After WWII, he was elected to the Volkskammer in 1949 and in 1958 he became a full member of the SED politburo and secretariat.
The son of a miner, he joined the German Communist Party in 1929 and was imprisoned between 1935 and 1945. After WWII, he was elected to the Volkskammer in 1949 and in 1958 he became a full member of the SED politburo and secretariat. He oversaw the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 and became East Germany's effective leader upon Walter Ulbricht's death in 1973. FTP, name this German politician who was forced out of power in 1989 and replaced by Egon Krenz.
The son of a miner, he joined the German Communist Party in 1929 and was imprisoned between 1935 and 1945.
Erich Honecker