Ernst Höfner
Ernst Höfner ( born October 1, 1929 in Love Stone, † 24 November 2009 in Berlin) was Minister of Finance of the GDR.
Life
The son of a rotator learned after attending the primary school the profession of a glass blower. He first worked in the profession and then trained as an industrial clerk. In 1948 he became a member of the SED. 1948/49, he worked as a financial accountant and after a professional education 1949/50, as chief accountant or main speaker at the Ministry of Finance of the GDR. From 1952 to 1955 he studied at the Academy of Finance, graduating with a diploma businesspeople. Subsequently, he was from 1955 to 1970 Head of Division in the Ministry of Finance. From 1962 to 1965 he studied at the Party School of the Communist Party in Moscow social sciences. From 1970 to 1976 he was Deputy Minister of Finance. Then he was the successor of Walter Schindler February 1976 to January 1979 first secretary of the SED district leadership of the Central Bank and financial institutions and from January 1979 to 1981 as the successor of Wolfram Krause first secretary of the SED district leadership of the State Planning Commission. From 26 June 1981 to November 1989 he was the successor of only one year in office Werner Schmieder Minister of Finance. As finance minister, he also belonged to the Prime Minister's Office.
Ernst Höfner was one of the authors of the " analysis of the economic situation in the GDR with conclusions " along with Gerhard Schurer, Gerhard Beil, Alexander Schalk - Golodkowski and Arno Donda, as a template for the SED Politburo on 30 October 1989. In this as " Schurer - paper " has become known secret report was over-indebtedness and economic breakdown of the GDR clearly spelled out for the first time.
On 13 November 1989 during the debate on the political situation in the GDR in the People's Chamber, the Minister spoke of Finance Höfner (SED ) for the first time to the public debt and declared, inter alia, that the state budget is always represented as balanced against the People's Chamber in part but on the borrowing is based have. He took over the responsibility for missed Rechenschaftslegungen on the financial situation of the State and for the national debt. He spoke about the deteriorating export performance in recent years and the devaluation of the Mark of the GDR against the currency market to inflation and price trends.