Erich Mückenberger

Erich Mückenberger (8 June 1910 – 10 February 1998) was a German socialist politician. He began his political career in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He became a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) when the East German branches of SPD and the Communist Party of Germany merged after the Second World War. Mückenberger was one of the most high-ranking former Social Democrats in the German Democratic Republic and held several positions in the SED.

Erich Mückenberger
Mückenberger in 1953
Chairman of the Central Party Control Commission
In office 19 June 1971 – 8 November 1989
General Secretary	Erich Honecker Egon Krenz
Deputy	Heinz Juch Werner Müller
Preceded by	Hermann Matern
Succeeded by	Werner Eberlein
Leader of the Socialist Unity Party in the Volkskammer
In office December 1979 – 11 November 1989
General Secretary	Erich Honecker
Preceded by	Friedrich Ebert Jr.
Succeeded by	Werner Jarowinsky
First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party in Bezirk Frankfurt (Oder)
In office 2 August 1961 – 28 January 1971
Second Secretary	Rudolf Held Rudolf Leppin Heinz Vogel Hans-Joachim Hertwig
Preceded by	Eduard Götzl
Succeeded by	Hans-Joachim Hertwig
Secretary for Agriculture of the Central Committee Secretariat
In office 26 July 1953 – 1960
First Secretary	Walter Ulbricht
Preceded by	Paul Merker (1950)
Succeeded by	Gerhard Grüneberg
First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party in Bezirk Erfurt
In office August 1952 – 26 July 1953
Second Secretary	Ludwig Einicke
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Hans Kiefert
First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party in Thuringia
In office September 1949 – August 1952
Second Secretary	Otto Funke
Preceded by	Erich Kops (as Chairman)
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Volkskammer Member of the Volkskammer for Schwerin-Stadt, Schwerin-Land, Gadebusch, Sternberg In office 8 November 1950 – 16 November 1989 Preceded by multi-member district Succeeded by Manfred Voigt
Personal details
Born	(1910-06-08)8 June 1910 Chemnitz, Free State of Saxony, German Empire (now Germany)
Died	10 February 1998(1998-02-10) (aged 87) Berlin, Germany
Political party	Party of Democratic Socialism (1989–1990)
Other political affiliations	Socialist Unity Party (1946–1989) Communist Party of Germany (1927–1946)
Alma mater	Party Academy Karl Marx Parteihochschule der KPdSU
Occupation	Politician Civil Servant Weaver Locksmith
Awards	Patriotic Order of Merit Order of Karl Marx
Central institution membership 1958–1989: Full member, Politburo of the Central Committee 1950–1958: Candidate member, Politburo of the Central Committee 1950–1989: Full member, Central Committee Other offices held 1978–1989: President, Society for German–Soviet Friendship

Early life and political activism

Mückenberger spent his childhood in Chemnitz. He later worked there as a machine-fitter apprentice. In 1924 he joined the Social Democratic youth organization. In 1927 he became a SPD member. Mückenberger became an activist of its paramilitary wing, Reichsbanner. After the National Socialist takeover, he engaged in underground resistance against the new regime. In 1935 he was arrested and sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He was released after several months. In 1938 he was again arrested and was put in jail for ten months. In 1942 he was drafted to the German military and sent to the frontline. He was an English prisoner of war from April to August 1945.

Political career in the GDR

After returning home in 1945, Mückenberger again became active in the SPD. Through the merger of SPD and KPD in the Soviet Occupation Zone, Mückenberger became a SED member. He became First Secretary of the SED Party District Organization in Saxony in 1948. Mückenberger then served as First Secretary of the Thuringia Party District Organization of SED 1949–1952. As the Thuringia District was divided along the geographic reorganization of the German Democratic Republic, Mückenberger became First Secretary of the Erfurt Party District Organization (one of the districts created out of the Thuringia organization). He remained as the First Secretary of the Erfurt SED District until 1953.

Mückenberger became a candidate member of the politburo of SED in 1950. He was one of four former SPD members that were represented in the SED politburo. In July 1953 he was included in the Central Committee secretariat. He remained in the CC secretariat until January 1963. He became a full politburo member in July 1958.

Mückenberger became First Secretary of the Frankfurt/Oder Party District Organization of SED in 1961. He stepped down in 1971 and was replaced by the then Second Secretary Hans-Joachim Hertwig. In the same year, he was appointed as the Chairman of the influential SED Central Control Commission, the party organ regulating party memberships. In 1978, he was elected chairman of the German-Soviet Friendship Society. In 1980, he was elected as the head of the SED parliamentary group in the Volkskammer (the national parliament of the GDR). Mückenberger remained in the SED politburo until November 1989.

During his political life, Erich Mückenberger participated as a speaker in the remembrance events for the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp at the National Memorial of the GDR.

Later life

Mückenberger was expelled from the Socialist Unity Party of Germany/Party of Democratic Socialism (SED-PDS) on 21 November 1990. Following the German reunification, Mückenberger was put on trial for shootings at the Berlin Wall, a process that Mückenberger himself dubbed as 'victors' justice'. Mückenberger was allowed to withdraw from the trial in 1996, due to ill health.

Works

• Die politische Massenarbeit im Dorf und die nächsten Aufgaben der Landwirtschaft. Berlin 1954.
• Kommunisten werden im Kampf erzogen. Berlin 1980.
• Der Menschheit ein Leben in Frieden. Ausgewählte Reden und Aufsätze, Berlin 1985.