Bruno Mahlow

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Bruno Mahlow
Born(1937-06-27)27 June 1937
Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Died22 February 2023(2023-02-22) (aged 85)
Berlin, Germany
Occupation(s)Politician
diplomat
Political partySED
PDS
Die Linke
ParentBruno Mahlow Sr. [de] (father)

Bruno Brunowitsch Mahlow (27 June 1937 – 22 February 2023) was a German politician (SED/PDS/Die Linke) and an East German diplomat.[1]

Biography

Bruno Mahlow was born in Moscow,

Soviet occupation zone in what remained of Germany.[2]

Mahlow attended secondary school in Germany and then the

controversial creation of Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), in April 1946, more than three years before the state was formally established, had provided a firm foundation for a return to one-party government within this part of Germany: in 1957 Bruno Mahlow joined East Germany's ruling SED (party).[1]

On concluding his studies Mahlow joined the diplomatic service of the

Peking where he served as First Secretary in the East German embassy[3] between 1964 and 1967.[1]

From 1967 he was employed by the

German Democratic Republic than was always apparent from a western perspective, this often left Mahlow and Honnecker as the only Germans in meetings with the Soviet Union's four most powerful leaders and their translators.[3] Bruno Mahlow's previous work at the East German embassy in Peking also made him a top government "China expert", and during a period when Sino-US rapprochement was causing unhappiness in Moscow, Mahlow found himself on the diplomatic front-line in respect of tensions between Moscow and East Berlin over East Germany's own relations with China, which were driven more by commercial opportunities and less by the geo-political considerations that were important for Soviet strategists.[6]

In May 1976 Bruno Mahlow's own name was placed on the candidates' list for membership of the Party Central Committee,[7] and in April 1981 he became one of the 156 members of the Central Committee[8] He was also, between 1981 and 1989, head of the Foreign Policy Commission of the Central Committee Politburo, taking over the post from Egon Winkelmann [de][1] who had been appointed the East German ambassador to Moscow. In 1990, during the run-up to German reunification Mahlow served as a consultant to the International Affairs Commission of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which took the place of the old East German SED party at this time.[1]

Bruno Mahlow was a member of the central committee of the Society for German–Soviet Friendship between 1974 and 1989. Between 1985 and 1989 Mahlow also served as deputy president of the Society for German–Chinese Friendship.

Although Mahlow did not feature prominently in public life after 1990, he remained (in 2013) a member of the

Elders' Council of "Die Linke",[9]
the German political party that has inherited its mantle and at least some of its attitudes from the East German SED party.

Mahlow died in Berlin on 22 February 2023, at the age of 85.[10]

Awards and honours

Published output

Books

  • Bruno Mahlow: Wir stehen in der Geschichte und damit in der Verantwortung. Texte 2004 bis 2012. edition ost, Berlin 2012,
    ISBN 978-3-89793-285-2
  • (wissenschaftliche Gesamtredaktion): Internationale Arbeiterbewegung und revolutionärer Kampf in der Gegenwart. Dietz, Berlin 1973.
  • (Leitung des Autorenkollektivs): Kommunistische Bewegung und revolutionärer Kampf. Dietz, Berlin 1979.
  • (with Götz Dieckmann): Einführung in Lenins Schrift „Zwei Taktiken der Sozialdemokratie in der demokratischen Revolution“ . Dietz, Berlin 1980 (5th edition, 1989).
  • (with Harald Neubert): Die Kommunisten und ihr Zusammenwirken. Dietz, Berlin 1983.

Articles

References

  1. ^
    Andreas Herbst. "Mahlow, Bruno * 27.6.1937 Leiter der Abteilung Internationale Verbindungen des ZK der SED"
    . Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur: Biographische Datenbanken. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  2. ^
    Andreas Herbst. "Mahlow, Bruno * 1.5.1899, † 3.2.1964"
    . Handbuch der Deutschen Kommunisten. Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur: Biographische Datenbanken. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Robert Allertz (interview report) (1 September 2012). "Gespräch mit Bruno Mahlow. Über seine Kindheit in der Sowjetunion, über Stalin, Wladimir Putin und Barack Obama, über Systemfehler und Erlebnisse mit Erich Honecker". junge Welt. Forum Marxistische Linke. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  4. ^ - probably the "Tschistka" purge.
  5. ^ "PDS: So nicht, Herr W. Sympathie-Bekundungen für die Moskauer Putschisten haben die PDS entzweit. Der Partei droht die Spaltung". Der Spiegel (online). 26 August 1991. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  6. ^ Zhong Zhong Chen (June 2014). "Defying Moscow, engaging Beijing: The German Democratic Republic's relations with the People's Republic of China, 1980-1989" (PDF). A thesis submitted to the Department of International History of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London. London School of Economics (LSE Theses Online). pp. 75–77, 86–88. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  7. ^ Neues Deutschland 24 May 1976
  8. ^ Neues Deutschland 17 April 1981
  9. ^ "Für kritische Analysen und konstruktive Schlussfolgerungen". Mitteilung über die Beratung des Ältestenrates am 7. März 2013. Partei DIE LINKE, Berlin. 7 March 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  10. ^ "Bruno Mahlow gestorben". Junge Welt. 23 February 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
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