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Ernst Timm

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Ernst Timm
Timm (centre) in 1979
First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party
in Bezirk Rostock
In office
28 April 1975 – 12 November 1989
Second Secretary
  • Heinz Lange
Preceded byHarry Tisch
Succeeded byUlrich Peck
Volkskammer
Member of the Volkskammer
for Wismar-Stadt, Wismar-Land, Bad Doberan, Grevesmühlen
In office
29 October 1976 – 16 November 1989
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded byDietmar Huhn
Personal details
Born
Ernst Timm

(1926-10-16)16 October 1926
Brandenburg an der Havel, Province of Brandenburg, Free State of Prussia, Weimar Republic (now Brandenburg, Germany)
Died15 December 2005(2005-12-15) (aged 79)
Political partySocialist Unity Party
(1950–1989)
Alma mater
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Party Functionary
  • Aircraft Builder
Awards
Central institution membership
Other offices held

Ernst Timm (16 October 1926 – 15 December 2005) was a German politician and party functionary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

In the German Democratic Republic, he served as the longtime First Secretary of the SED in Bezirk Rostock and was a member of the Central Committee of the SED.

Life and career

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He was born in 1926 in Brandenburg an der Havel to a working-class family. After attending elementary school, he completed training as a metal aircraft builder from 1941 to 1944 at a branch of the Arado Flugzeugwerke in Brandenburg/Neuendorf. From 1944, he served voluntarily in the Kriegsmarine. From 1945 to 1949, he was a Soviet prisoner of war, during which time he attended several anti-fascist schools.[1]

After the end of World War II, parts and machines of the Arado factories that were not destroyed by air raids were transported to the Soviet Union as reparations, and the company was liquidated. Therefore, Timm could not return to his profession after his release from captivity in 1949.[1]

Political career

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Early career

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From 1950, he engaged in political youth work with the Free German Youth (FDJ), the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and the Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB). As a full-time FDJ official, he led a department in the Central Council of the FDJ in Berlin from 1952 to 1953 and was the First Secretary of the FDJ in Rostock City until 1955.[1]

Bezirk Rostock career

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From 1954 to 1957, he studied at the CPSU Higher Party School "W. I. Lenin" in Moscow and graduated with a diploma in social sciences (Dipl.-Ges.-Wiss.). After returning from Moscow, he worked from 1958 to 1960 as Secretary for Agitation and Propaganda of the Rostock City SED.[1]

In 1960, he became a department head and later, in 1961, Secretary for Agitation and Propaganda of the Bezirk Rostock SED, succeeding Werner Krolikowski, who became Second Secretary.[2] In 1961, he became Bezirk Rostock SED Second Secretary, also responsible for Organization and Cadre Affairs, himself.[1][2]

In 1966, he returned to the Rostock City SED as First Secretary.[1]

Bezirk Rostock SED First Secretary

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In April 1975, he succeeded Harry Tisch as First Secretary of the Bezirk Rostock SED.[1][2][3] Tisch was elected as Chairman of the FDGB.[3]

He additionally became a member of the FDGB federal executive board the same year and was elected as a full member of the Central Committee of the SED in May 1976 (IX. Party Congress).[1] Later that year, he became member of the Volkskammer,[1] nominally representing a constituency in the western part of his Bezirk.[4] During his parliamentary tenure, he was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee from 1982.[1]

During the supply crisis and the clearly visible problems in the GDR in the early 1980s, he was quoted by the West German magazine Der Spiegel:[5]

There is no reason to doubt the good and correct policy of the party if we call for the frugal use of everything available to us, even if we have to make certain changes in the assortment, even for everyday goods, and cannot always fulfill every wish at all times in supply matters.

