Gerhard Schürer
Gerhard Schürer | |||||||||||||
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Chairman of the State Planning Commission | |||||||||||||
In office 22 December 1965 – 11 January 1990 | |||||||||||||
Chairman of the Council of Ministers |
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First Deputy | See list
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Preceded by | Erich Apel | ||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Karl Grünheid (as Chairman of the Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers) | ||||||||||||
First Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Commission | |||||||||||||
In office 14 November 1963 – 22 December 1965 Serving with Karl Grünheid | |||||||||||||
Chairman | |||||||||||||
Preceded by | Rudolf Müller | ||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Helmut Lilie | ||||||||||||
Head of the Department for Planning and Finances of the Central Committee | |||||||||||||
In office 1960–1962 | |||||||||||||
Secretary | |||||||||||||
Preceded by | Fritz Müller | ||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Siegfried Böhm | ||||||||||||
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Personal details | |||||||||||||
Born | Paul Gerhard Schürer 14 April 1921 Auerbach, Free State of Saxony, Weimar Republic (now Zwickau–Auerbach, Germany) | ||||||||||||
Died | 22 December 2010 Berlin, Germany | (aged 89)||||||||||||
Political party | Independent | ||||||||||||
Other political affiliations | Party of Democratic Socialism (1989–1990) Socialist Unity Party of Germany (1948–1989) | ||||||||||||
Children | 8 | ||||||||||||
Alma mater | Landesparteischule Mecklenburg Parteihochschule der KPdSU Engineering School Mittweida | ||||||||||||
Occupation |
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Awards | Patriotic Order of Merit Order of Karl Marx | ||||||||||||
Central institution membership
Other offices held
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Gerhard Schürer (14 April 1921 – 22 December 2010) was a leading politician in East Germany.[2]
Between 1963 and 1989 he was a member of the powerful
It is one mark of his importance that during the 1980s Schürer lived with his family at House 7 in the
Life
Early years
Paul Gerhard Schürer was born in
He was badly injured in 1942 and assessed as unfit for frontline service ("frontuntauglich"). Between 1942 and 1945 he worked as a flying instructor, posted at various stages to Pilsen and Dresden-Klotzsche.[3]
Soviet occupation zone
Between January and November 1947 Schürer attended the
German Democratic Republic
He now moved into regional government, working with the Main Economic Planning Department for Saxony between 1947 and 1951, becoming head of the department. Between March and December 1951 he also served in his first national role, as leader of the Regional Planning Group (later departmental leader) with the State Planning Commission. Evidence that he had been identified for rapid promotion came in 1952 which he spent as a student at the regional party academy.[3]
Between 1953 and 1955 Schürer was employed in the Finance and Planning department of the powerful
The Leninist precepts of
In 1999, pointing out that he had himself been head of the State Planning Commission since 1965, an interviewer asked Gerhard Schürer when he had started to doubt the [East German economic] system:
- "In 1971/72, with the formula "unity of economic and social policy" ("Einheit von Wirtschafts- und Sozialpolitik"), Erich Honecker committed to the disastrous course of increasing consumption at the expense of investment - and doing it on credit. When I warned Honecker against this policy in the Politburo I was brushed aside as a "saboteur". Everyone was happy about the resulting improved consumption - and the balance of payments was a "classified secret" ("Geheime Verschlusssache"), which no one was permitted to know anything about! Under Walter Ulbricht we had a two billion Mark debt to the west. Under Honecker, in six years, that grew to twenty billion Marks. 60% of this debt flowed straight into consumer consumption. We were even subsidizing the flower industry at the rate of 450 Marks a year, a piece of absolute insanity which I wanted to end. In this way we lost the necessary basis ever to repay the debt. ("Denn damit gingen die Grundlagen für die Rückzahlungen verloren.") But Honecker lived on credit. In 1976 Günter Mittag and I warned Honecker again that the German Democratic Republic would drifting towards ungovernability ("in Richtung der Unregierbarkeit"), if we increased the debt burden further. Honecker interpreted that as a stab in the back: Mittag capitulated."[4]
Gerhard Schürer, interviewed for Focus Magazine in November 1999
Disagreements over deficit based economic management
There are suggestions that during the final years of the German Democratic Republic, Gerhard Schürer frequently found himself thwarted by the powerful economic secretary to the Party Central Committee,
Schürer report
On 30 October 1989, together with
For the German Democratic Republic, the Schürer report was an important catalyst along what is sometimes presented as an unstoppable road toward reunification, which took place the next year, formally in October 1990.[10][13] For Gerhard Schürer, on both sides of the Inner German border, it permanently raised the public profile of a man who, when appointed as head of the State Planning Commission back in 1965, might reasonably have hoped to end his career in circumstances of comfortable obscurity.[11][14]
Régime change
On 7 November 1989
Awards and honours
- 1964 Patriotic Order of Merit in silver[15]
- 1971 Patriotic Order of Merit in gold[16]
- 1981 Order of Karl Marx[17]
References
- ^ Schmidt, Arthur. "Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1986-1990, Seite 33" (PDF). gvoon.de. Retrieved 2023-08-03.
