Editing Walter Ulbricht

{{Short description|Leader of East Germany from 1950 to 1971}}
{{About|the East German politician|the TV writer and producer|Walter Ulbrich}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}

{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = Opvolger van Pieck, Walter Ulbricht, Bestanddeelnr 911-5926 (cropped).jpg
| imagesize           = 
| caption             = Ulbricht in 1960
| nationality         = East German
| birth_name          = Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1893|6|30}}
| birth_place         = [[Leipzig]], [[Kingdom of Saxony]], [[German Empire]] {{small|(now [[Saxony]], [[Germany]])}}
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|1973|8|1|1893|6|30}}
| death_place         = [[Templin]], [[Bezirk Neubrandenburg]], {{nowrap|[[East Germany]]}}
| spouse              = Martha Schmellinsky {{nowrap|<small>(1920 – 1940s)</small>}}<br />[[Lotte Ulbricht|Lotte Kühn]] <small>(1953–1973)</small>
| children            = [[Beate Ulbricht]]
| party       = [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party]]<br />{{small|(1946–1973)}}
| otherparty = [[Communist Party of Germany]] {{small|(1920–1946)}}<br />[[Independent Social Democratic Party]]<br />{{small|(1917–1920)}}<br />[[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] {{small|(1912–1917)}}
| occupation         = {{hlist|Politician|[[Joiner]]}}
| order               = [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#General Secretaries of the Central Committee of the SED|First Secretary of the<br />Socialist Unity Party]]{{efn|Titled ''General Secretary'' until 1953}}
| deputy             = {{ubl|[[Karl Schirdewan]]|Erich Honecker}}
| term_start          = 25 July 1950
| term_end            = 3 May 1971
| predecessor         = [[Wilhelm Pieck]]<br />[[Otto Grotewohl]]
| successor           = [[Erich Honecker]]
| order2             = [[Leadership of East Germany#Heads of state|Chairman]] of the [[State Council of East Germany|State Council]]
| term_start2         = 12 September 1960
| term_end2           = 1 August 1973
| predecessor2        = [[Wilhelm Pieck]] {{small|(as [[President of East Germany]])}}
| successor2          = [[Friedrich Ebert Jr.]] {{small|(acting)}}
| order3             = [[Leadership of East Germany#Heads of the military|Chairman]] of the<br />[[National Defence Council (East Germany)|National Defense Council]]
|1blankname3         = {{nowrap|Secretary}}
|1namedata3          = {{ubl|Erich Honecker}}
| term_start3         = 11 February 1960
| term_end3           = 3 May 1971
| predecessor3        = ''Office established''
| successor3          = [[Erich Honecker]]
| office4             = [[Council of Ministers of East Germany#Chairmen of the Council of Ministers|First Deputy Chairman of the<br />Council of Ministers]]{{efn|"Deputy Minister-President" until 24 November 1955, then "First Deputy Minister-President" until 8 December 1958}}
| 1blankname4         = [[Council of Ministers of East Germany#Chairmen of the Council of Ministers|Chairman]]
| 1namedata4          = {{ubl|[[Otto Grotewohl]]}}
| term_start4         = 7 October 1949
| term_end4           = 12 September 1960
| predecessor4        = ''Position established''
| successor4          = [[Willi Stoph]] {{small|(1962)}}
{{Collapsed infobox section begin |last=yes |Parliamentary constituencies
 |titlestyle=border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes
| office5            = Member of the [[Volkskammer]] <br /> for Leipzig - Stadtbezirk Südwest, Stadtbezirk West, Stadtbezirk Nord, Stadtbezirk Nordost
| term_start5        = [[German People's Council#First people's council|18 March 1948]]
| term_end5          = 1 August 1973
| predecessor5       = ''Constituency established''
| successor5         = Margot Weilert
| office6             = Member of the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] <br /> for [[Westphalia South (electoral district)|Westfalen Süd]]
| term_start6         = [[1928 German federal election|1 July 1928]]
| term_end6           = [[Reichstag Fire Decree|28 February 1933]]
| predecessor6        = ''multi-member district''
| successor6          = ''Constituency abolished''
| office7            = Member of the<br />[[Landtag of Saxony#Free State|Landtag of Saxony]]
| term_start7        = [[Saxony Landtag elections in the Weimar Republic#1926|25 November 1926]]
| term_end7          = [[Saxony Landtag elections in the Weimar Republic#1929|21 March 1929]]
| predecessor7       = ''multi-member district''
| successor7         = ''multi-member district''{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}}
| title8             = [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#Secretariat of the Central Committee|Central Committee Secretariat]]{{efn|Party Executive Committee Central Secretariat until July 1950.}} responsibilities
| suboffice9         = [[Departments of the SED Central Committee#International Relations|International Relations]]
| subterm9           = 1952–1966
| suboffice10         = [[Departments of the SED Central Committee#Church Affairs|Church Affairs]]
| subterm10           = 1949–1957
| suboffice11         = [[Departments of the SED Central Committee#Cadre Affairs|Cadre Affairs]]
| subterm11           = 1949–1956
| suboffice12         = [[Departments of the SED Central Committee#State and Legal Affairs|State and Legal Affairs]]
| subterm12           = 1946–1958
| suboffice13         = [[Departments of the SED Central Committee#Security Affairs|Security Affairs]]
| subterm13           = 1946–1956
| suboffice14         = [[Departments of the SED Central Committee#Economics departments|Economics]]
| subterm14           = 1946–1950
| allegiance          = {{flag|German Empire}}
| branch              = [[German Army (German Empire)|German Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1915–1918
| rank                = ''[[Gefreiter]]''
| commands            = 
| battles             = 
{{tree list}}
* [[World War I]]
** [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]]
** [[Macedonian front]]
** [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]
* [[German revolution of 1918–1919|German Revolution]]
{{tree list/end}}
| signature           = 
| footnotes           = 
| resting_place       = [[Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde]]
| module2             = {{collapsible list
| title = Central institution membership
| bullets = on
| 1949–1973: Full member,<br />[[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#Politburo of the Central Committee|Politburo of the Central Committee]]
| 1946–1973: Full member,<br />[[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#Central Committee|Central Committee]]{{refn|group=note|Party Executive Committee until 1950}}
| 1930–1937: Full member, [[Communist Party of Germany#Organization|KPD Politburo]]
}}
----
{{collapsible list
| title = Other offices held
| bullets = on
| 1960–1973: Member, [[State Council of East Germany|State Council]]
| 1960–1973: Member,<br />[[National Defence Council (East Germany)|National Defence Council]]
| 1954–1960: Member,<br />Security Commission at the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#Politburo of the Central Committee|Politburo]]
| 1946–1951: Member,<br />[[Landtag of Saxony-Anhalt]]
| 1946–1950: Deputy Chairman,<br />[[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party]]
}}
| module3          = 
'''[[Lists of political office-holders in East Germany#Overview|Leader of East Germany]]'''
{{flatlist|
* {{big|'''←'''}} ''First holder''
* [[Erich Honecker|Honecker]]{{big|'''→'''}}
}}
| title               = 
| title1              = 
}}

