Siegfried Lorenz (born 26 November 1930) is a former senior party functionary of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED / ''Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands'') in

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 ...

. He was a member of the Politbüro of The Party's Central Committee in

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 ...

and First Secretary of the party's

Karl-Marx-Stadt Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 28th largest city of Germany as ...

regional leadership team. During his career held a number of positions with the country's FDJ (Free German Youth movement). On 6 August 2004, fifteen years after the

Wall A wall is a structure and a surface that defines an area; carries a load; provides security, shelter, or soundproofing; or, is decorative. There are many kinds of walls, including: * Walls in buildings that form a fundamental part of the supe ...

came down, Lorenz, then aged 73, was one of two senior party officials found guilty by the Berlin regional court as accessories to murder. The case involved Michael Bittner, Lutz Schmidt and Chris Gueffroy, three citizens of the former

German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

who had been shot dead while trying to escape to

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

Life

Early years

The son of a dyer and a seamstress, after leaving school Lorenz worked as an agricultural assistant and an errand boy between 1944 and 1945.

Politics and The Party

He joined the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany/''Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands'') in 1945 and the FDJ (Free German Youth/''Freie Deutsche Jugend'') in 1946. This part of Germany was

occupied ' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October 2 ...

by the

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in 1945 and the

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took a hands-on approach to reconfiguring the political landscape. The

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in th ...

favoured a

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political structure. The

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the ...

, along with the KPD (German Communist Party/''Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands'') were forcibly merged into the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany/''Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands''), of which Siegfried Lorenz now became a committed member. In 1946 he was employed in a clerical capacity by the SED party leadership in Annaberg. From 1946 to 1947 he was secretary to the local leadership of the FDJ (youth movement).

Further education

In 1947 he attended the Economics School at Annaberg, moving on for 1948/49 to the ABF (literally "Workers and Farmers Faculty" / ''"Arbeiter-und-Bauern-Fakultät"'') at

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...

and

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

universities. Then he studied

Social Sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...

Leipzig University Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

. After this, till 1953, he was the Students' Section Leader with the Central Council of the FDJ. Following a further period of study at the Berlin Region

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School, in 1954 he was appointed Secretary for Agitation and Propaganda for the Berlin Region FDJ, a position he held till 1956. Yet more study followed, this time at the prestigious Karl Marx High School, from which he emerged with a diploma in Social sciences.

Political promotions

In January 1958 he was appointed Second Secretary of the

region FDJ, becoming First Secretary from 1961 till 1968. Additionally, between 1958 and 1967 he was a Berlin city councilor and a candidate-member of the Berlin SED Party leadership.

National politics

From 1961 right through till 1976 Lorenz was a member of the Central Council of the FDJ, where between 1963 and 1967 he represented Berlin. From 1963 till 1990 he was a deputy in the

National Legislature This is a list of legislatures by country. A "legislature" is the generic name for the national parliaments and congresses that act as a plenary general assembly of representatives and that have the power to legislate. All entities included in ...

where his positions included membership and chairmanship of the Youth Committee. In 1965/66 he held leadership of the party's Media department for the regional Berlin leadership. From 1966 till 1976 he headed up the Youth Department of The Party, while simultaneously holding the position of Youth Commissioner with the Central Committee of the party's Politburo. He was himself a candidate for membership of the Central Committee in 1967, becoming a member of it in 1971. Away from Berlin, between March 1976 and November 1989 Siegfried Lorenz was First Secretary of the

SED sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs, and is available today for most operating systems. sed wa ...

regional leadership for

in the south of the country. (It was in an outer suburb of Karl-Marx-Stadt, which has subsequently reverted to its earlier name, Chemnitz, that Lorenz had been born and started out on his political career.) In 1985 he gained candidature for the Politburo of the party's central committee, becoming a Politburo member in 1986.

Recognition

*1964, 1969 und 1973 Patriotic Order of Merit (''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'') *1975 Combat Medal "for Services to the People and Fatherland" (''Kampforden „Für Verdienste um Volk und Vaterland“ '') *1980 Order of Karl Marx (''Karl-Marx-Orden'') *1984 Banner of Labor (''Banner der Arbeit'')

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorenz, Siegfried 1930 births Living people People from Annaberg-Buchholz Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany 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 Free German Youth members German politicians convicted of crimes Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold Recipients of the Banner of Labor