Wolfgang Junker
Wolfgang Junker | |||||||||||||
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 Junker (center) in 1976 | |||||||||||||
| Minister for Construction | |||||||||||||
| In office 14 November 1963 – 18 November 1989 | |||||||||||||
| Chairman of the Council of Ministers |
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| Preceded by | Ernst Scholz | ||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Gerhard Baumgärtel (Construction and Housing) | ||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||
| Born | Wolfgang Junker 23 February 1929 Quedlinburg, Province of Saxony, Free State of Prussia, Weimar Republic (now Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) | ||||||||||||
| Died | 9 April 1990 (aged 61) East Berlin, East Germany | ||||||||||||
| Cause of death | Suicide by hanging | ||||||||||||
| Political party | Socialist Unity Party (1949–1989) | ||||||||||||
| Occupation |
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Central institution membership
Other offices held
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Wolfgang Junker (23 February 1929 – 9 April 1990) was a German construction manager and politician of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).
In the German Democratic Republic, he served as the longtime Minister for Construction and was a member of the Central Committee of the SED. He committed suicide in April 1990, having lost power and being indicted on abuse of office.
Life and career
[edit]Junker was a member of the Jungvolk and the Hitler Youth from 1939 to 1945.[1] After attending elementary and middle school, he completed an apprenticeship as a bricklayer in 1945 and worked in that profession until 1949 in Quedlinburg.[1][2]
In 1949, he joined the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) and studied at the Engineering School for Construction in Osterwieck until 1952. From 1952 to 1953, he was a construction manager during the construction of Stalinallee in Berlin,[1][2] and until 1954, he worked with the Bau-Union Nord in Glowe.[1]
He then served as the director of state-owned enterprises: from 1955 to 1957 at the VEB Excavation and Conveying Works Berlin and from 1958 to 1961 at the VEB Industrial Construction Brandenburg.[1][2]
Political career
[edit]Minister
[edit]From 1961 to 1963, he was deputy minister, and from 1963 to 1989, Minister for Construction of the GDR.[1][2][3] From 1972 to 1989, he was chairman of the GDR's delegation to and from 1973 also chairman of the permanent commission of Comecon for cooperation in construction.[1]
From April 1967 (VII. Party Congress) to 1971, he was a candidate member and from June 1971 (VIII. Party Congress) until its collective resignation in December 1989, he was a full member of the Central Committee of the SED.[1][2] He additionally became member of the Volkskammer in 1976,[1] nominally representing a constituency in northwestern Bezirk Halle.[4][5]
In October 1979, Junker became the first official government member of the GDR to visit the West Germany and held discussions with his counterpart, Federal Minister for Regional Planning, Building and Urban Development Dieter Haack and State Minister Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski.
Junker was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold in 1969, the Honorary Clasp to this order in 1979, the Order of Karl Marx in 1976, the Gold Star of People's Friendship in 1984, and the Grand Star of People's Friendship in 1989.[1]
Peaceful Revolution
[edit]During the Wende, on 7 November 1989, he resigned alongside rest of the government led by Willi Stoph.[1] He was the longest-serving GDR minister at that time.[6]
Downfall and Death
[edit]From January to February 1990, he was in pre-trial detention in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen on suspicion of embezzlement of state funds and breach of the constitution.[1][6]
He was accused of illicitly collecting 20,000 East German marks annually as an honorary member of the GDR Construction Academy.[6] He had also appointed SED leader Erich Honecker and his economics czar Günter Mittag as honorary members. The change of statutes allowing this was deemed unconstitutional.[7] Additionally, it was alleged that he used funds from a reserve fund of his ministry to build private houses for SED officials.[6]
On 28 February, Junker was released due to his poor health condition.[6] On 9 April 1990, he committed suicide by hanging in his Berlin apartment.[1][6]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m "Junker, Wolfgang". www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. Retrieved 2024-04-06.
- ^ a b c d e "Wolfgang Junker". www.munzinger.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-04-06.
- ^ Fritsch, Barbara, ed. (2013). "Bereich Minister". www.argus.bstu.bundesarchiv.de (in German). German Federal Archives. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1981-1986 (PDF) (in German). 1981. p. 34. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
- ^ Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1986-1990 (PDF) (in German). 1986. p. 34. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
- ^ a b c d e f "Ex-DDR-Minister Junker beging Suizid". Die Tageszeitung: taz (in German). 1990-04-18. p. 1. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2024-04-06.
- ^ "Ehemaliger Bauakademie-Präsident wegen Untreue bestraft / Gelder an Honecker und Mittag gezahlt: Weihnachtsgeld an die Genossen". Berliner Zeitung (in German). 1994-01-27. Retrieved 2024-04-06.
- 1929 births
- 1990 deaths
- German politicians who died by suicide
- Suicides by hanging in Germany
- People from Quedlinburg
- Politicians from the Province of Saxony
- Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians
- Government ministers of East Germany
- Members of the Volkskammer
- Members of the 6th Volkskammer
- Members of the 7th Volkskammer
- Members of the 8th Volkskammer
- Members of the 9th Volkskammer
- Candidate members of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
- Members of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
- Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit
- Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit (honor clasp)
- Recipients of the Order of Karl Marx
- German communists