Lists of political office-holders in East Germany

 

The political leadership of East Germany was distributed between several offices. The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and its leader held ultimate power and authority over state and government.

Prior to the proclamation of an East German state, the Soviets established the German Economic Commission (DWK) in 1948 as a de facto government in their occupation zone. Its chairman was Heinrich Rau.

On 7 October 1949 an East German state, called the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was proclaimed and took over governmental functions from the DWK, largely with the same leading figures.

Until 1 December 1989, the most important position in the GDR was that of the Leader of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), first titled chairman from 1946 to 1950, then as the First Secretary between 1950 and 1976 and finally titled General Secretary. The first article of the GDR's constitution contained a section granting the SED a monopoly on power, making the SED's leader the de facto leader of the country. He and the party Politburo, which he headed, set all policy, with both cabinet, state council and parliament acting as a rubber stamp implementing their decisions.

The formal head of state was originally the President of the German Democratic Republic. After the death of incumbent Wilhelm Pieck in 1960, the office was replaced by a collective body as head of state, the State Council. The position of chairman was the de facto head of state and commonly held by the party leader.

The government was headed by the Council of Ministers and its chairman, sometimes colloquially called Prime Minister. However, all the decisions were made by the party, with the cabinet implementing them. Indeed, the SED Central Committee had committees mirroring the cabinet departments.

Other institutions included the Volkskammer, the legislature whose sessions were chaired by a President, and, since 1960, the National Defense Council, which held supreme command of the GDR's armed forces and had unlimited authority over the State in time of war. The Council was composed exclusively of members of the SED's Central Committee and Politburo, with the party leader serving as Chairman of the National Defense Council.

The political landscape was completely changed by the Peaceful Revolution in late 1989, which saw the SED having to relinquish its monopoly on political power in favour of the Council of Ministers, the National Defense Council and the State Council being abolished. The remaining institutions were the People's Chamber, whose President became head of state by default for the remainder of the GDR's existence, and the Council of Ministers, both soon constituted on basis of the country's first and only democratic elections in March 1990. The GDR joined the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990

Name (Lifespan)	Portrait	Period	Congress(es)	Political office	Premier	President	Policies
Walter Ulbricht (1893–1973)		25 July 1950 ↓ 3 May 1971	3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th	First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party[a] Chairman of the State Council (1960–1973) Chairman of the National Defense Council (1960–1971) First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers[b](1949–1960)	Otto Grotewohl Willi Stoph	Wilhelm Pieck himself	Stalinism • Construction of Socialism (1950–54) • Farm collectivization (1952–61) • Ten Commandments of Socialist Morality and Ethics (1958–76) • New Economic System (1963–68) • Economic System of Socialism (1968–70)
		Ever since the merger of the KPD and SPD, Ulbricht was one of the leading figures in the Socialist Unity Party, largely due to his good relationship with the Soviets. Originally led de jure in parity by former SPD Central Committee Co-Chairman Otto Grotewohl and senile former KPD leader Wilhelm Pieck, Ulbricht was elected First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party on 25 July 1950, solidifying his leading role of both country and party.
Erich Honecker (1912–1994)		3 May 1971 ↓ 18 October 1989	8th 9th 10th 11th	General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party[c] Chairman of the State Council (1976–1989) Chairman of the National Defense Council	Willi Stoph Horst Sindermann Willi Stoph	Walter Ulbricht Willi Stoph himself	• Unity of Economic and Social Policy (1971–89) • Rapprochement (1971–89)
		The failure of Ulbricht's Economic System of Socialism to raise the GDR's economic competitiveness and his bad relationship with new Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev opened an opportunity for Honecker, formerly Ulbricht's protégé and powerful Central Committee Secretary, to depose him. After assembling a majority of the Politburo against him, he finally received Brezhnev's approval in April 1971, thereafter forcing Ulbricht to resign.
Egon Krenz (1937–)		18 October 1989 ↓ 1 December 1989	—	General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party Chairman of the State Council Chairman of the National Defense Council	Willi Stoph Hans Modrow	himself	• Glasnost • Perestroika
		By the late 1980s, the GDRs economy was in crisis, with the unsustainable debt burden rising every year to finance the country's generous welfare system. By summer 1989, an opposition movement had formed that the ruling class was unable to deal with. In addition, Honecker's health was failing and he became increasingly oblivious to the situation in the country. On 17 October 1989, Egon Krenz, Honecker's protégé and youngest Politburo member, deposed Honecker in the Politburo. Honecker announced his resignation a day later in the Central Committee, citing his failing health, and proposed Krenz as his successor.
Hans Modrow (1928–2023)		1 December 1989 ↓ 12 April 1990	—	Chairman of the Council of Ministers	himself	Egon Krenz Manfred Gerlach Sabine Bergmann-Pohl (interim)	Round Table • Democratization
		On 7 November 1989, Willi Stoph resigned as Chairman of the Council of Ministers. His replacement, former First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party in Bezirk Dresden Modrow, stressed his independence towards the SED's leadership upon his election by the Volkskammer on 13 November. After the Volkskammer removed the section in the GDR's constitution guaranteeing their monopoly on political power on 1 December 1989, Modrow became the de facto leader of the GDR, Krenz resigning as head of state a few days later.
Lothar de Maizière (1940–)		12 April 1990 ↓ 2 October 1990	—	Minister-President	himself	Sabine Bergmann-Pohl (interim)	German reunification • Privatization
		The 1990 Volkskammer election, the first and only free elections of the GDR, saw a victory for the Alliance for Germany electoral coalition and chiefly the Christian Democratic Union, led by de Maizière. The Volkskammer elected him as Minister-President on 12 April 1990.

No.	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Party
Joint Chairmen of the Socialist Unity Party Vorsitzende der Sozialistischen Einheitspartei Deutschlands
.		Pieck, WilhelmWilhelm Pieck (1876–1960)	22 April 1946	25 July 1950	4 years, 94 days	SED
.		Grotewohl, OttoOtto Grotewohl (1894–1964)	22 April 1946	25 July 1950	4 years, 94 days	SED
General Secretary of the Central Committee (First Secretary of the Central Committee 1953–1976) Generalsekretär/Erster Sekretär des Zentralkommitees
1		Ulbricht, WalterWalter Ulbricht (1893–1973)	25 July 1950	3 May 1971	20 years, 282 days	SED
2		Honecker, ErichErich Honecker (1912–1994)	3 May 1971	18 October 1989	18 years, 168 days	SED
3		Krenz, EgonEgon Krenz (born 1937)	18 October 1989	6 December 1989	49 days	SED
(Honorary) Chairman of the Central Committee Vorsitzender des Zentralkommitees
1		Ulbricht, WalterWalter Ulbricht (1893–1973)	3 May 1971	1 August 1973 †	2 years, 90 days	SED

On 1 December 1989, the People's Chamber removed the section of the East German Constitution granting the SED a monopoly of power—thus ending Communist rule in East Germany. Before the month was out, the SED transformed from a Leninist cadre party into a democratic socialist party, renaming itself first to Socialist Unity Party — Party of Democratic Socialism and later in the same year, to Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS). Hence, the party's subsequent leaders were no more leaders of East Germany than the leaders of other parties.

• List of German monarchs
• President of Germany
• President of Germany (1919–1945)
• List of presidents of Germany
• Chancellor of Germany
• List of chancellors of Germany

• World Statesmen – East Germany