Otto Grotewohl

Otto Grotewohl
Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic
In office 12 October 1949 – 21 September 1964
President	Wilhelm Pieck Walter Ulbricht
Preceded by	None Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, as last Head of Government of Nazi Germany
Succeeded by	Willy Stoph
Personal details
Born	11 March 1894(1894-03-11) Braunschweig, German Empire
Died	21 September 1964(1964-09-21) (aged 70) East Berlin, East Germany
Nationality	German
Political party	USPD, SPD, SED
Profession	Printer, politician

Otto Grotewohl (German pronunciation: [ˈɔtoː ˈɡʁoːtəvoːl]; 11 March 1894 - 21 September 1964) was a German politician and prime minister of the German Democratic Republic from 1949 until his death. According to Roth (2010), "He was a figurehead who led various economic commissions, lobbied the Soviets for increased aid, and conducted foreign policy tours in the attempt to break the country's diplomatic isolation." At critical moments in East Germany he was passive and never took sides in the internal battles of the SED (Communist) party.

Career

Grotewohl was born in the city of Braunschweig and after World War I started his political career as a leader of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD) and minister in the Free State of Brunswick. In 1922 Grotewohl with the majority of the USPD members joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and from 1925 was a member of the Reichstag parliament. Dismissed after the Nazi Machtergreifung in 1933 he was imprisoned several times.

21 April 1946: Pieck (left) and Grotewohl sealing the unification, Ulbricht in the foreground

After World War II he became a leader of the SPD in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany and, fiercely opposed by chairman Kurt Schumacher, led his party into a merger with the Communist Party under Wilhelm Pieck. Grotewohl, after initial hesitation, yielded to the pressure by the Soviet Military Administration and Walter Ulbricht and in April 1946 together with Pieck formed the new Socialist Unity Party (SED).

Prime minister

With the establishment of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) on 7 October 1949, Grotewohl became the first Ministerpräsident (prime minister), while Wilhem Pieck held the office of the state president. With the creation of the Council of Ministers (Ministerrat) government of the GDR in November 1954, Grotewohl also became the first chairman of the Council, while retaining the title of Ministerpräsident. The actual power holder however was Walter Ulbricht, General Secretary of the governing SED Central Committee from 1950 on.

Otto Grotewohl stamp, 1974

In a major speech to an SED party conference on 28 March 1956, Grotewohl condemned abuses in the legal system. He denounced illegal arrests, called for more respect for civil rights, and even asked the parliament to develop lively debate. He also made a veiled criticism of Justice Minister Hilde Benjamin's handling of political cases which had been notoriously brutal.

In 1960 he was diagnosed with leukemia, from which he died on 21 September 1964. He was not fully active in his post after 1961, when he began receiving medical treatment in the Soviet Union.

His tomb in Berlin

He was awarded the Order of Karl Marx, the GDR's highest decoration, in 1952 and also the Soviet Union's Order of Lenin, the GDR's Order of Merit for the Fatherland in gold and he was a freeman of the city of Dresden. After his death, the Wilhelmstrasse in East Berlin was renamed Otto-Grotewohl-Straße in his honor; the street retained this name until 1991, following German reunification. On 15 April 1986, the present-day Mohrenstraße U-Bahn station in eastern Berlin, then known as the Thälmannplatz station, was also renamed Otto-Grotewohl-Straße. The Third German School in Chapayesky Lane, Moscow, was named Otto Grotewohl School.

Personal life

Grotewohl was married to Marie Martha Louise, nee Ohst, from 1919 until 1949 and the couple had two children, one of whom, Hans Grotewohl (1924–1999), was an architect. In 1949 he married his secretary Johanna Schumann, nee Danielzik. He was an avid artist, painter and amateur filmmaker.

References

• Roth, Gary. "Review of Hoffmann, Dierk, _Otto Grotewohl (1894-1964): Eine politische Biographie_" H-German, H-Net Reviews. November, 2010. online

Preceded by Count Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk as Leading Minister of the German Reich

Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the GDR 1949–1964

Succeeded by Willi Stoph

Persondata
Name	Grotewohl, Otto
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	11 March 1894
Place of birth	Braunschweig, German Empire
Date of death	21 September 1964
Place of death	East Berlin, East Germany