# Klaus Gysi

Klaus Gysi (3 March 1912 – 6 March 1999) was a German journalist, publisher, and politician who served as Minister of Culture from 1966 to 1973, and from 1979 to 1988, as the State Secretary for Church Affairs of the German Democratic Republic.
During his youth in the Weimar Republic, Gysi was heavily involved in the Communist Party of Germany (KPD), and later an active member of the German resistance against Nazi Germany. After World War II, he became a prominent politician in East Germany's Socialist Unity Party (SED) and was one of its longest-serving members until German reunification. His son is the German politician Gregor Gysi.

## Biography
### Early life

Gysi was born in Neukölln, Berlin, to a middle-class family. His father was Hermann Gysi (1888–1950) , a local doctor whose family originated from Switzerland, and his mother was Erna Potolowsky (1893–1966), a bookkeeper of Jewish descent from Weilburg. He attended grade school and Realgymnasium in Neukölln and in 1928, joined the Young Communist League of Germany, the Workers International Relief and the Sozialistischer Schülerbund. He received his Abitur from the Odenwaldschule in Darmstadt in 1931, and that same year, joined the Communist Party (KPD). From 1931 to 1935, he studied social economics in Frankfurt am Main, the Sorbonne in Paris, and in Berlin.

### Resistance against the Nazis

He became active in the left-wing students' movement in 1931. Following Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Gysi was expelled from Humboldt University of Berlin in 1935. He went to Cambridge, England in 1936 and later, to Paris, France, where in 1939, he became one of the student leaders of the Communist Party there. He was then detained in France from 1939 to 1940 and evaded detection by German authorities following the invasion of France. The same year, Gysi was sent to Germany in order to conduct covert operations for the KPD, under party functionary Jens König. In Berlin, Gysi worked at the publisher Hoppenstedt & Co. while acting in the antifascist underground. During this time, Gysi's maternal uncle and aunt were killed in Auschwitz concentration camp in 1943. In 1945, he married his companion Irene Lessing [de], who had been his long-time girlfriend and party colleague since 1935.

### Career

After the war, Gysi joined the SED. From 1945 to 1948, he was the editor-in-chief of the monthly Aufbau: Kulturpolitische Monatsschrift. From 1945 to 1977, he was a member of the presidium council, the federal secretary and lastly, a member of the presidium of the Cultural Association of the GDR. From 1949 to 1954, he was a representative in the GDR's parliament, the People's Chamber. From 1952 to 1957, he worked at the publishing house Verlag Volk und Wissen, afterward succeeding Walter Janka as head of Aufbau-Verlag, working there until 1966.
In 1963, Gysi became a member of the West Commission of the Politburo of the SED's Central Committee. From January 1966 to 1973, he was the Minister for Culture, a member of the Council of Ministers of East Germany and the Culture Commission of the Central Committee's Politburo. From 1967 to March 1990, he again served as a representative in the People's Chamber.
From 1973 to 1978, Gysi was ambassador to Italy, and a diplomat in Vatican City and Malta. From December 1978 to 1979, he was the General Secretary of the GDR's Committee for European Security and Cooperation, which prepared for GDR's participation in the Helsinki Accords. In November 1979 Gysi succeeded Hans Seigewasser as the State Secretary for Church Affairs, remaining in this position until his retirement in 1988. After the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Gysi became a member of the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) in 1990.

## Personal

Gysi was married three times and had seven children. His first wife, Irene (née Lessing) (1912–2007) was the sister of Gottfried Lessing, and sister-in-law of Doris Lessing. They divorced in 1958. Their daughter, Gabriele Gysi (*1946), is an actress. She moved to the former West Germany in 1985. Their son Gregor (*1948), a lawyer, was head of the Party of Democratic Socialism from 1989 to 1993 and is today one of the most prominent politicians in Germany's Left Party. Gysi died in Johannistal, Berlin.

## Recognition and honors

In 1969, Gysi was awarded the Banner of Labor; in 1970, he received the Memorial Medal of the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit and the Lenin Memorial Medal. In 1972, he was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit; in 1977, the Order of Karl Marx; and in 1982, he received the honor clasp of the Patriotic Order of Merit. In 1987, he was awarded the Star of People's Friendship and received an honorary degree from the University of Jena.