Wolfgang Herger

Last updated
1989
Wolfgang Herger
Bundesarchiv Bild Y 10-0974-00, Wolfgang Herger.jpg
Herger in 1976
Head of the Department for Security Affairs of the Central Committee
In office
15 March 1985 –8 November 1989		Security Affairs
Awards Patriotic Order of Merit
Central institution membership
Other offices held

Wolfgang Herger (born 10 August 1935) is a German former politician and high-ranking functionary of the Free German Youth (FDJ) and the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

Contents

A longtime associate of Egon Krenz, in the German Democratic Republic, he served as the longtime head of the powerful Department of Security Affairs at the Central Committee of the SED. During the Wende, he also briefly served in the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED.

Life and career

East Germany

Herger pursued a degree in philosophy from 1953 to 1958 at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena. [1] Until 1962, he worked as an assistant at the Institute of Philosophy while also being active in the FDJ and later the SED. [2]

In 1963, he earned his Dr. phil from the University of Jena with a thesis titled "On the Dialectics of Social Necessity and Moral Freedom in Our Era: Investigations into Fundamental Questions of Marxist-Leninist Ethics." [2]

Reunified Germany

After the Wende, Herger became unemployed and worked as a gatekeeper and employee of various trading companies. In November 1992, Herger briefly worked as a recreational supervisor at a Civilian Service school of the Federal Office for Civilian Service in Kablow-Ziegelei, south of Berlin. [1]

Political career

East Germany

FDJ Second Secretary Herger awarding customs agents with the FDJ's Artur-Becker-Medal in August 1972 Bundesarchiv Bild 183-L0822-0034, Berlin, Auszeichnungen an Zollbeamte.jpg
FDJ Second Secretary Herger awarding customs agents with the FDJ's Artur-Becker-Medal in August 1972

Wolfgang Herger became a member of the Free German Youth (FDJ) in 1949 and joined the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in 1957.

From 1964 to 1976, Herger served as a secretary in the Central Council of the FDJ, from 1971 to 1976 as Second Secretary under Günther Jahn and later Egon Krenz, succeeding Dieter Itzerott, who joined the Bezirk Halle SED leadership.

From 1971 to 1990, he was a member of the Volkskammer. During his time in the Volkskammer, he served various roles, including as a member of the Committee for National Defense (1971-1976), chairman of the Youth Committee (1976-1985), and deputy chairman/chairman of the Committee for National Defense (1987-1990). [1]

Herger was also a member of the Central Committee of the SED from 1976 (IX. Party Congress) to its dissolution in 1989, where he led the Youth Department from 1976 to 1985 and the powerful Department of Security Issues from 1985 to 1989. In both roles, he worked under the supervision of responsible Secretary Egon Krenz. [3] Additionally, he served in the Collegium of the Ministry of National Defence from 1985 to 1989 and the National Defence Council of the GDR from 1986 to 1989.

In recognition of his service, Herger was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in 1973.

Peaceful Revolution

Herger, as National Defense Committee chairman, visiting border guards in Berlin on 20 November 1989 Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1989-1120-029, Berlin, Wolfgang Herger an Grenzubergang.jpg
Herger, as National Defense Committee chairman, visiting border guards in Berlin on 20 November 1989

During the Wende, Herger succeeded Krenz, now General Secretary of the SED, as Secretary responsible for Security as well as State and Legal Affairs, also being elected as a full member of the Politburo. [1]

Alongside Krenz, he played a role in ensuring the peaceful transition of events in the autumn of 1989.

Reunified Germany

In the Mauerschützenprozesse (Berlin Wall shooting trials) on 24 July 1998, Herger was convicted by the Berlin Regional Court of "complicity in manslaughter" (political responsibility for the fatal shootings at the Berlin Wall) and sentenced to 22 months of suspended imprisonment. [4]

Alongside Herger, the former Deputy Minister of Defence Horst Brünner and two other prominent DDR military figures (Manfred Grätz and Heinz Tappert) were also convicted. The court held these four defendants partially responsible for the GDR's fundamental orders regarding "border security," arguing that they had tacitly accepted the deaths of refugees. [5] [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socialist Unity Party of Germany</span> Founding and ruling party of East Germany

The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic from the country's foundation in 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a Marxist–Leninist communist party, established in 1946 as a merger of the East German branches of the Communist Party of Germany and Social Democratic Party of Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egon Krenz</span> Head of state of East Germany (born 1937)

