Manfred Gerlach was a German jurist and politician (LDPD). He served as the acting Chairman of the Council of State and was thus head of state of East Germany from 6 December 1989 to 5 April 1990.[1](8 May 1928 – 17 October 2011)
Early life
Political career
After the war, he studied law at the German Academy of State Sciences and Law "Walter Ulbricht" from 1951-54. He worked as editor-in-chief of the Liberal-Democratic newspaper in Halle/Saale. In 1964, he earned his doctorate and would became a professor two decades later, in 1984. He was a co-founder of the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD) and the Free German Youth (FDJ) in Leipzig. He was the LDPD youth leader of North-West Saxony from 1946-50. From 1947-52 He was also a member of the executive council of the Saxon LDPD from 1947-52. In the 1950s, he was a mayor (Bürgermeister and deputy Oberbürgermeister) of the city of Leipzig.[1] He served as the LDPD's Vice-Chairman until 1953. From 1954-67, he was the LDPD's General Secretary. At the LDPD's general party congress of 1967, he was elected as chairman of the LDPD. He remained chairman until 10 February 1990. From 1949 to 1990, Gerlach was a member of the People's Chamber. He was also one of the Deputy Chairmen of the Council of State (de facto Vice-President) of the German Democratic Republic from 1960 until 1990.[1]He initially supported the pro-SED (Socialist Unity Party) line of gleichschaltung of the East German non-communist parties. However, he began to move away from total submissiveness towards the Communist politicians in the late 1970s. Under his leadership, the LDPD developed some small scale contacts with its West German counterparts, the Free Democrats (FDP). However, as a state functionary, he defended the nationalisation of the last substantive private enterprises. After Erich Honecker had personally forbidden publication of a book he authored, he began trying to find a new profile for his party and re-adopt authentic liberalism.[citation needed]
Gerlach reportedly welcomed the liberalisation in the USSR started by Mikhail Gorbachev. His support for more liberalisation and pluralism in East Germany earned him remarkable popularity; popularity which he, however, lost due to his hesitant attitude during the overthrow of SED in 1989.[2]
On 13 October 1989, Gerlach was the first important East German politician to publicly question the monopolic role of the SED.[1] His article on the date in LDPD newspaper Der Morgen arose a furore.[citation needed] However, a meeting of block party leaders the same day did not bring about any remarkable effect on the crisis East Germany had reached.[citation needed] A few days later, on 18 October, Honecker was finally deposed by his own comrades of SED.[citation needed] After the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Manfred Gerlach was elected Chairman of the Council of State and thus the first non-communist head of state of the GDR.[1]
In March 1990, Gerlach's party and two other liberal parties merged into the new Bund Freier Demokraten. In November 1993, Gerlach resigned his FDP party membership.[1] In politics, he has been close to PDS during recent years. Gerlach was a signatory of the Berliner Alternatives Geschichtsforum,[3] which promoted more positive views on GDR history. Critics of the former communist regime have described these publications co-authored by former GDR high functionaries (e.g. Gerlach, Gerald Götting, Hans Modrow etc.) as whitewashing the SED dictatorship and working on the image of current Germany by using antifascist rhetoric.[4]
Gerlach had earned numerous state awards by the GDR, including the Patriotic Order of Merit and the Star of People's Friendship in 1964 and 1988 the Order of Karl Marx in 1988.
Death
On 17 October 2011, Gerlach died, aged 83, at a Berlin hospital following a long illness.[5]To see more of who died in 2011 click here
No comments:
Post a Comment