Ulbricht, Walter, << OOL brihkt, VAHL tuhr >> (1893-1973), was the Communist leader of the German Democratic Republic (commonly called East Germany ) from 1950 to 1971. He ruled as head of the Communist-dominated Socialist Unity Party (SED). In 1961, Ulbricht ordered the building of the Berlin Wall , which separated the eastern and western sectors of the city from then until 1989. Erich Honecker succeeded Ulbricht in 1971.
Ulbricht was born in Leipzig , Germany, on June 30, 1893. He became involved in politics at a young age, joining the German Socialist Party in 1912. While serving in the German army during World War I (1914-1918), Ulbricht was briefly imprisoned for desertion. In 1919, Ulbricht helped found the German Communist Party. He studied Communist theory in the Soviet Union in the mid-1920’s. In 1928, Ulbricht was elected to the Reichstag (German legislature). In 1933, Adolf Hitler and the National Socialists ( Nazis ) took power and banned the Communist Party. To avoid imprisonment, Ulbricht fled Germany.
Ulbricht lived mostly in France before spending time with the Communist forces in Spain during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). An avid Stalinist (follower of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ), Ulbricht worked to persecute and eliminate Communists who strayed from strict Stalinist doctrine. Ulbricht served as a propagandist for the Soviet Union during World War II (1939-1945).
After the war, Ulbricht returned to Germany and helped form the SED. Ulbricht became deputy premier of the newly created East Germany in 1949. In 1950, as first secretary of the SED, he became the nation’s most powerful leader. In 1955, Ulbricht led East Germany into the Warsaw Pact , a military alliance with the Soviet Union and its allies. In 1960, a council of state replaced the office of the presidency in East Germany. As chairman of the council, Ulbricht formally became East Germany’s supreme leader.
Since 1949, millions of people had fled East Germany to escape Communist rule and to seek freedom and better lives in the West. To stop this emigration, Ulbricht ordered the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961. Staunchly opposed to the Federal Republic of Germany (also called West Germany), Ulbricht resisted all efforts at reconciliation. In May 1971, as the Soviet Union opened diplomatic relations with West Germany, Ulbricht was forced from power. He died on Aug. 1, 1973.