Egon Rudi Ernst Krenz is a German former politician who was the last Communist leader of the German Democratic Republic during the Revolutions of 1989. He succeeded Erich Honecker as the General Secretary of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) but was forced to resign only weeks later when the Berlin Wall fell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Günter Schabowski</span> German politician

Günter Schabowski was an East German politician who served as an official of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the ruling party during most of the existence of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Schabowski gained worldwide fame in November 1989 when he improvised a slightly mistaken answer to a press conference question about the future of the Berlin Wall. That raised popular expectations much more rapidly than the government planned and so massive crowds gathered the same night at the Wall, which forced its opening after 28 years. Soon afterward, the entire inner German border was opened.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Modrow</span> German politician (1928–2023)

Hans Modrow was a German politician best known as the last communist premier of East Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willi Stoph</span> German politician (1914–1999)

Wilhelm Stoph was a German politician. He served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic from 1964 to 1973, and again from 1976 until 1989. He also served as chairman of the State Council from 1973 to 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horst Sindermann</span> German politician (1915–1990)

Horst Sindermann was a Communist German politician and one of the leaders of East Germany. He became Chairman of the Council of Ministers in 1973, but in 1976 he became President of the Volkskammer, the only member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany to hold the post.

The German Democratic Republic was created as a socialist republic on 7 October 1949 and began to institute a government based on the government of the Soviet Union during the Stalin era. The equivalent of the Communist Party in East Germany was the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, which along with other parties, was part of the National Front of Democratic Germany. It was created in 1946 through the merger of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany. Following German reunification, the SED was renamed the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which eventually merged with the West German Electoral Alternative for Labor and Social Justice to form the modern Left Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Defence Council (East Germany)</span> East German government body responsible for military and national defense affairs

The National Defense Council of the German Democratic Republic was created in 1960 as the supreme state body of the German Democratic Republic in charge of national defense matters, including mobilization planning. The NVR held the supreme command of the GDR's armed forces, and the NVR's chairman was considered the GDR's commander-in-chief.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ingeburg Lange</span> German politician (1927–2013)

Ingeburg "Inge" Lange was an East German politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johannes Chemnitzer</span> East German politician (1929–2021)

Hans Chemnitzer was a former East German national and regional politician. He was relieved of his party duties on 10 November 1989 and then expelled from the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) on 13 December 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horst Dohlus</span> German politician

Horst Dohlus was a high ranking SED party functionary in the German Democratic Republic and a member of the country's National Legislative Assembly (Volkskammer).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Konrad Naumann</span> German politician (1928–1992)

Konrad Naumann was an East German politician. He built his career; initially, in regional politics, but between 1966 and 1986 he was important nationally as a member of the Central Committee of the country's ruling SED (party). At times, Naumann was the unofficial number two to General Secretary Erich Honecker and seen as his potential successor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Käte Niederkirchner</span> German politician (1944-2019)

Käte Niederkirchner was a German politician and pediatrician. In 1967 she became the youngest member of the East German parliament ("Volkskammer"). Her life was impacted by having been born with a famous aunt, the Communist resistance activist Käthe Niederkirchner who was killed by Nazi paramilitaries at Ravensbrück concentration camp in 1944, and who was posthumously much celebrated by East Germany's political leadership.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Werner Walde</span> German politician (1926–2010)

Werner Walde was a German politician and party functionary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Werner Felfe</span> German politician (1919–2002)

Werner Felfe was a German politician and high-ranking party functionary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Günther Jahn</span> German politician (1930–2015)

Günther Jahn was a German politician and functionary of the Free German Youth (FDJ) and the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eberhard Aurich</span> German politician (born 1946)

Eberhard Aurich is a former German politician and high-ranking functionary of the Free German Youth (FDJ).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolfgang Junker</span> German politician (1913–1970)

Wolfgang Junker was a German construction manager and politician of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Herger, Wolfgang". www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship . Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  2. 1 2 "Wolfgang Herger - Munzinger Biographie". www.munzinger.de. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
  3. ↑ "Regierte die Staatssicherheit oder die SED die DDR?". kas.de (in German). Konrad Adenauer Foundation. 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  4. ↑ "Bewährungsstrafen für NVA-Militärs und ZK-Sicherheitschef". nd-aktuell.de (in German). Neues Deutschland. 1998-07-25. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
  5. ↑ "Gericht verurteilt hohe DDR-Funktionäre - WELT". DIE WELT (in German). 2011-11-15. Retrieved 2023-09-23.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.