Erich Honecker: Life & Politics

This quote is attributed to the politician Erich Honecker. In this article you will learn who Erich Honecker was and what he did, as well as a summary of how the Honecker era shaped German history – especially that of the GDR.

Who was Erich Honecker?

Illustration 1: Erich Honecker

Erich Honecker was one of the most influential communist politicians in the GDR. He lived from August 25, 1912 to May 29, 1994. In the GDR he held the two highest offices in the party and state.

Youth of Erich Honecker

Erich Honecker was born in Neunkirchen in 1912. As the son of a miner, he lived in the nearby working-class district of Wiebelskirchen during his early childhood. His father Wilhelm Honecker was also politically active. First of all, his father was a SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) member. During the First World War, Erich Honecker’s father switched to the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD).

Influenced by his father’s political commitment, Erich Honecker joined the Communist children’s group in Wiebelskirchen in 1922. Four years later, Honecker became a member of the Communist Youth Association of Germany (KJVD for short). He also joined the German Communist Party (KPD) in 1930. Nevertheless, after finishing school, Honecker began training as a roofer. However, he ended his training prematurely and began studying at the International Lenin School in Moscow.

Erich Honecker’s political career

After completing his studies, Erich Honecker worked as district manager of the KJVD in Saarland. In 1933, however, the National Socialists came to power and were brought into line. The National Socialist regime had political opponents persecuted and arrested, including the communists.

Because Saarland was not part of Germany at the time, Erich Honecker was initially able to continue his political activity. He campaigned vehemently against reincorporation into the German Reich. Nevertheless, Saarland was annexed to Germany in 1935 after the Saar referendum. That’s why Honecker fled to France. In 1935 he traveled to Berlin under the false name “Marten Tjaden” to organize resistance against the Nazi regime through the KJVD and to do party work there.

However, Honecker was arrested by the Gestapo in December 1935 and sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1937, which he spent in the Brandenburg-Görden prison. In April 1945 he was liberated by the Red Army. He then traveled to Berlin and was assigned to the Ulbricht group. His political rise began in the post-war period.

Erich Honecker GDR

In 1946, Erich Honecker was involved in founding the Association of Free German Youth (FDJ). In the same year he became a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which later developed into the state-supporting party of the GDR.

In 1949, Germany was divided and the GDR was founded. Honecker was chairman of the FDJ until 1955 and thus held the most important position in the youth organization. This position enabled him to rise to the SED Central Committee. During the 1950s, Honecker increasingly made a name for himself politically. Between 1955 and 1956 he trained at a party college in Moscow.

In the years that followed, Erich Honecker took responsibility for military and security issues in the SED Politburo. Because he was head of this office, he played a decisive role in the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and the order to shoot at the inner-German border. Erich Honecker became an increasingly influential politician by helping his former FDJ comrades to important positions in the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.

Erich Honecker Politics GDR – Role as General Secretary

On May 3, 1971, Erich Honecker became the general secretary of the SED Central Committee, replacing Walter Ulbricht. He held the chairmanship of the SED until 1989. It can be said that Erich Honecker was the party and state leader of the SED from 1976, because he was also appointed chairman of the National Defense Council and Council of Ministers in 1976.

Under Willy Brandt and his Ostpolitik, relations between the two German states had relaxed. However, Erich Honecker ended this détente policy during his first years in government.

Honecker signed the Helsinki Final Act at the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) in 1973. Thus, the GDR, like the Federal Republic of Germany, was admitted to the UN as a member under international law. Erich Honecker then proclaimed the GDR as an independent “socialist nation” in 1974. The highlight was Honecker’s official state visit to Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl (Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1982 to 1998) in Bonn in 1987.

Erich Honecker said this quote in his speech on October 7, 1989 on the occasion of

40th anniversary of the GDR. However, the quote is also the title of a march by the military musician Carl Latann. It is therefore meant as political defiance.

In addition, Erich Honecker ended the basic contract. The basic treaty relaxed the travel laws between the GDR and FRG. Erich Honecker saw a danger that the wave of people leaving the country would increase to the west. Therefore, he undertook various domestic policy measures.

In addition, the inner-German border was expanded with self-firing systems. In terms of foreign policy, he was committed to the international reputation of the GDR and was able to achieve recognition of the GDR by numerous non-Western states.

However, the economic situation in the GDR deteriorated drastically in the 1980s, so that Honecker had to take out billions in loans from the Federal Republic of Germany. In terms of domestic policy, Honecker wanted to expand the GDR into an important industrial state and improve the supply bottlenecks and living conditions of the population. However, due to financial difficulties and his adherence to the SED’s claim to power, he was unable to achieve these goals.

Fall of the Berlin Wall and resignation

Since 1986, Soviet leader Gorbachev has introduced new reforms with perestroika and glasnost. Because of this, the GDR’s most important source of power was lost. In addition, dissatisfaction among the population and the number of applications to leave the country increased steadily because Honecker did not want to carry out domestic political reforms. Erich Honecker tried to stabilize the SED rule through social benefits, but his strategy failed.

With this sentence in August 1989, Erich Honecker denied that the end of the GDR was imminent.

Systemic crisis

The GDR economy was already on the verge of collapse in the early 1980s. Due to rising raw material costs on the world market, the GDR was almost bankrupt and therefore insolvent. In 1989, Poland and Hungary opened their borders and broke away from their socialist state systems. As a result, even more GDR citizens fled to the Federal Republic of Germany and on

The peaceful revolution against the GDR regime took place on October 18, 1989.

This development is called a systemic crisis. In the early fall of 1989, many GDR citizens were ready to get involved in changes in their country. Due to the changes in the Soviet Union, Hungary and Poland, the GDR citizens perceived the leadership of the SED as outdated and illegitimate. As a result, Erich Honecker was forced to resign by the SED Politburo on October 18, 1989. Egon Krenz took over his office and the reunification between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic began.

On November 9, 1989, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Erich Honecker and others were arrested

SED officials began criminal investigations by the People’s Chamber. They were accused of corruption and abuse of office. A new arrest warrant was issued against Erich Honecker in November 1990 because of the fatal shootings at the Berlin Wall.

After fleeing to Moscow and Chile, he returned to Berlin in 1992, where he was taken into custody. However, Erich Honecker’s health was poor. Therefore, the arrest warrants against him were canceled in January 1993. He then returned to his family in Chile and died there a year later.

Figure 2: Fall of the Wall on November 9, 1989. Hundreds of GDR citizens climb over the Wall into the West