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Hans-Joachim Böhme

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Not to be confused with Hans-Joachim Böhme, longtime Minister for Higher and Technical Education of the GDR.
Hans-Joachim Böhme
Böhme in 1986
First Secretary of the
Socialist Unity Party in Bezirk Halle
In office
4 May 1981 – 9 November 1989
Second Secretary
  • Walter Kitzing
Preceded byWerner Felfe
Succeeded byRoland Claus
Volkskammer
Member of the Volkskammer
for Bezirk Halle
In office
16 June 1986 – 16 November 1989
Preceded byWerner Felfe
Succeeded byEberhard Sandmann
ConstituencyMerseburg
In office
25 June 1981 – 16 June 1986
Preceded byHarald Rost
Succeeded byMargot Honecker
ConstituencyHalle/Saale, Halle-Neustadt
Personal details
Born
Hans-Joachim Böhme

(1929-12-29)29 December 1929
Bernburg (Saale), Free State of Anhalt, Weimar Republic (now Saxony-Anhalt, Germany)
Died4 September 2012(2012-09-04) (aged 82)
Halle (Saale), Saxony-Anhalt, Germany
Political partySED-PDS
(1989–1990)
Other political
affiliations		Socialist Unity Party
(1946–1989)
Social Democratic Party
(1945–1946)
Alma mater
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Party Functionary
  • Civil Servant
Awards
Central institution membership
Other offices held

Hans-Joachim "Achim"[1][2][3] Böhme (29 December 1929 – 4 September 2012) was a German politician and high-ranking party functionary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

In the 1980s, he served as First Secretary of the SED in Bezirk Halle, center of the GDR's large and important chemical industry, and eventually became a full member of the SED Politburo.

Described as "The Little King of Halle", Böhme was notorious for his particularly totalitarian leadership style.

Life and career

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Early career

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The son of a working-class family, Böhme worked as a civil servant in the district of Bernburg after the Second World War. In 1945, he became a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), which was forcibly merged with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in 1946. Böhme briefly served as Chairman of the Free German Youth (FDJ) in the district of Bernburg in 1948/49.[4]

Afterward, Böhme became a full-time SED party functionary. Böhme served as department head of the SED in the district of Bernburg and the VEB Mansfeld Kombinat Wilhelm Pieck and later deputy department head of the Saxony-Anhalt and, after the states were abolished in 1952, the Bezirk Halle SED. From 1955 to 1958, he studied at the SED's "Karl Marx" Party Academy in Berlin, graduating with a diploma in social sciences (Dipl.-Ges.-Wiss.). He subsequently served as a secretary of the SED in Weißenfels until 1963.[4][5]

Bezirk Halle SED career

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Böhme moved to the Bezirk Halle SED in 1963, working his way up in the department for agitation and propaganda, eventually becoming department head.[4]

Former Bezirk Halle SED building in May 2006, still known today as "Café Böhme" in local vernacular

In 1967, he obtained his doctorate (Dr. phil.) from the University of Halle with a thesis on the topic "Political Consciousness Formation in Socialism – Issues of political consciousness formation in the period of comprehensive socialism development in the GDR and its management by the Marxist–Leninist party, illustrated by the activities of the SED leadership in Bezirk Halle".[3]

A year later, he succeeded Werner Felfe as Secretary for Agitation and Propaganda of the Bezirk party and when Dieter Itzerott was transferred to study at the "Karl Marx" Party Academy in February 1974, Böhme succeeded him as Second Secretary.[4][6]

In May 1981, Böhme rose to the position of the First Secretary of the SED in Bezirk Halle,[4][5][6][7][8] incumbent Werner Felfe joining the Central Committee Secretariat as Secretary responsible for Agriculture.[9]

Böhme (right of center) and Stasi head Erich Mielke (left of center) visiting dairy farmers in Nessa in May 1981

From April 1981 (X. Party Congress) until its collective resignation in December 1989, Böhme was a full member of the Central Committee of the SED. From 21 April 1986 (XI. Party Congress) until his resignation in November 1989, he was also a full member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED,[4][5][10] the de facto highest leadership body in East Germany, Bezirk Halle being an important center of the chemical industry.[3] He additionally became a member of the Volkskammer in 1981,[4] nominally representing constituencies in his Bezirk, first Halle/Saale and Halle-Neustadt,[11] then the district of Merseburg.[12]

Böhme's eight-year rule of Bezirk Halle was viewed extremely negatively. His leadership style was authoritarian, occasionally described as absolutist,[3][5][8] and he was viewed as a hardliner.[5] Unlike other First Secretaries such as Hans Modrow and Werner Walde, he lived a lavish lifestyle.[3][5][8]

Böhme additionally was accused of embezzlement and personal enrichment, among other things funneling 45.000 East German mark public money into the construction of a Blankenburg Forest lodge.[3][8] Despite evidence, he was acquitted in 1990 and 1993 after spending two months in pre-trial detention.[3][4]

Böhme was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in 1969 and 1980, and the Order of Karl Marx in 1984.[4]

Peaceful Revolution

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Early during the Peaceful Revolution, Herbert Heber, First Secretary of the SED in the Bezirk Halle district of Köthen, wanted to resign amid intense public pressure. Böhme refused his request, instead berating, insulting and threatening him. On 4 November 1989, Heber shot himself.[2]

