Editing Walter Ulbricht (section)

== Cult of personality ==
With his below-average height of {{convert|165|cm|ftin|abbr=off}}, his high-pitched voice, which may have come into being as a result of a larynx disease he carried with him since 1925,<ref>Mario Frank: ''Walter Ulbricht. Eine deutsche Biografie.'' Siedler-Verlag, Berlin 2001, S. 73.</ref> his strong Saxon accent, his lack of rhetorical talent, his consistent use of the confirmatory term "ja?" at the end of sentences and his generally dislikeable character, Ulbricht was a very [[Charismatic authority|uncharismatic]] politician. After attempts to stylise him as a charismatic leader in the 1950s failed due to lack of popular support, the East German leadership at least pretended that such charisma existed. The historian Rainer Gries states on that subject: "Ultimately, the Ulbricht propaganda no longer focussed on the acquisition of charisma, but merely the pretention of charisma."<ref>Rainer Gries: ''"Walter Ulbricht - das sind wir alle!" Inszenierungsstrategien einer charismatischen Kommunikation.'' In: [[Frank Möller (historian)|Frank Möller]] (Hrsg.): ''Charismatische Führer der deutschen Nation''. Oldenbourg, München 2004, {{ISBN|3-486-56717-9}}, S. 193–218, hier S. 193 ff. und 197 f. (retrieved via [[Verlag Walter de Gruyter|De Gruyter]] Online).</ref>

In the 1950s, several industrial plants, institutions and sport facilities were named after Ulbricht, for example the [[German Academy for State and Legal Sciences]]. The East German Postal Office replaced its stamp series of the deceased president Pieck with one bearing the portrait of Ulbricht. His images were hung in schools, residencies, and industrial facilities. In 1956, when [[Destalinisation]] started both in the Soviet Union as well as the Eastern Bloc countries, the newspaper ''[[Neues Deutschland]]'' published an article titled: "With Walter Ulbricht for the fortune of humanity."<ref>{{citation
  |title=Ulbricht: Wie Goethe
  |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-43367705.html
  |author=
  |work=[[Der Spiegel]]
  |year=1961
  |volume=
  |issue=49
  |series=30 March
  |pages=
  |quote=
}}</ref>

Especially at Ulbricht's round birthdays in 1958, 1963 and 1968, the cult of personality around him was extended. The festivities around his 60th birthday in 1953 were however cut short because of the crisis developing into the [[1953 East German uprising]]: An already finished propaganda movie about him was not published and a stamp with his image was not publicised either.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100814094929/http://eisen.huettenstadt.de/archives/240-Roter-Dampf-ein-Ersttagsbrief-mit-Eisenhuettenkombinatsmotiv.html Geplante Briefmarke].</ref> On other dates, the official East German propaganda followed the standards set by the personality cults of Lenin and Stalin in the Soviet Union. On these occasions, Ulbricht's origin from a working-class family was emphasised, he was hailed as the "foundation of a new life" (by [[Johannes R. Becher]]) as well as a "worker genius" and "master of the times":

{{blockquote|The German Democratic Republic views him as an idol in terms of dilligence, energy and workforce - as the personification of unimaginable achievements. The construction of socialism greets you as its most important architect. And all of us, who love their homeland, who all love peace, love you, Walter Ulbricht, the German worker's son.<ref>Rainer Gries: ''„Walter Ulbricht - das sind wir alle!" Inszenierungsstrategien einer charismatischen Kommunikation.'' In: Frank Möller (Hrsg.): ''Charismatische Führer der deutschen Nation''. Oldenbourg, München 2004, {{ISBN|3-486-56717-9}}, S. 193–218, hier S. 200–215 (Zitat) (retrieved via [[Verlag Walter de Gruyter|De Gruyter]] Online).</ref>}}

Ulbricht was accused of building a cult of personality around himself, with an elaborate jubilee planned for his 60th birthday on 30 June 1953, which Ulbricht later cancelled. The propaganda film ''Baumeister des Sozialismus – Walter Ulbricht'', was not screened until the fall of the GDR. On the occasion of his 70th birthday on 30 June 1963, the East German regime organised grand festivities, to which Nikita Khrushchev was also invited in order to meet and honour the "creator of the socialist German miracle". On the occasion of those festivities and in several biographies published throughout the 1960s, Ulbricht was portrayed as a warrior against [[Fascism]], a good German and overall a good person. Special emphasis was put on his supposed closeness to the people, who supposedly trusted him in all aspects. From this, he formulated his motto: "From the people, with the people, for the people". [[Erich Honecker]] brought this identification of the dictator and the state together with the motto: "Ulbricht will win. And Ulbricht - that is all of us."<ref>Rainer Gries: ''„Walter Ulbricht - das sind wir alle!" Inszenierungsstrategien einer charismatischen Kommunikation.'' In: Frank Möller (Hrsg.): ''Charismatische Führer der deutschen Nation''. Oldenbourg, München 2004, {{ISBN|3-486-56717-9}}, S. 193–218, hier S. 193 ff. und 197 f. (retrieved via [[Verlag Walter de Gruyter|De Gruyter]] Online).</ref>

Ulbricht was awarded all civil medals of East Germany, in addition to several Soviet honours.<ref>Monika Kaiser, [[Helmut Müller-Enbergs]]:&nbsp;''[https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/de/recherche/kataloge-datenbanken/biographische-datenbanken/walter-ernst-paul-ulbricht Ulbricht, Walter Ernst Paul]''. In: ''[[Wer war wer in der DDR?]]'' 5. Ausgabe. Band&nbsp;2. Ch.&nbsp;Links, Berlin 2010, {{ISBN|978-3-86153-561-4}}. Retrieved 3 June 2020.</ref>

* [[Hero of Socialist Labour]] (1953, 1958, 1963)
* [[Order of Karl Marx]] (1953, 1968)
* [[Patriotic Order of Merit]] (1954)
* [[Banner of Labor|Banner of Labour]] (1960)
* [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] (1963)
* [[Order of Lenin]] (1963)

Publicly, the effect of such propaganda remained limited. Ulbricht's dialect, his falsetto voice and his crampness lent several enemies the opportunity to create caricatures of him. For instance, he was called a "grey, whistling mouse" by [[Gerhard Zwerenz]]. Using the term "Spitzbart", referring to Ulbricht's beard and using the adjective "all-knowing" for Ulbricht constituted defamation of the state in the eye of the judicial system of East Germany.<ref>Mario Frank: ''Walter Ulbricht.'' 2001, S. 328f.</ref>

A tape containing a recitation of [[Goethe's Faust]] by a parodist imitating Ulbricht was in wide circulation in East Germany, eventually causing the [[Stasi]] secret police to intervene on the charge of defamation of the state.<ref>Joachim Walther: ''Sicherungsbereich Literatur. Schriftsteller und Staatssicherheit in der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik''. Ullstein, Berlin 1999, {{ISBN|3-548-26553-7}}, S. 93 ff.</ref>