Hans Modrow, who because the final Communist prime minister of East Germany oversaw democratic reforms that opened the way in which to German reunification, has died at age 95, Germany’s hard-left Die Linke occasion stated.
“Final evening Hans Modrow left us on the age of 95. With this, our occasion loses an essential character,” the occasion, successor to the East German Communist Occasion, stated in an announcement on Saturday.
Modrow had stated he would assist flip East Germany right into a democracy when he turned prime minister of a Communist-led transition authorities on November 13, 1989, 4 days after the opening of the Berlin Wall that had divided East and West Berlin for 28 years.
The earlier communist management had been compelled out as protesters throughout East Germany demanded democracy and freedom, echoing requires change throughout Soviet-dominated japanese Europe following Mikhail Gorbachev’s rise to energy within the Soviet Union.
Modrow introduced the primary and solely free election in what was referred to as the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in March 1990, although it resulted in him ceasing to be prime minister.
Though he carried out reforms, he was accused by opponents of making an attempt to delay political change and reunification, which befell in October 1990. He was additionally criticized for making an attempt to rebrand reasonably than abolish the Stasi safety police.
Modrow was discovered responsible in 1993 of electoral fraud in a municipal election in Might 1989 however was not jailed and stated the costs had been politically motivated.
He went on to serve within the German parliament from 1990 till 1994, representing a forerunner to Die Linke referred to as the PDS, and was a member of the European Parliament from 1999 till 2004.
Modrow noticed himself as a reformer who needed to vary the Communist Occasion from the within and make it extra democratic. In 1999, he informed Reuters that he didn’t need the outdated GDR again however stated its achievements must be recognised.
“In overseas relations, underneath the GDR, the Chilly Warfare didn’t flip right into a sizzling struggle,” he stated. “And after the violence of World Warfare II, we succeeded in making buddies with Poland.”
Rise via occasion ranks
Modrow was born in 1928 in what was then the German city of Jasenitz, now Jasienica in Poland, and skilled as a machinist.
Throughout World Warfare II, he served as chief of a youth hearth brigade platoon and in direction of the tip of the battle turned a member of the Volkssturm, a Nazi militia that conscripted males aged from 16 to 60 in a last-ditch victory try.
At 17, Modrow was captured by Soviet troops and brought as a prisoner of struggle to the Soviet Union, the place he attended anti-fascist lessons and have become a satisfied communist.
On his return house in 1949, the yr the GDR was based, he discovered work as a machinist and went on to check social science after which economics, during which he gained a doctorate.
Modrow was a functionary within the Free German Youth, the motion that just about all East German children joined, and rose via the ruling Socialist Unity Occasion (SED) to develop into regional occasion boss in Dresden from 1973 to 1989. He additionally served within the East German parliament for greater than three a long time.
Modrow turned East Germany’s de facto chief after Egon Krenz resigned as SED chief on December 5, 1990, leaving Modrow holding the very best state put up.
As prime minister, he gained respect for dwelling extra modestly than his communist predecessors. He initially sought to dampen enthusiasm for reunification however in February 1990 unveiled a plan for uniting East and West Germany.
Presenting his plan for reunification in 1990, he stated Germany ought to “once more develop into a united fatherland for all residents of the German nation”, however stated unity might be achieved solely underneath situations that calmed the fears of its neighbors.
From 2007, Modrow served as president of the council of elders for Die Linke, a job during which he targeted on the occasion’s improvement and historical past.
