the Chilean government changed its attitude towards Honecker and extradited him to Germany. On 29 July 1992, Erich Honecker was flown out to Berlin, where he w...
Learn about the rise and fall of Erich Honecker, who led the DDR from 1971 to 1989 and was responsible for numerous deaths. The article covers his early life, his rise to power, his economic and foreign policy failures, and his downfall in 1989.
Erich Honecker. Erich Honecker (1912-1994) was a long-serving socialist politician and the ruler of East Germany between 1971 and its collapse in 1989. The son of a coal miner from the Saar region, as a child Honecker witnessed the mistreatment and exploitation of his father and other miners. He was just 10 years old when he joined communist ...
People also ask
Who is Erich Honecker?
Was Erich Honecker a communist?
How did Erich Honecker die?
Who was Mikhail Gorbachev & Erich Honecker?
A biography of Erich Honecker, the leader of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1971 to 1989. Learn about his rise to power, his policies, his role in the Berlin Wall, and his downfall and exile.
