Cabinet of Hans Modrow Government of National Responsibility | |
---|---|
13th Cabinet of East Germany | |
Date formed | 13 November 1989 |
Date dissolved | 12 April 1990 (4 months and 30 days) |
People and organisations | |
Chairman of the State Council | Egon Krenz Manfred Gerlach |
Chairman of the Council of Ministers | Hans Modrow |
Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers | Christa Luft |
Status in legislature | Government of national unity 500 / 500 (100%) |
History | |
Legislature term(s) | 9th Volkskammer |
Predecessor | Sixth Stoph cabinet |
Successor | de Maizière cabinet |
The Modrow government refers to the final socialist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), which was led by Socialist Unity Party (SED) official Hans Modrow from November 1989 until East Germany's first democratically elected government took power on 18 March 1990.
Spurred on by the liberal policies of Glasnost and Perestroika in the Soviet Union, and Mikhail Gorbachev's apparent tolerance of liberal reforms in other countries in the Warsaw Pact, protests began to spread in the German Democratic Republic in 1989. This culminated in a large increase in citizens escaping from the country during the summer of 1989 after Hungary dismantled its portion of the Iron Curtain. At the same time opposition to the incumbent SED was growing - on 9 October 1989, for example, 70,000 people took part in a demonstration in Leipzig calling for free elections and other democratic rights which had been denied to East German citizens since the founding of the GDR. On 18 October 1989 Erich Honecker was ousted as leader by his Politburo as a result of his unwillingness to confront the societal problems which had led to the mass exodus and political protest. [1] The relatively youthful Egon Krenz who was chosen as successor proved to be ineffective, and on 9 November 1989 the Berlin Wall was opened, becoming a symbol of the SED's complete loss of power. Within the first four days of the Wall's opening, 4.3 million people or 25% of the East German population had made the trip across the border to West Germany with many choosing to remain there to take advantage of the higher quality of life. Since 8 November a new Politburo had been in power when the previous one had unanimously resigned. Amongst the new members was former First Secretary of the SED in Dresden Hans Modrow. Despite the personnel change the new government was unable to bring stability to the situation, with increased absenteeism through emigration and citizens taking trips to West Germany placing higher pressure on the East German economy. [2]
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As a result of the increasingly fragmented nature of the East German political landscape [3]
The Council of Ministers was composed as follows: [4]
Portfolio | Minister | Took office | Left office | Party | |
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Chairman of the Council of Ministers | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | SED | ||
Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers Minister for Economic Affairs | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | SED | ||
Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers Minister for Local Government Bodies | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | LDPD | ||
Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers Minister for Church Affairs | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | CDU | ||
Minister for Foreign Affairs | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | SED | ||
Minister of the Interior | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | SED | ||
Minister of Defence | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | SED | ||
Minister for Finance and Prices | 13 November 1989 | 24 January 1990 | SED | ||
29 January 1990 | 12 April 1990 | SED | |||
Minister for Education | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | SED | ||
Minister for Science and Technology | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | LDPD | ||
Minister for Trade and Supply | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | NDPD | ||
Minister for Construction and Housing | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | CDU | ||
Minister for Foreign Trade | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | SED | ||
Minister for Culture | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | SED | ||
Minister for Tourism | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | LDPD | ||
Minister for Health and Social Affairs | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | SED | ||
Minister of Justice | 13 November 1989 | 11 January 1990 | LDPD | ||
11 January 1990 | 12 April 1990 | LDPD | |||
Minister for Post and Telecommunications | Klaus Wolf | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | CDU | |
Minister for Transportation | Heinrich Scholz | 12 April 1990 | February 1990 | SED | |
February 1990 | 2 October 1990 | SED | |||
Minister for Environmental Protection and Water Management | 12 April 1990 | 11 January 1990 | DBD | ||
11 January 1990 | 2 October 1990 | DBD | |||
Minister for Nutrition, Agriculture and Forestry | Hans Watzek | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | DBD | |
Minister for Labour and Wages | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | SED | ||
Head of the Office for National Security | 13 November 1989 | 11 January 1990 | SED | ||
State Secretary and Head of the Office for Youth and Sport | 30 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | SED | ||
Ministers without portfolio | 5 February 1990 | 12 April 1990 | Independent Women's Association | ||
5 February 1990 | 12 April 1990 | DA | |||
5 February 1990 | 12 April 1990 | New Forum | |||
5 February 1990 | 12 April 1990 | IFM | |||
5 February 1990 | 12 April 1990 | SPD | |||
5 February 1990 | 12 April 1990 | Green League | |||
5 February 1990 | 12 April 1990 | B90 | |||
5 February 1990 | 12 April 1990 | Green | |||
Government spokesperson and Head of the Press Office | Wolfgang Meyer | 30 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | SED |
Portfolio | Minister | Took office | Left office | Party | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Chairman of the State Planning Commission | 13 November 1989 | 12 April 1990 | SED | ||
Chairman of the Economic Committee | 11 January 1990 | 12 April 1990 | SED |
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic, was a country in Central Europe that existed from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally viewed as a communist state, and it described itself as a socialist "workers' and peasants' state". Before its establishment, the country's territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces with the autonomy of the native communists following the Berlin Declaration abolishing German sovereignty in World War II; when the Potsdam Agreement established the Soviet-occupied zone, bounded on the east by the Oder–Neisse line. The GDR was dominated by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), a communist party, from 1949 to 1989, before being democratized and liberalized under the impact of the Revolutions of 1989 against the communist states, helping East Germany be united with the West. Unlike West Germany, the SED did not see its state as the successor of the German Reich (1871–1945) and abolished the goal of unification in the constitution (1974). The SED-ruled GDR was often described as a Soviet satellite state; Western scholars and academics described it as a totalitarian regime.
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