Walter Ulbricht

Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. He was appointed leader of East Germany aka the German Democratic Republic in 1950 by Joseph Stalin and was leader until 1971 just 18 years after Stalin’s death in 1953. Walter Ulbricht worked for Joseph Stalin (leader 1924-1953),Nikita Khrushchev (leader 1953/1955-1964), and Leonid Brezhnev (leader 1964-1982) from 1950-1971. The Berlin Wall was built under his leadership.

Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD). He was a member of both the Landtag of Saxony and the Reichstag during the Weimar Republic.

Some time after Hitler's rise to power Ulbricht fled to France and later to the Soviet Union. As leader of the communist Ulbricht Group he returned to Berlin on April 30, 1945. He was the first secretary of the Socialist Unity Party  (SED), and leading East Germany from 1950 to 1971. Following President Wilhelm Pieck's death in 1960, he was also the East German head of state until his own death in 1973.

As well as being a sports fanatic, Ulbricht considered himself an expert on architecture and urban planning, and was therefore responsible for the destruction of several ancient buildings in East Germany.

He was also involved in intellectual activities by writing a series of books about the history of the German labour movement.

References

Other websites
Extracts from Walter Ulbricht — A Life for Germany, an illustrated 1968 book on Ulbricht 
RFE/RL East German Subject Files: Communist Party  Open Society Archives, Budapest

300px|left|thumb|Ulbricht (with tie) participating in sporting activities

Category:1893 births
Category:1973 deaths
Category:Former dictators
Category:German atheists
Category:German historians
Category:Members of the Reichstag (Weimar Republic)
Category:Members of the Volkskammer
Category:Politicians from Leipzig
Category:Presidents of East Germany