Kurt Wünsche
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Kurt Wünsche (14 December 1929 – 14 June 2023) was a German politician who was twice
Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
of the
German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
.


Biography

Wünsche grew up and received his schooling in
Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
. In 1946, he became a member of the
Liberal Democratic Party of Germany The Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (, LDPD) was a political party in East Germany. Like the other allied bloc parties of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in the National Front, it had 52 representatives in the People's Chamber. ...
(LDPD), and was until 1951 an official of the LDPD local district association (''Kreisverbandes'') in Dresden and the state association (''Landesverbandes'') of Saxony. From 1951 to 1954 he was the head of the LDPD department organising the party's central executive. After the events of the 17 June 1953, he was suspected as a foreign agent and temporarily detained by the
Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...
. After 1954, he was a member of the LDPD Political Committee, and a Secretary and Deputy Secretary General, while in 1967 he was made deputy chairman of the LDPD. Between 1954 and 1959, he completed a correspondence PhD in Law from the Walter Ulbricht Academy of Law and Political Science in collaboration with Manfred Gerlach; his thesis was entitled "Function and development of the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany in the multi-party system of the German Democratic Republic". From 1954 to 1972, he was a LDPD deputy to the
Volkskammer The Volkskammer (, "People's Chamber") was the supreme power organ of East Germany. It was the only branch of government in the state, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs were subservient to it. The Volkskammer was initia ...
, first as a member of the Youth Committee, then of the Judiciary Committee, and finally of the Legal Committee. In 1965, he became one of the nine Deputy Chairmen of the
Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...
. In 1967, he succeeded Hilde Benjamin as Minister of Justice, a position he held until 1972. After the
fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (, ) on 9 November in German history, 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain, as East Berlin transit restrictions we ...
, Wünsche was again made Minister of Justice in the governments of
Hans Modrow Hans Modrow (; 27 January 1928 – 10 February 2023) was a German politician best known as the last communist premier of East Germany. Coming into office amidst the Peaceful Revolution, he was the ''de facto'' leader of East Germany through ...
and
Lothar de Maizière Lothar de Maizière (; born 2 March 1940) is a German former politician of the Christian Democratic Union. In 1990, he served as the head of the first and only democratically elected government of East Germany, holding this office during the fi ...
. Wünsche died in Berlin on 14 June 2023, at the age of 93.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wunsche, Kurt 1929 births 2023 deaths People from Oborniki Śląskie Politicians from the Province of Silesia Liberal Democratic Party of Germany politicians Deputy prime ministers of East Germany Justice ministers of East Germany Government ministers of East Germany Members of the Volkskammer Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold Recipients of the Banner of Labor