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Herbert Ziegenhahn

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Herbert Ziegenhahn
Ziegenhahn in 1984
First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party
in Bezirk Gera
In office
14 February 1963 – 2 November 1989
Second Secretary
  • Rainer Knolle
  • Dieter Ukenings
Preceded byPaul Roscher
Succeeded byErich Postler
Volkskammer
Member of the Volkskammer
for Gera-Stadt, Gera-Land, Eisenberg, Stadtroda
(Saalfeld, Pößneck, Rudolstadt, Stadtroda, Eisenberg; 1963–1971)
In office
14 November 1963 – 16 November 1989
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded byRainer Schwabe
Personal details
Born
Herbert Ziegenhahn

(1921-10-27)27 October 1921
Dankerode, Free State of Anhalt, Weimar Republic (now Saxony-Anhalt, Germany)
Died29 June 1993(1993-06-29) (aged 71)
Political partySocialist Unity Party
(1951–1989)
Alma mater
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Party Functionary
  • Farmer
Awards
Central institution membership
Other offices held

Herbert Ziegenhahn (27 October 1921 – 29 June 1993) was a German politician and party functionary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

In the German Democratic Republic, he served as the longtime First Secretary of the SED in Bezirk Gera and was a member of the Central Committee of the SED.

Life and career

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Early career

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Herbert Ziegenhahn was born on 27 October 1921, as the son of a small farming family in Dankerode. After completing elementary school, he attended an agricultural vocational school and worked from 1936 to 1941 as a farm laborer, mason, and in his parents' business.[1]

As a soldier in the Wehrmacht, he served as a gunner and in a sound-ranging company. Ziegenhahn was captured by the Soviets during the war and returned to Germany in 1949 after attending Antifa schools.[1]

In 1950, he became a municipal representative and in 1951, the mayor of his hometown Dankerode, and shortly thereafter of Harzgerode. In 1951, he joined the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED).[1]

In 1952, the party appointed him as the First Secretary of the SED in Quedlinburg, a position he held until 1959. Simultaneously, the SED delegated him to a distance-learning program at the "Karl Marx" Party Academy from 1954 to 1960, which he completed with a degree in social sciences.[1]

From 1959 to 1963, Ziegenhahn served as the First Secretary of the SED in Dessau.[1]

Bezirk Gera SED First Secretary

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Ziegenhahn (center) greeting Erich Honecker (right) on a visit to Jena in May 1986

In January 1963 (VI. Party Congress), Ziegenhahn was elected as a candidate member of the Central Committee of the SED and succeeded Paul Roscher as First Secretary of the Bezirk Gera SED on 14 February.[1][2][3] Roscher was promoted to First Secretary of the SED in the much larger Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt.[4]

Former Bezirk Gera SED building in March 2012

Additionally, later in 1963, he was given a mandate by his party as a representative of the Volkskammer,[1] nominally representing a constituency in the northeast of his Bezirk.[5] In September 1966, Ziegenhahn became a full member of the Central Committee of the SED.[1]

He held all these positions until the political change in the GDR in the fall of 1989.[1]

Ziegenhahn's tenure was viewed negatively, him being seen as a model student of the SED headquarters and him becoming increasingly intolerant of criticism from subordinates.[3]

Ziegenhahn was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver, in Gold in 1971, the Order of Karl Marx in 1981 and the Banner of Labor in 1984.[1]

Peaceful Revolution

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During the Wende, on 2 November 1989, the Bezirk Gera SED removed him from the position of First Secretary and installed reformer Erich Postler as his successor.[1][2][6][7] He was removed by his party from the Volkskammer two weeks later, on 16 November 1989.

At its last session on 3 December 1989, the Central Committee expelled Ziegenhahn from the Central Committee and from the SED shortly before its collective resignation "due to the severity of their violations against the SED statute and in consideration of numerous demands and requests from district delegate conferences."[1][8][9]

Ziegenhahn faced an arrest warrant in January 1990, an investigation being underway against him for breach of trust.[10] He was however released from pre-trial detention on 13 February due to his poor health.[11]

Reunified Germany

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Ziegenhahn passed away in 1993 at the age of 71.[1]

Ziegenhahn's son, Herbert Ziegenhahn Jr., was an unsuccessful candidate for the WASG in the 2006 Gera mayoral election and was a member of the WASG state executive committee.[12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Ziegenhahn, Herbert". www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de. Wer war wer in der DDR? (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. 2009. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  2. ^ a b "Bezirksleitung Gera der SED (1952 - 1990)". www.bundesarchiv.de (in German). German Federal Archives. 2006. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  3. ^ a b "Zur Geschichte des Bezirkes Gera (1952 – 1990)" (PDF). Thüringen Blätter zu Landeskunde (in German) (46): 3. 2004-12-14. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  4. ^ "Roscher, Paul". www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. 2009. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  5. ^ Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1986-1990 (PDF) (in German). p. 32.
  6. ^ "Rücktrittsreigen - allüberall in der DDR". Die Tageszeitung (in German). 1989-11-03. p. 1. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  7. ^ "Rücktritte der 1. Sekretäre der SED-Bezirksleitungen im November 1989". www.ddr89.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  8. ^ "Protokoll der 12. Tagung des SED-Zentralkomitees, 3. Dezember 1989 (Abschrift eines Tonmitschnitts)". www.chronik-der-mauer.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  9. ^ mdr.de (2010-09-09). "Rücktritt des Zentralkomitees der SED". www.mdr.de (in German). Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  10. ^ "Mehr Promi-Gefangene". Die Tageszeitung (in German). 1990-01-29. p. 6. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  11. ^ "Auf einen Blick". www.nd-archiv.de (in German). Neues Deutschland. 1990-02-14. Retrieved 2024-06-09.
  12. ^ Wiesner, Katrin (2012-02-24). "Ziegenhahn jr. will Oberbürgermeister in Gera werden". www.otz.de (in German). Ostthüringer Zeitung. Retrieved 2024-06-09.

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