Erich Honecker

DDR-Briefmarke zu 25 Jahre de:Gesellschaft für Deutsch-Sowjetische Freundschaft, Leonid Breschniev und Erich Honecker

Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (* 25. August 1912 in Neunkirchen (Saar); † 29. Mai 1994 in Santiago de Chile) war ein deutscher Politiker. Vom 3. Mai 1971 bis zum 18. Oktober 1989 war er Erster Sekretär bzw. Generalsekretär des Zentralkomitees (ZK) der Sozialistischen Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED). Er war als Vorsitzender des Staatsrats und Vorsitzender des Nationalen Verteidigungsrats der Politiker mit den höchsten Ämtern der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (DDR) und vertrat den Staat völkerrechtlich. Er galt als kritiklos moskauhörig.

As a full-time official of the banned Communist Party of Germany (KPD), Honecker was imprisoned from 1935 to 1945 for resisting National Socialism. In 1946, on behalf of the KPD, Honecker founded the FDJ youth organization in East Berlin, of which he was chairman until 1955. In 1961, as Secretary for Security Affairs of the SED Central Committee, he was one of the main organizers of the construction of the Berlin Wall and, already as such, helped to execute the order to fire on Germany's internal border. As General Secretary of the SED Central Committee and Chairman of the State Council for many years, he represented the GDR in the 1970s and 1980s. One of his greatest successes was the recognition of the GDR as a full member of the UN in 1973. Under the impact of the peaceful revolution in the GDR, the SED Politburo forced Honecker to resign on October 17, 1989. Due to his responsibility for human rights violations committed by the GDR regime, he was put on trial in Berlin in 1992; however, the trial was interrupted due to his illness and his constitutional complaint based on it.