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Günter Heyden (16 February 1921 – 21 January 2002) was a German professor of
philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
and a sociologist. Between 1969 and 1989 he was the director of the East Berlin based Institute for Marxism–Leninism.


Biography

Günter Heyden was born in
Stargard Stargard (; 1945: ''Starogród'', 1950–2016: ''Stargard Szczeciński''; or ''Stargard an der Ihna''; ) is a city in northwestern Poland, located in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. In 2021 it was inhabited by 67,293 people. It is situated on ...
, a small industrial town and railway junction a short distance to the east of
Stettin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport, the largest city of northwestern Poland, and se ...
. His father was a qualified oven engineer. After leaving school he trained for and entered his father's profession. In 1941 he was conscripted for
military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer military, volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Few nations, such ...
. In March 1945 he was captured by the Americans and then transferred to the Soviets, spending the nearly five years, till December 1949, as a
prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
. During his final six months of detention, between July and December 1949, he benefitted from a period of political education at a Soviet Antifascist Academy. He returned early in 1950 to what had recently, in October 1949, been relaunched as the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), a separated Soviet sponsored German state with political and socio-economic structures consciously modelled on those of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
itself. He promptly joined the new nation's ruling
Socialist Unity Party The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (, ; SED, ) was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from the country's foundation in 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a Ma ...
( / SED). In 1950/51 he taught at the Trades Union Federation Academy in
Beesenstedt Beesenstedt is a village and a former municipality in the district Saalekreis, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since January 1, 2010, it has been part of the municipality Salzatal Salzatal is a municipality in the Saalekreis district, Saxony-Anhalt ...
, latterly serving as the institution's deputy head. Between 1952 and 1956 he studied at the Party Central Committee's prestigious Institute for Social Sciences ( / IfG) - as it was known at that time - emerging with a doctorate. He remained at the institute, now with a succession of teaching posts, for another decade. Between 1957 and 1964, and again between 1966 and 1969, he held the top teaching chair for Marxist–Leninist philosophy. In 1962 he was appointed Professor of
historical materialism Historical materialism is Karl Marx's theory of history. Marx located historical change in the rise of Class society, class societies and the way humans labor together to make their livelihoods. Karl Marx stated that Productive forces, techno ...
at the institute. From 1964 till 1966 he was also deputy director of the Party Central Committee's Institute for Opinion Research, also serving during this period as a member of the
Politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...
's
Agitprop Agitprop (; from , portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in the Soviet Union where it referred to popular media, such as literatu ...
Commission. From 1964 till 1968 Heyden headed up the Philosophy department at the (East) German Academy of Sciences. In 1969 he was given a full professorship at the
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
Institute for Marxism–Leninism, where he served as director, in succession to Lothar Berthold, till 1989. He also led the editorial commission for the Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe (MEGA) on the German side. Between 1956 and 1987 he was a member of the editorial college of the "German Philosophy Journal" (), and from 1976 till 1989 he was in addition a member of the editorial college of the SED newspaper, "Einheit" (''"Unity"''). Between 1981 and 1989 he was also a member of the national audit commission (). Heyden died in Berlin on 21 January 2002 at the age of 80.


Awards and honours

* 1968
Patriotic Order of Merit The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'', or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding ...
in silver * 1981 National Prize of the German Democratic Republic * 1981
Patriotic Order of Merit The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'', or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding ...
in gold * 1986
Order of Karl Marx The Order of Karl Marx () was the most important order in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The award of the order also included a prize of 20,000 East German marks. The order was founded on May 5, 1953 on the occasion of Karl Marx's 135th ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heyden, Gunter 1921 births 2002 deaths People from Stargard People from the Province of Pomerania Socialist Unity Party of Germany members Free German Trade Union Federation members German sociologists Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold Recipients of the Banner of Labor Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany 20th-century German philosophers German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union