— Ernst Timm, "Immer nur Huhn", DER SPIEGEL (44/1982)

In June 1989, he gained attention when, as a member of the Volkskammer, he confirmed the SED leadership's approval of the Tiananmen Massacre by the Chinese People's Liberation Army on 3 and 4 June 1989, and referred to the protesting students as "anti-constitutional elements."[6][7][8][9]

The members of the Volkskammer state that in the current situation, the political solution of internal problems persistently sought by the party and state leadership of the People's Republic of China has been prevented by the violent, bloody actions of anti-constitutional elements. Consequently, the people's power was forced to restore order and security using armed forces. Unfortunately, there were numerous injuries and deaths.

— Ernst Timm, parliamentary speech in the Volkskammer (8 June 1989)

At one of the many meetings in the autumn of 1989, he was asked what the dictatorship of the proletariat actually was. His answer, that he would have to look it up in Lenin, caused loud laughter and revealed the state of the SED nomenklatura in the autumn of 1989 in the GDR.[9][10]

Timm was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver in 1974 and the honor clasp to this order in 1986, and the Order of Karl Marx in 1984.[1]

Peaceful Revolution

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During the Wende, on 12 November 1989, the Bezirk Rostock SED removed him from the position of First Secretary and installed reformer Ulrich Peck as his successor.[2][11][12] He was removed by his party from the Volkskammer a week later, on 16 November 1989.[1][13][14]

He was subsequently expelled from the FDGB in December 1989 and the SED on 16 January 1990.[1][15]

After being charged with abuse of office and corruption in August 1990, he was sentenced on 16 February 1993, by the Rostock Regional Court to 15 months in prison for breach of trust, as he had taken 80,000 East German marks from a fund for people's representatives for the expansion of his house. The sentence was suspended after taking into account the pre-trial detention.[1][16][17]

Reunified Germany

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Timm passed away in 2005 at the age of 79.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Timm, Ernst (Otto)". www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. 2009. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  2. ^ a b c d "Bezirksleitung Rostock der SED (1952 - 1990)". www.bundesarchiv.de (in German). German Federal Archives. 2006. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  3. ^ a b "Tagung der Bezirksleitung der SED in Rostock". www.nd-archiv.de (in German). Neues Deutschland. 1975-04-29. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  4. ^ Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1986-1990 (PDF) (in German). p. 40. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  5. ^ "Immer nur Huhn". Der Spiegel (in German). 1982-10-31. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  6. ^ "Niederschlagung der Protestbewegung auf dem Platz des Himmlischen Friedens in Peking 1989". 1989.dra.de (in German). Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  7. ^ "Erst kam Gorbatschow, dann rollten die Panzer". www.abendblatt.de (in German). Hamburger Abendblatt. 2009-06-02. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  8. ^ "DDR-Regime rechtfertigt Massaker in Peking". bundesregierung.de (in German). Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  9. ^ a b Gauck, Joachim; Hirsch, Helga (2009). Winter im Sommer-Frühling im Herbst: Erinnerungen (in German) (1. Aufl ed.). München: Siedler. pp. 215–216. ISBN 978-3-88680-935-6.
  10. ^ Cammann, Alexander (2009-10-01). "Die Helden der Provinz". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  11. ^ "Peck, Ulrich". www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. 2009. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  12. ^ "Rücktritte der 1. Sekretäre der SED-Bezirksleitungen im November 1989". www.ddr89.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-05-05.
  13. ^ "Chronik der DDR Donnerstag 16. November 1989". www.ddr89.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  14. ^ "Ernst Timm gab Erklärung ab". www.nd-archiv.de (in German). Neues Deutschland. 1989-11-18. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  15. ^ "Chronologie". stasibesetzung.de (in German). Gesellschaft für Zeitgeschichte Erfurt. Retrieved 2024-06-29.
  16. ^ Zimmermann, Monika, ed. (1994). Was macht eigentlich--? 100 DDR-Prominente heute (in German) (1. Aufl ed.). Berlin: Ch. Links. pp. 271–275ff. ISBN 978-3-86153-064-0.
  17. ^ Marxen, Klaus; Werle, Gerhard, eds. (2000). Strafjustiz und DDR-Unrecht: Dokumentation (in German). Berlin ; New York: De Gruyter. pp. 191–194ff. ISBN 978-3-11-016134-2.
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