Manfred Gerlach

Manfred Gerlach ( born May 8, 1928 in Leipzig, † 17, 2011 in Berlin) was a German politician. He was from 1967 to 1990 the Liberal Democratic Party chairman, 1960-1989 Deputy Chairman of State and from December 1989 to April 1990 last State President of the GDR.

Life

Gerlach 1944 Court Clerk after elementary and middle school. Because creating an illegal youth group he was in juvenile detention in March of the same year. In 1945 he joined the Liberal Democratic Party and in 1946 was co-founder of the FDJ in Leipzig. From 1947 to 1952 he was a member of the National Association of Saxony and a member of the Advisory Board for Youth Affairs of the Central Association of the Liberal Democratic Party. He also appeared in the years 1949-1959 in the Central Council of the FDJ. Since 1949, Gerlach was a member of the People's Chamber. Since 1950 he was a city councilor of Leipzig, and on 19 April 1950, he was chosen by the Leipzig city council with 54 to 13 with 6 abstentions mayor of Leipzig. He later recalled that he doing so, but did not get all the votes of the council LDPD all voices of the SED representatives. From 1952 to 1954 Gerlach was deputy mayor of Leipzig and vice chairman of the City Council. In the years 1951-1954 he completed a correspondence course, then his doctorate in 1964 at the German Academy of Law and Political Science " Walter Ulbricht " Dr. jur. to the work function and development of the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany in the multi-party system of the German Democratic Republic. In 1984 he became a professor.

Policy

In the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany from 1951 to 1953 he was Vice-Chairman, General Secretary until 1967 and until 1990 as the successor of Max Suhr beer Chairman. He was from 1960 to 1989 one of the deputies of the Council of State, Deputy Chairman of the People's Chamber Committee on National Defence and since 1967 member of the Presidium of the National Council of the National Front.

On September 20, 1989, he was the first to leading politicians of the GDR, the hegemony of the SED in issue and called for reforms. When choosing a new president of the People's Chamber, he was defeated on 13 November 1989 Günther Maleuda because it received the support of the SED deputies. Of 6 December 1989 to 5 April 1990, he was the successor of Egon Krenz Chairman of the State Council. Finally, from 1990, after the first free elections, through a constitutional amendment, the newly elected President of the People's Chamber, Sabine Bergmann -Pohl, the duties of head of state. Next in 1990 he became a member of the Alliance of Free Democrats, then the FDP. After the introduction, to have a party expulsion proceedings in 1992 denounced because of the reproach, Leipzig LDPD members of the Soviet military authorities, Gerlach resigned from the FDP on 23 November 1993.

Others

Investigation by the Public Prosecutor at the Berlin Court of Appeal against Gerlach on suspicion of false imprisonment or death were hired. In 2000, the Leipzig district court declared him unfit to stand trial. Two years later, a process took place before the District Court of Leipzig, where Gerlach was accused to have the group to Werner Ihmels and other people denounced the NKVD. The case was closed due to statute of limitations.

Gerlach was a member of the Alternative history Forum Berlin, a working group of the Association for Civil rights and human dignity. He received in 1964 the Patriotic Order of Merit and the Star of People's Friendship, 1988, Karl -Marx- Orden.

Writings

• Give peace a secure and safe home in Germany, Berlin 1961
• We Liberal Democrats strengthen the socialist fatherland, Berlin 1966
• Spoke on the history. Book publisher The morning, Berlin 1980
• Comments about us and our time. Book publisher The morning, Berlin 1985
• Location determination. Book publisher The morning, Berlin 1989
• Shares responsibility: As a Liberal in the SED state. Morning -Verlag, Berlin, 1991, ISBN 3-371-00333-7