- ^ "Gestorben: Gerhard Schürer". Der Spiegel (online). 3 January 2011. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Bernd-Rainer Barth; Helmut Müller-Enbergs. "Schürer, Gerhard Paul * 14.4.1921, † 22.12.2010 Vorsitzender der Staatlichen Plankommission, Mitglied des Politbüros des ZK der SED". Wer war wer in der DDR?. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin & Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur, Berlin. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ a b c d e Olaf Opitz und Wolfgang Stock (as interviewers); Gerhard Schürer (as interviewee) (15 November 1999). "Honecker hat auf Pump gelebt: Der Ex-Chef der Plankommission Gerhard Schürer beschreibt, wie die SED-Mächtigen sehenden Auges die DDR wirtschaftlich ruinierten". Focus (online). Retrieved 8 June 2016.
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has generic name (help) - ^ Hartmut Kascha (25 January 2012). "So liebte das DDR-Politbüro ... Der Büroliebhaber – Gerhard Schürer († 89)". Bild. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ a b Klaus-Peter Schmid (5 September 1997). ""Gewagt und verloren" - Gerhard Schürer, der ehemalige Chefplaner der DDR, hat sich mit der Marktwirtschaft arrangiert". Die Zeit (online). Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ Ed Stuhler; Thomas Grimm, MDR (10 February 2011). "Privatleben: Margot und Erich Honecker". Originally transcript extracts from "Die Honeckers privat". Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR). Archived from the original on 11 June 2016. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ Klaus Wiegrefe (6 March 2000). ""Wohin führt das?" Der Tod des DDR-Wirtschaftschefs Erich Apel ist noch immer ein Rätsel. Beging der Reformer 1965 tatsächlich Selbstmord - oder fiel er nicht doch einem Komplott zum Opfer?". Der Spiegel (online). Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ Regina Haunhorst; Susanne Wirtz. "Erich Apel 1917 - 1965". Lebendiges Museum Online. Stiftung Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
- ^ a b "Früherer DDR-Planchef Gerhard Schürer tot: Er gehörte zu den wichtigsten Köpfen der DDR vor der Wende: Gerhard Schürer. Der Wirtschaftsplaner ist im Alter von 89 Jahren gestorben". Die Welt. Die Welt (online). 25 December 2010. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
- ^ a b Gerhard Schürer (lead author); Gerhard Beil, Alexander Schalck, Ernst Höfner & Arno Donda (co-authors). "SED-Politbürovorlage: Analyse der ökonomischen Lage der DDR mit Schlußfolgerungen, 30. Oktober 1989". Chronik der Mauer. Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung e.V., Potsdam & Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Bonn. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
{{cite web}}
:|author1=
has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "Gerhard Schürer, Gerhard Beil, Alexander Schalck, Ernst Höfner und Arno Donda: "Vorlage für das Politbüro des ZK der SED. Analyse der ökonomischen Lage der DDR mit Schlußfolgerungen" ... Geheime Verschlusssache ZK 02 47/89 -666- Geheimhaltungsgrad darf nicht verändert werden". Anlage Nr. 4 zum Protokoll Nr. 47 vom 31. Oktober 1989. Der Bundesbeauftragte für die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der ehemaligen Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (BStU), Berlin. 30 October 1989. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ^ Marco Lehmann-Waffenschmidt; Robert Böhmer. "Mentality matters - Thorstein Veblens Regime of Status und Max Webers Protestantische Ethik aus der Sicht des (radikalen) Konservativismus: Eine Anwendung auf die ökonomischen Probleme des deutschen Wiedervereinigungsprozesses (working paper)" (PDF). Dresden discussion paper in economics, No. 18/03. Leibniz Information Centre for Economics. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ^ ""Schock mit schlimmen Folgen" Die Spitzengenossen des zerbröckelnden DDR-Regimes waren, wegen der Wirtschaftskatastrophe im Land, zu weitgehenden Konzessionen an Bonn bereit. Sie wollten, wie eine neue Forschungsarbeit belegt, gegen Milliardenkredite gemeinsame Olympische Spiele in Berlin anbieten und sogar die Mauer preisgeben. Auszüge". Der Spiegel (online). 26 October 1992. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
- ^ Berliner Zeitung, 6 October 1964, p. 6
- ^ Berliner Zeitung, 28 April 1971, p. 2
- ^ Karl-Marx-Orden verliehen, In: Neues Deutschland, 14 April 1981, p. 2