With the rise of Erich Honecker in May 1971 and the increasing international recognition of the GDR, the regime attempted to abandon the concept that the GDR was part of a larger German nation ; instead, the policy of Abgrenzung ( demarcation ) was instituted, with the desired effect of creating a separate GDR national identity.

This change from the strict rule of Baron von Stumm to French military occupation provided the backdrop for what Wilhelm Honecker understood as proletarian exploitation, and introduced young Erich to communism.

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.

* West Germany Chancellor Helmut Schmidt visited East Germany, where he was welcomed by SED First Secretary Erich Honecker, who proclaimed in a toast, " Whatever differences may exist between our countries, either politically or socially, we cannot and must not permit ourselves to be pulled away from our responsibility to the people of Europe.

The transition to Erich Honecker ( General Secretary from 1971 to 1989 ) led to a change in the direction of national policy and efforts by the Politburo to pay closer attention to the grievances of the proletariat.

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

Erich Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994 ) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic as General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1971 until 1989, serving as Head of State as well after Willi Stoph's relinquishment of that post in 1976.

Following the definite end of the Cold War, Honecker refused all but cosmetic changes and was ousted by the party in late 1989 and removed from power.

Honecker was recovering from bladder cancer, leaving his colleagues unable to act decisively.

( 2008 ) The people's state: East German society from Hitler to Honecker.

The New Economic System was not very popular within the party, however, and from 1965 onwards opposition grew, mainly under the direction of Erich Honecker and with tacit support of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.

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.

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 was more specific about the SED's position toward the intelligentsia at the Fourth Plenum of the Central Committee, where he stated: " As long as one proceeds from the firm position of socialism, there can in my opinion be no taboos in the field of art and literature.

He was Honecker's deputy from 1984 onward, until he succeeded Honecker in 1989 amid protests against the regime.

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

Another party with this name was formed in 1990 in East Berlin by members of the GDR leadership who were expelled from the PDS, including Erich Honecker.

He was prevented from rising any further than a local party boss, however, largely because he was one of the few SED leaders who dared to publicly criticise longtime SED chief Erich Honecker.

* to exclude controversial figures from certain eras of German history, like Adolf Hitler and Erich Honecker.

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.

Erich Honecker from East Germany and Nicolae Ceauşescu from Romania offered the Soviet Union military assistance in case it decided to use force and break up the demonstration.

Discussions with Margot Honecker, in which Honecker speaks about the history of the GDR from her perspective.

On 19 July 2008, on the occasion of the 29th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua, Margot Honecker received the order for cultural independence " Rubén Dario " from President Daniel Ortega.

Internationally, Lenin School students can be traced as late as the 1960s and beyond exercising significant responsibilities either as heads of communist governments, like Yugoslavia ’ s Josip Broz Tito, Poland ’ s Władysław Gomułka and the GDR ’ s Erich Honecker, or as leaders of significant oppositional parties elsewhere, such as the general secretaries of the French, Greek and South African communist parties, Waldeck Rochet, Nikolaos Zachariadis and Moses Kotane.

The two countries exchanged permanent representatives in 1974, and, in 1987, East Germany's leader Erich Honecker paid an official state visit to West Germany.

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

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.

Other Communist countries with leaders in their 70s or 80s have included Albania ( First Secretary Enver Hoxha was 76 at death ), Czechoslovakia ( President Gustáv Husák was 76 at his resignation ), East Germany ( General Secretary and head of state Erich Honecker was 77 when forced out ), Hungary ( General Secretary János Kádár was 75 when forced out ), Laos ( President Nouhak Phoumsavanh was 83 at retirement ), North Korea ( President Kim Il-sung was 82 at death ), Romania ( General Secretary and President Nicolae Ceauşescu was 70 when he was killed ), Vietnam ( President Truong Chinh was 80 at retirement ), Yugoslavia ( President Josip Broz Tito was 87 at death ).

The grassroots democracy movement that forced the dismissal of East German head of state Erich Honecker in 1989 also empowered a younger generation of reform politicians in East Germany's ruling Socialist Unity Party who looked to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika as their model for political change.

These developments greatly disturbed hardline communists such as the East German leader Erich Honecker, who condemned the end of the traditional " socialist unity " of the Soviet bloc and appealed to Moscow to rein in the Hungarians.

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.

He was succeeded by Erich Honecker, who only stepped down during the 1989 revolution.

It was the official car of DDR head of state Erich Honecker, who ordered several extended versions for official use.

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.

" In 1974, Erich Honecker, as Chairman of the GDR's National Defence Council, ordered: " Firearms are to be ruthlessly used in the event of attempts to break through the border, and the comrades who have successfully used their firearms are to be commended.

From 1949 its chairperson was Margot Feist, who became Mrs Erich Honecker.

Margot Honecker née Feist ( born 17 April 1927 ) is a former Communist politician, who was a prominent member of the political elite in East Germany.

Honecker, who was known for her hard line political views, was responsible for the enactment of the " Uniform Socialist Education System " in 1965 and mandatory military training in schools.

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.

Related to the takeover of the council's chairmanship by Honecker is the fact that after 1977 the number of individuals who were simultaneously members of the council and of the SED's Central Committee Secretariat increased.

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.