Two days later, in his last public appearance as First Secretary, Böhme tried to address protesters in Halle, but he was only booed and even spat at.[2][3] Protestors also blamed him for Heber's suicide.[2]

On 8 November 1989, on the eve of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Böhme was reelected to the Politburo at the 9th Meeting of the Central Committee, though he had by far the largest number of votes against him of all elected members, 66 votes against of 157 voting.[13][14] Only a day later, the Bezirk Halle SED removed him 64 to 4[14] from the position of First Secretary and installed reformer Roland Claus as his successor.[15][16] Böhme's removal was a topic of Günter Schabowski's infamous press conference that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Böhme consequently resigned from the Politburo he had just been reelected to.[14] He was removed by his party from the Volkskammer a week later, on 16 November 1989.[17]

Böhme did not take any personal responsibility for the failure of the SED, blaming the other SED Bezirk Halle Secretariat members.[5] On 20 January 1990, he was expelled in absentia, still being in pre-trial detention, from the now-renamed SED-PDS party in a unanimous vote, the party Central Arbitration Commission citing personal enrichment and his reaction to the demonstrations.[18]

Reunified Germany

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Like other former Politburo members, Böhme was charged with "complicity in manslaughter" (political responsibility for the fatal shootings at the Berlin Wall) by the Berlin Regional Court in the Berlin Wall shooting trials.[19] After initially being acquitted in 2000, Böhme was sentenced on 6 August 2004 to 15 months of probation.[3][4][20] Böhme at no point offered an explanation for his activities in the GDR.[3]

He lived withdrawn as a retiree in Halle-Neustadt,[3][5] dying in a nursing home in 2012.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Eberle, Henrik; Wesenberg, Denise, eds. (1999). Einverstanden, E.H: parteiinterne Hausmitteilungen, Briefe, Akten und Intrigen aus der Honecker-Zeit (in German). Berlin: Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf. p. 174. ISBN 978-3-89602-188-5. OCLC 42041591.
  2. ^ a b c d Behling, Klaus (2016). "Plötzlich und unerwartet ...": Selbstmorde nach Wende und Einheit (in German) (3rd ed.). Berlin: edition berolina. p. 29. ISBN 978-3-95841-004-6.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Könau, Steffen (2012-09-06). "Halle: Ehemaliger SED-Chef Hans-Joachim Böhme ist tot". www.mz.de (in German). Mitteldeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved 2023-12-02.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Böhme, Hans-Joachim". www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de. Wer war wer in der DDR? (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. 2009. Retrieved 2023-12-02.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Honig, Steffen (2019-09-03). "Der kleine König von Halle". www.volksstimme.de (in German). Volksstimme. Retrieved 2023-12-02.
  6. ^ a b "SED-Bezirksleitung Halle (Bestand)". archivportal-d.de (in German). Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek. Retrieved 2 December 2024.
  7. ^ "Beschlüsse des Parteitages werden zielstrebig erfüllt". Neues Deutschland (in German). 1981-05-05. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  8. ^ a b c d Mächtig: Die SED in Leuna und Halle (Television production). Panorama (in German). Norddeutscher Rundfunk. 1989-12-12. Retrieved 2024-08-07 – via www.ndr.de.
  9. ^ "Vierter Mann". Der Spiegel (in German). 1988-09-11. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2023-12-02.
  10. ^ "Übersicht über die Mitglieder und Kandidaten des Politbüros des ZK der SED (1949-1989)". www.bundesarchiv.de (in German). German Federal Archives. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  11. ^ Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1981-1986 (PDF) (in German). VEB Staatsverlag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. 1982. p. 33. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  12. ^ Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1986-1990 (PDF) (in German). VEB Staatsverlag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. 1987. p. 33. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  13. ^ "Modrow kommt - Krenz bleibt". Die Tageszeitung (in German). 1989-11-09. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  14. ^ a b c Geis, Matthias (1989-11-10). "Ein Politbüro auf Abruf". Die Tageszeitung (in German). ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
  15. ^ Kleps, Erhard. "Rücktritte der 1. Sekretäre der SED-Bezirksleitungen im November 1989". ddr89.de (in German). Berlin. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
  16. ^ "Bezirksleitung Halle der SED (1952 - 1990)". www.bundesarchiv.de (in German). German Federal Archives. 2006. Retrieved 2024-06-13.
  17. ^ Kleps, Erhard. "Chronik der DDR Donnerstag 16. November 1989". www.ddr89.de (in German). Berlin. Retrieved 2024-07-30.
  18. ^ "Hans-Joachim Böhme", Ausschluss. Das Politbüro vor dem Parteigericht (in German), Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, retrieved 2023-12-02
  19. ^ Jochum, Dietmar (2016-03-25). "Chronologie der Prozesse gegen DDR-Funktionäre wegen der Schüsse an der Grenze zur BRD". tp-presseagentur.de (in German). TP-Presseagentur Berlin e.K. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
  20. ^ "Politik: Bewährung für SED-Politiker im letzten Mauer-Prozess". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). 2004-08-07. ISSN 1865-2263. Retrieved 2023-12-02.

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