Manfred Gerlach
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Manfred Gerlach (born 1928) acted as Chairman of the Council of State and thus head of state in East Germany from December 6, 1989 to April 5, 1990.
He was born in Leipzig and became a member of the resistance during World War II. In 1943 he founded an illegal, antifascist, youth movement. In march 1944 he was arrested.
After the war he became involved in politics and was a co-founder of the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD) and the Free German Youth (FDJ) in Leipzig. From 1946-1950 he was the LDPD youth leader of North-West Saxon. From 1947-1952 Gerlach was a member of the executive council of the Saxon LDPD. In the 1950s he was a mayor (Bürgermeister and deputy Oberbürgermeister) of the city of Leipzig.
From 1951 to 1953 he was the LDPD's Vice-Chairman and from 1954 to 1967 he was the LDPD's General Secretary. At the LDPD's general party congress of 1967 Gerlach was elected as chairman of the LDPD. He remained chairman untill 10 February 1990.
From 1949 to 1990 Gerlach was a member of the People's Chamber and from 1960 to 1990 he was one of the Deputy Chairmen of the Council of State (de facto Vice-President) of the German Democratic Republic.
In October 1989 he was the first important non-communist politician that criticized the leading role of the Socialist Unity Party (SED). After the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Manfred Gerlach was elected Chairman of the Council of State and thus the first non-communist Head of State of the GDR.
In March 1990 his party and to other liberal parties merged into the new Bund Freier Demokraten (Alliance of Free Democrats).
In 1993 he resigned from the party membership of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). He is role during the GDR is currently questioned. (He is accused of being an NKVD-agent during his younger years).
See also
Bibliography
- Manfred Gerlach, Mitverantwortlich. Als Liberaler im SED-Staat, Berlin 1991
- David Childs, The GDR: Moscow's German Ally, London: George Allen & Unwin 1984
| Preceded by: Egon Krenz | Acting Chairman of the Council of State of the German Democratic Republic 1989-1990 | Succeeded by: Sabine Bergmann-Pohl (President of the People's Chamber) |