Kurt Blecha

Kurt Blecha ( born February 25, 1923 in Usti nad Labem, Czechoslovakia ) is a former SED functionary and was for many years head of the Press Office to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the GDR.

Life

Blecha joined the Nazi Party in 1941 and was drafted into military service. He came in 1943 in Soviet captivity, visited Antifa schools in Gorky and Krasnogorsk and was active in the National Committee for a Free Germany.

In 1945 he returned to Germany, joined the SED in 1946 and worked until 1952 at the Schwerin People's Daily. He was from 1953 to 1989 on the board of the Association of Journalists of the GDR. From 1953 to 1958 he was deputy director, then as a successor to Fritz Beyling from 31 March 1958 to November 1989 Head of the Press Office of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the GDR. However, this press office was in truth a censor who oversaw those print media of the GDR, which were not under the SED directly. In addition, Blecha was 1958-1989 Member of the Commission agitation during Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED and 1959-1989 Member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Association of Journalists of the GDR ( VDJ ). In January 1990, Blecha, Joachim Herrmann, Heinz Geggel, Dieter Langguth and Eberhard Fensch were as responsible for the media abuse in the past by the Congress of VDJ from the professional association ausgeschlossen.Blecha lives in Berlin.

Awards

Private

Blecha was married to the former Deputy Mayor of Berlin, Joan Blecha. His step-daughter Sigrid is the second wife of GDR foreign currency procurer Alexander Schalk - Golodkowski.