A new dictator!

Erich Honecker replaces Walter Ulbricht at the helm of the DDR

As the strong man of East Germany since his arrival in East Berlin in 1945, Walter Ulbricht had set the tone in the Eastern zone of Germany, driving on both the formation of the DDR in 1949 and the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. As the DDR economy easily outperformed those of all the other Eastern bloc countries, Ulbricht boasted that the DDR should be taken as a model for socialist governance. This was taken as indirect criticism of even the Soviet Union, which itself claimed to have established socialism along the path to communism. Ulbricht’s readiness to make significant concessions to West Germany also troubled the wider East German leadership, which feared that too much détente with capitalism could undermine ideological purity.

Erich Honecker, the rising star of the DDR political class, saw his chance and criticized Ulbricht for focusing too strongly on the economy. In 1970, Ulbricht attempted to sideline his upstart comrade by relieving him of his leading role in the Central Committee of the SED. Honecker reacted by appealing to Leonid Brezhnev, ruler of the Soviet Union, who cancelled Honecker’s demotion on the grounds that it had not been agreed with the Soviet Union and gave the green light for a palace coup. After ensuring that he had the support of a majority of the East German Politburo, Honecker marched to Ulbricht’s private residence at the head of a detachment of armed Stasi officers. He left with Ulbricht’s signed letter of resignation, stating ill health as the reason for his shock retirement. Erich Honecker was announced as the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the SED (changed to General Secretary in 1976) and thus de facto ruler of East Germany on 3 May 1971.