Horst Dohlus
Horst Dohlus | |||||||||||||||||||
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General Secretary | |||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Erich Honecker | ||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Position abolished | ||||||||||||||||||
Head of the Department for Party Organs of the Central Committee | |||||||||||||||||||
In office July 1960 – 21 April 1986 | |||||||||||||||||||
Secretary | |||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Werner Guse | ||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Heinz Mirtschin | ||||||||||||||||||
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Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||
Born | Horst Paul Dohlus 30 May 1925 Free State of Saxony, Weimar Republic (now Germany) | ||||||||||||||||||
Died | 28 April 2007 Berlin, Germany | (aged 81)||||||||||||||||||
Political party | SED-PDS (1989–1990) | ||||||||||||||||||
Other political affiliations | Socialist Unity Party (1946–1989) Communist Party of Germany (1928–1946) | ||||||||||||||||||
Occupation |
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Awards | |||||||||||||||||||
Central institution membership
Other offices held
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Horst Dohlus (30 May 1925 – 28 April 2007) was a high ranking
In 1995, following reunification, Dohlus was one of those who stood trial on serious criminal charges resulting from some of the policies which East Germany's ruling party had enforced.[4][5] As a result of that trial, in 1997, the country's last head of state, Egon Krenz, found himself given a six-year prison sentence by the court. However, due their personal health issues, the trial of four of the accused, including Dohlus, was not able to proceed to a conclusion.[6]
Life
Early years
Dohlus was born into a working-class family in what was then a
The Soviet Occupation Zone
On his release he joined the
The German Democratic Republic
Horst Dohlus now made his transfer to national politics, between 1950 and 1954 sitting as a member of the young country's
- "I was born on 30 May 1925 in
Prisoner of War... I came to value the friendship of the people from the Soviet Union ... to do everything to preserve peace.”- "Ich wurde am 30. Mai 1925 in Plauen im Vogtland geboren und stamme aus einer Arbeiterfamilie . . . antifaschistische Grundhaltung . . . prägte mein Leben . . . Arbeitsdienst . . . Wehrmacht . . . Kriegsgefangenschaft . . . die Freundschaft zu den Menschen der Sowjetunion schätzengelernt . . . alles zu tun für die Sicherung des Friedens."
- Horst Dohlus addressing the court in 1996[4]
Between September 1954 and August 1955 most of his time was spent in Moscow attending a course ("Lehrgang C" / "Course C") at the Communist Party Academy there.[2] Whatever his violations of party morals may have involved, they did not terminate his party career, and on returning in 1955 he became the SED Central Committee's party organiser at the vast and prestigious new "Schwarze Pumpe" lignite based energy, heat and power combine.[3] He stayed with Schwarze Pumpe till 1958 when he relocated to Cottbus: here, till 1960 he held a position as Second Secretary of the party's regional leadership team.[3]
Career success
From 1960 right through till 1986 Dohlus headed up the "Press Department" ("Abteilung Parteiorgane") for the Party Central Committee. In 1971, after an absence of 17 years, again became a member of the
- "I completely reject the allegation that my vote could have been willfully associated with causing these fatal outcomes [of people being shot while trying to escape from East Germany over the Berlin Wall]”
- "Ich weise entschieden zurück, mit meiner Wahl wäre ein aktiver Täterwille zu diesen tödlichen Konsequenzen verbunden gewesen."
- Horst Dohlus (who had been a member of the East German politburo since 1980) addressing the court in 1996[4]
- He went on to explain that while he regretted the deaths, there had never been an "inner border" between West Germany and East Germany. There had simply been a front-line separating two competing military groupings, the NATO and the Warsaw Pact, from one another. The way in which the front-line was controlled from the eastern side had been determined from Moscow and was not something that the East German politburo could have changed.[4]
Changes
At the end of 1989 Horst Dohlus's political career fell victim to the rolling demise of the
Awards and honours
- 1964 Patriotic Order of Merit
- 1968 Banner of Labor
- 1969 Patriotic Order of Merit
- 1970 Banner of Labor
- 1975 Hero of Labour
- 1979 Order of Karl Marx
- 1983 Patriotic Order of Merit
- 1985 Order of Karl Marx
References
- ^ Schmidt, Arthur. "Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1986-1990, Seite 35" (PDF). gvoon.de. Retrieved 2023-10-27.
- ^ a b c d e f "Horst Dohlus deutscher Politiker; fr. SED-Politbüromitglied". Munzinger-Archiv GmbH, Ravensburg. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Helmut Müller-Enbergs; Bernd-Rainer Barth. "Dohlus, Horst Paul * 30.5.1925, † 28.4.2007 Mitglied des Politbüros u. Sekretär des ZK der SED". Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur: Biographische Datenbanken. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
- ^ a b c d e f Christoph Dieckmann [in German] (23 February 1996). "Die DDR war mein Leben". Die Zeit (online). Retrieved 20 January 2015.
- ^ "DDR-Unrecht: Geschwiegen und genickt: Am kommenden Montag beginnt der Prozeß gegen sechs Mitglieder des früheren SED-Politbüros wegen Totschlags an der Grenze. Mit einem Brief Michail Gorbatschows will der einstige SED-Chef Egon Krenz das Verfahren kippen: In dem Schreiben nennt der Russe die Anklage einen "Rückfall in die Praktiken des Kalten Krieges"". Der Spiegel (online). 6 November 1995. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
- ^ DW (7 August 2004). "Bewährungsstrafen im letzten SED-Politbüro-Prozess". Die Welt (online). Retrieved 20 January 2015.
- ^ "Sowjetisch-Deutschen Aktiengesellschaft"
- ^ "W IV 2/3/5 Protokolle und Beschlussprotokolle von Sekretariatssitzungen". Sächsisches Staatsarchiv, Dresden. 29 December 1951. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
- ^ The source is tantalisingly silent on the question of what Dohlus had done to earn his rebuke from the Party Central Committee in 1955.