Manfred Feist (born

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hall ...

6 April 1930 died

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

17 December 2012) was a German politician and party functionary. He served as Director of the Foreign Information Department of the Central Committee of the ruling SED (party). His notability is enhanced by the marriage, in 1953, of his elder sister

Margot Margot (; ) is a feminine French given name, a variant of Marguerite. It is also occasionally a surname. Persons named Margot include the following: People with the given name Margot * Margot Asquith, countess of Oxford and Asquith * Marguerite ...

to a political high-flyer called

Erich Honecker Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts ...

. As a result of this, between 1971 and 1989 Manfred Feist found himself the brother in law of

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

's de facto head of state. Over the years he was subjected to greater media scrutiny than would normally have been applied to political functionaries at his level of competence: his tongue-in-cheek soubriquet "Manny the Great" (''"Manni der Große"'') allegedly used by colleagues, was publicized even in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

Life

Early years

Manfred Feist was born in 1930, during the economically distressed closing years of the Germany's Weimar chapter, in the south-inner city (Glaucha) quarter of

. Feist's father, Gotthard, was a shoe maker: his mother Helene worked in a mattress factory. Manfred Freist successfully completed his secondary schooling and, in 1947, the year of his seventeenth birthday, joined the new country's ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED / ''Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands''), along with its youth wing, the Free German Youth (FDJ / ''Freie Deutsche Jugend''). He attended the Regional Party School in Halle and became a District Leader and instructor with the FDJ.

Middle years

He studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

, obtaining a doctorate in 1963. Between 1966 and 1989 Manfred Feist served, in succession to

Werner Lamberz Werner Lamberz (14 April 1929 – 6 March 1978) was a senior politician in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). In a system under which political advancement was generally achieved only slowly and the men who reached the higher levels ...

, as Director of the Foreign Information Department of the Central Committee of the ruling SED (party). He was also a member of the

World Peace Council The World Peace Council (WPC) is an international organization with the self-described goals of advocating for universal disarmament, sovereignty and independence and peaceful co-existence, and campaigns against imperialism, weapons of mass d ...

and of the Main Committee of the East German Peace council. Both appointments were achieved with help from

. In 1971 he was nominated as a candidate for membership of the

Party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...

Central Committee, and in 1976 he was elected to membership of it. Feist was also involved in the organisation of the

Olof Palme Peace March The Olof Palme Peace March was a transnational peace march/demonstration that took place in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) during September 1987. The peace march involved people from three countries, West Germany, East Germany and ...

.''M. Feist gestorben''

junge welt ''Junge Welt'' (English: ''Young World'', stylized in its logo as ''junge Welt'') is a German daily newspaper, published in Berlin. The jW describes itself as a left-wing and Marxist newspaper. German authorities categorize it as a far-left medi ...

31 December 2012

Later years

In 1995 Manfred Feist suffered a stroke, after which he was paralysed down one side of his body. Following a long period of ill-health he died in Berlin on 17 December 2012. His death was made public only after a delay of more than two weeks, when an announcement was placed in the

Berliner Zeitung The ''Berliner Zeitung'' (, ''Berlin Newspaper'') is a daily newspaper based in Berlin, Germany. Founded in East Germany in 1945, it is the only East German paper to achieve national prominence since reunification. It is published by Berliner ...

. Press speculation focused on the question of whether

Margot Honecker Margot Honecker (née Feist; 17 April 1927 – 6 May 2016) was an East German politician who was an influential member of that country's Communist government until 1989. From 1963 until 1989, she was Minister of National Education (''Ministerin f ...

would return to Germany from her

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an exile for her younger brother's funeral. Feist was buried in Cemetery Pankow III in the Berlin-Niederschönhausen district.

Awards

* 1970 Patriotic Order of Merit in Silver * 1974 Banner of Labor * 1980 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold * 1981 Banner of Labor Top grade (Stufe I) * 1988 Hero of Labour

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feist, Manfred Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit Recipients of the Banner of Labor 1930 births 2012 deaths