Hans Modrow

Hans Modrow (German pronunciation: [ˈhans ˈmoːdʁo]; 27 January 1928 – 10 February 2023) was a German politician best known as the last communist premier of East Germany.

Hans Modrow
Modrow in 1989
Chairman of the Council of Ministers
In office
13 November 1989  12 April 1990
Head of state
Deputy
Preceded byWilli Stoph
Succeeded byLothar de Maizière
(as Minister-President)
First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party
in Bezirk Dresden
In office
3 October 1973  15 November 1989
Second Secretary
  • Lothar Stammnitz
Preceded byWerner Krolikowski
Succeeded byHansjoachim Hahn
Head of the Department for Agitation of the Central Committee
In office
19 June 1971  2 October 1973
Secretary
Preceded byWerner Lamberz
Succeeded byHeinz Geggel
Chairman of the Council of Elders of The Left
In office
12 December 2007  10 February 2023
Deputy
  • Christina Emmrich
  • Wolfgang Grabowski
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byvacant
Parliamentary constituencies
Member of the European Parliament
for Germany
In office
20 July 1999  20 July 2004
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded bymulti-member district
Member of the Bundestag
for Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
(Volkskammer; 1990)
In office
3 October 1990  10 November 1994
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded bymulti-member district
Member of the Volkskammer
for Neubrandenburg
(Dresden-Süd, Dresden-West, Dresden-Mitte; 1976–1990)
(Berlin; 1957–1976)
In office
5 April 1990  2 October 1990
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
In office
11 December 1957  5 April 1990
Preceded byKarl-Heinz Kniestedt
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born(1928-01-27)27 January 1928
Jasenitz, Pölitz, Pomerania, Prussia, Germany (now Jasienica, Poland)
Died10 February 2023(2023-02-10) (aged 95)
Berlin, Germany
Political partyThe Left (2007–2023)
Other political
affiliations
Spouse
Annemarie Straubing
(m. 2003)
Children2
Alma mater
Occupation
Central institution membership

Other offices held
Leader of East Germany

Taking office in the middle of the Peaceful Revolution, he was the de facto leader of the country for much of the winter of 1989 and 1990. He was a transitional figure, paving the way to the first and only free elections in East Germany and including many opposition politicians in his cabinet.

After the end of Communist rule and reunification of Germany, he was convicted of electoral fraud and perjury by the Dresden District Court in 1995, on the basis that he had been the Socialist Unity Party (SED) official nominally in charge of the electoral process. He was later convicted of the first charge and was given a nine-month suspended sentence. One of the few high-ranking former SED officials to not have been expelled, he was the honorary chairman of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and was the president of the "council of elders" of the Left Party from 2007.

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