Honecker was born on Max-Braun-Straße in Neunkirchen, now Saarland, as the son of Wilhelm Honecker, a coal miner and political activist, who in 1905 had married Caroline Catharina Weidenhof.

Honecker was a candidate member for the secretariat of the Central Committee in 1950 ; by 1958, he had become a full member of the Politbüro.

Honecker was back in charge by September, and immediately had to deal with a new refugee problem.

During his report at the seventh party congress in 1967, Erich Honecker had called for a return to an orthodox Socialist economic system, away from the recently instituted New Economic System.

Honecker reiterated earlier positions on the relationship between the two German states, stressing that they were two sovereign states that had developed along different lines since World War II, and that their differences had to be respected by both sides as they continued efforts toward peaceful coexistence despite membership in antagonistic alliances.

In his speeches, Honecker, along with other SED officials, devoted greater attention to Third World countries than he had done in the past.

Honecker mentioned the continually increasing numbers of young people from African, Asian, and Latin American countries who received their higher education in East Germany, and he referred to many thousands of people in those countries who had been trained as apprentices, skilled workers, and instructors by teams from East Germany.

Although he was the youngest member of the Politburo ( and indeed, one of only two people elevated to full membership in that body from 1976 to 1984 ), speculation abounded that Honecker had tapped him as his heir apparent.

Krenz had been approached several months earlier about ousting Honecker, but was reluctant to move against a man he called " my foster father and political teacher.

Although Krenz had been the number-two man in the regime, Honecker had kept the true state of the economy a secret from him.

Gorbachev already did not think much of Zhivkov ; he had lumped Zhivkov in with a group of inflexible hardliners that included East Germany's Erich Honecker, Czechoslovakia's Gustáv Husák and Romania's Nicolae Ceaușescu.

At the concert, Lindenberg sang one of his best-known songs, Sonderzug nach Pankow (" Special Train To Pankow "), which satirized East German leader Erich Honecker, and which he had been asked not to play.

In 1984, however, Honecker and Defense Minister Colonel General Heinz Hoffman asserted that construction soldiers no longer suffered such discrimination ; like others who had completed their military service, they were given preference in the university admission process.

After Erich Honecker had personally forbidden publication of a book he authored, he began trying to find a new profile for his party and re-adopt authentic liberalism.

In October 2009, Honecker celebrated the 60th anniversary of the founding of the GDR with former Chilean exiles who had sought asylum in East Germany.

Similarly, the party ’ s subordination to the SED went so far that its election manifesto, though being already officially accepted by the board of the party, was submitted to Erich Honecker for revisions, who indeed made a number of corrections to the version that had already been agreed upon and established as definitive.

Unable to stop the growing civil unrest, Erich Honecker was forced to resign in October, and on 9 November, East German authorities unexpectedly allowed East German citizens to enter West Berlin and West Germany.

Honecker was pressured to resign from office and the new government committed itself to reunification with West Germany.

On 3 May 1971 Ulbricht was forced to resign from virtually all of his public functions ' due to reasons of poor health ' and was replaced – with the consent of the Soviets – by Erich Honecker.

Following the riots in the GDR in October 1989, including those in East Berlin and Leipzig, on 18 October 1989, at a special Politbüro meeting, Honecker was forced to resign ; he was replaced by Egon Krenz.

On 18 October, Erich Honecker was forced to resign as head of the SED and as head of state and was replaced by Egon Krenz.

Combined with the large non-violent demonstrations carried out throughout the country, it was enough to force Honecker to resign on October 18, in favour of his top lieutenant, Egon Krenz.

Erich Honecker and guests of honor like Mikhail Gorbachev celebrate the 40th ( and last ) anniversary of the socialist regime of the German Democratic Republic on 7 October 1989.

File: BerlinWall01b. jpg | Mural on the Berlin Wall at the East Side Gallery featuring Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker riding together in a Trabant ( Spring 2002 ).

