Horst Sindermann (; 5 September 1915 – 20 April 1990) was a

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

German politician and one of the leaders of East Germany. He became Chairman of the Council of Ministers in 1973, but in 1976 he became President of the Volkskammer, the only member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany to hold the post.

Early life

Sindermann was born in a traditional family in Dresden as the son of the

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

Social Democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

politician Karl Sindermann. His older brother, Kurt Sindermann, also entered politics as a member of the Communist Party and sat on the Saxon state parliament from 1929 to 1933. Horst Sindermann joined the Communist Youth Federation ( KJVD) in 1929 and in 1932 became a local functionary in Dresden. The group was banned by the Nazi regime and in June 1933, Sindermann was arrested and condemned to eight months of imprisonment for illegal political activities. In September 1934, he became political director of the KJVD's Dresden branch. In March 1935, he again was arrested for attempted high treason, tortured and put in

solitary confinement Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...

for six years at Waldheim jail. In 1941, he was transferred to " protective custody" to several concentration camps, first at Sachsenhausen, then at Mauthausen in Upper Austria, and finally at Ebensee, until being freed by the arriving U.S. army in 1945.

Career in East Germany

After the war, Sindermann returned to Saxony and joined the KPD. After 1946 he was a member of the Socialist Unity Party (SED), created in April 1946 from the forced merger of Communists and Social Democrats in the Soviet Occupation Zone. Sindermann worked as a newspaper editor of the ''Sächsische Volkszeitung'' at Dresden and the ''Volksstimme'' at Chemnitz from 1945 to 1947. He became First party secretary in the '' Landkreis'' of Chemnitz and Leipzig. He ran afoul of party co-chairman Otto Grotewohl, whom he criticised for being married to a former Nazi functionary, and in June 1949 was censured by the party's controlling commission and was demoted to the ''Freiheit'' paper in Halle, where he then became editor-in-chief from 1950 to 1953. Sindermann was director of agitation and propaganda in the

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

from 1954 to 1963. In 1958, he became a candidate and in 1963 a member of the Central Committee. In the same year, he also was appointed first party secretary in the district of Halle (until 1971) and was first elected into the Volkskammer. In 1967, he was admitted to the

Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...

In the East German leadership

In 1971, he became Deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers—i. e., deputy prime minister of East Germany. Two years later, he became its chairman, or prime minister, when the previous occupant, Willi Stoph, succeeded the deceased Walter Ulbricht as Chairman of the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative autho ...

. His rise was cut short in October 1976, as party leader Erich Honecker deemed his economic views too liberal. Stoph returned to the premiership, while Sindermann was demoted to the posts of President of the Volkskammer and deputy chairman of the State Council. He was the only Communist to preside over the Volkskammer; the SED had previously reserved the Volkshammer presidency for a top member of a block party to keep up the appearance that East Germany was governed by a broad-based coalition. Although he nominally held the third-highest state office in East Germany (behind Prime Minister Stoph and State Council chairman Honecker), he was left with little political influence. As a representative of the Socialist Unity Party, Horst Sindermann spoke during the commemorations of the liberation of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp at the National Memorial of the GDR.

Resignation and final years

Sindermann remained in these positions until the

peaceful revolution The Peaceful Revolution (german: Friedliche Revolution), as a part of the Revolutions of 1989, was the process of sociopolitical change that led to the opening of East Germany's borders with the West, the end of the ruling of the Socialist Unity ...

, during which he resigned from all offices in November 1989. In a desperate attempt to change its image, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), the renamed SED, expelled him in December. In January 1990 he was arrested but eventually released on health concerns, without charges being filed. He died in April the same year in Berlin.

Family

His stepson was the actor Peter Sindermann. His grandson is the handball player and fashion designer Eric Sindermann.

Selected works

* ''Chinas großer Sprung'' (= ''Internationale Reihe''). Dietz-Verlag, Berlin 1959 * ''Erfolgreich voran auf dem Kurs des VIII. Parteitages: ausgewählte Reden und Aufsätze.'' Dietz-Verlag, Berlin 1975 * ''Frieden und Sozialismus, Staatsdoktrin der DDR. Ausgewählte Reden und Aufsätze.'' Dietz-Verlag, Berlin 1980 * ''Alles für das Volk, alles mit dem Volk. Ausgewählte Reden und Aufsätze.'' Dietz-Verlag, Berlin 1985 * ''Vor Tageslicht. Autobiografie.'' Mit einem Vorwort von Egon Krenz. Das Neue Berlin, 2015.

References

*http://www.stiftung-aufarbeitung.de/service_wegweiser/www2.php?ID=2664

Bibliography

* Helmut Müller-Enbergs, Bernd-Rainer Barth: ''Sindermann, Horst''. In: ''Wer war wer in der DDR?'' 5. Ausgabe. Band 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010. * Hermann Wentker: ''Sindermann, Horst Herbert.'' In: ''Neue Deutsche Biographie'' (NDB). Band 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, p. 457 f.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sindermann, Horst 1915 births 1990 deaths Politicians from Dresden People from the Kingdom of Saxony Communist Party of Germany politicians Members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany Prime Ministers of East Germany Members of the State Council of East Germany Presidents of the Volkskammer Members of the 4th Volkskammer Members of the 5th Volkskammer Members of the 6th Volkskammer Members of the 7th Volkskammer Members of the 8th Volkskammer Members of the 9th Volkskammer German newspaper editors Heads of government who were later imprisoned