More attention was placed on the availability of consumer goods, and the construction of new housing was accelerated, with Honecker promising to " settle the housing problem as an issue of social relevance ".

Nonetheless, Honecker appeared to be on solid footing.

With some reluctance, Honecker allowed them to go — but forced them to go back through East Germany on sealed trains and stripped them of their East German citizenship.

When the trial formally opened in early 1993, Honecker was released due to ill health and on 13 January of that year moved to Chile to live with his daughter Sonja, her Chilean husband Leo Yáñez, and their son Roberto.

Honecker detailed the increased agricultural and industrial production of the period and the resultant social progress as, in his words, the country continued " on the path to socialism and communism.

Erich Honecker ( East Germany | GDR, left ) and Helmut Schmidt ( West Germany | FRG ) at the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe held in Helsinki in 1975

Following popular protests against the GDR's Communist regime, the SED Politburo voted to remove Honecker on 18 October 1989, and Krenz was elected as the new General Secretary of the SED Central Committee.

In October 1989, Schabowski, along with several other members of the Politburo, turned on longtime SED leader Erich Honecker and forced him to step down in favour of Egon Krenz.

Following the ousting of Erich Honecker in October 1989, Stoph and all 44 members of his cabinet resigned on 7 November in response to public pressure.

In 1977, Erich Honecker publicly denounced the Intershops in a speech on East German state television.

His rise was cut short in October 1976, as party leader Erich Honecker deemed him too liberal on economics.

A few days later, on 18 October, Honecker was finally deposed by his own comrades of SED.

In 1954, Wollweber became a delegate to the Volkskammer and a member of the SED ’ s Central Committee, but in 1956 his influence began to wane when he clashed with Walter Ulbricht and Erich Honecker on issues ranging from East Germany ’ s policies towards Poland to the estimate of the number of anti-Communist groups within the GDR.

Built during the era of Nation Building, this street is connected with historical events like the rebellion on the 17th of June 1953, in which the construction workers played an important role, the sudden disappearance of the Stalin monument, the demonstrations on the 1st of May and the parades during the era of Erich Honecker.

Honecker congratulates Wilhelm Pieck on his election as the first Leaders of the German Democratic Republic | GDR President in 1949.

Following the SED victory in the October 1946 elections, Honecker took his place amongst the SED leadership in the first postwar East German parliament, the German People's Congress ( Deutscher Volkskongress ).

On 18 October 1989, they voted to oust Honecker and replace him with Egon Krenz.

* Erich Honecker ( May 3, 1971 – October 18, 1989 )

The East German leadership was in disarray following the resignation of party chieftain Erich Honecker in October.

He succeeded Erich Honecker as leader of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany ( SED ) and head of state in October 1989, but was ousted just under three months later amid the collapse of the communist regime.

" He was willing to wait until the seriously ill Honecker died, but by October was convinced that the situation was too grave to wait for what he'd called " a biological solution.

Meeting of a WJC delegation led by Edgar Bronfman with GDR leader Erich Honecker, in East Berlin, October 1988During the mid-1980s, the World Jewish Congress also entered into diplomatic talks with several Central and Eastern European countries, notably Communist East Germany, whose leadership the WJC urged to recognize its obligations to Jewish victims of Nazi Germany.

When Honecker was toppled in October 1989, Gorbachev hoped that Modrow would become the new leader of the SED.

Götting remained Chairman and an SED ally until Erich Honecker was deposed in favour of Egon Krenz in October 1989.

After the October 2 demonstration, Socialist Unity Party ( SED ) leader Erich Honecker issued a shoot to kill order to the National People's Army.

After the October 2 demonstration, Socialist Unity Party leader Eric Honecker issued a shoot to kill order to the military.

Reformist members of the East German Politbüro sought to rescue the situation by forcing the resignation of the hardline Party chairman Erich Honecker, replacing him in October 1989 with the marginally less hardline Egon Krenz.