'''Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʊ|l|b|r|ɪ|x|t}};<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of Ulbricht|url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ulbricht|access-date=23 January 2025|website=www.dictionary.com|language=en}}</ref> {{IPA|de|ˈvaltɐ ˈʔʊlbʁɪçt|lang}}; 30 June 1893{{spaced ndash}}1 August 1973) was a German [[communist]] politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the [[Weimar republic|Weimar]]-era [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD) and later in the early development and establishment of the [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]]. As the First Secretary of the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party]] from 1950 to 1971, he was the chief decision-maker in East Germany. From President [[Wilhelm Pieck]]'s death in 1960, he was also the East German head of state until his own death in 1973. As the leader of a significant Communist satellite, Ulbricht had a degree of bargaining power with the Kremlin that he used effectively. For example, he demanded the building of the [[Berlin Wall]] in 1961 when the Kremlin was reluctant.<ref>Hope M. Harrison, '' Driving the Soviets Up the Wall: Soviet–East German Relations, 1953–1961.'' (2003) ch 4.</ref>

Ulbricht began his political life during the [[German Empire]], when he joined first the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (SPD) in 1912 later joining the anti-[[World War I]] [[Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (USPD) in 1917. The following year, he deserted the [[German Army (German Empire)|Imperial German Army]] and took part in the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919|German Revolution of 1918]]. He joined the Communist Party of Germany in 1920 and became a leading party functionary, serving in its Central Committee from 1923 onward. After the Nazi takeover of Germany in 1933 and the Nazi-led investigation into his role in ordering the 1931 [[murder of Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck|murder of police captains Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck]], Ulbricht lived in Paris and [[Prague]] from 1933 to 1937 and in the Soviet Union from 1937 to 1945.

After the end of [[World War II]], Ulbricht re-organized the German Communist Party in the [[Soviet occupation zone]] along [[Stalinist]] lines. He played a key role in the forcible [[merger of the KPD and SPD into the Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] (SED) in 1946. He became the First Secretary of the SED and effective leader of the recently established [[East Germany]] in 1950. The [[Soviet Army]] occupation force violently suppressed the [[uprising of 1953 in East Germany]] on 17 June 1953, while Ulbricht hid in the Soviet Army headquarters in Berlin-[[Karlshorst]]. East Germany joined the Soviet-controlled [[Warsaw Pact]] upon its founding in 1955. Ulbricht presided over the total suppression of [[civil and political rights]] in the East German state, which functioned as a communist-ruled dictatorship from its founding in 1949 onward.

The [[nationalization]] of East German industry under Ulbricht failed to raise the [[standard of living]] to a level comparable to that of [[West Germany]]. The result was massive emigration, with hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the country to the west every year in the 1950s. When Soviet Premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]] gave permission for a wall to stop the outflow in [[Berlin]], Ulbricht had the Berlin Wall built in 1961, which triggered a diplomatic crisis but succeeded in curtailing emigration. The failures of Ulbricht's [[New Economic System]] and [[Economic System of Socialism]] from 1963 to 1970 led to his forcible retirement for "health reasons" and replacement as First Secretary in 1971 by [[Erich Honecker]] with Soviet approval. Ulbricht suffered a stroke and died in 1973.

==Early years==
[[File:Ulbricht 1907 cropped.jpg|thumb|left|Ulbricht, age 14, at the beginning of his joinery apprenticeship]]
Ulbricht was born in 1893 in [[Leipzig]], Saxony, into a [[Protestant]] family to Pauline Ida (née Rothe) and Ernst August Ulbricht, an impoverished tailor.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The 20th Century O-Z: Dictionary of World Biography|last=Magill|first=Frank|publisher=Routledge|year=1999|isbn=0893563234|location=Oxon|pages=3779}}</ref> He spent eight years in primary school (''[[Volksschule]]'') and this constituted all of his formal education since he left school to train as a [[joiner]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Who's Who in Nazi Germany|last=Wistrich|first=Robert|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|isbn=0415260388|location=London|pages=164}}</ref> Both his parents worked actively for the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] (SPD), which Walter joined in 1912. The young Ulbricht first learned about radical socialism at home in Leipzig's Naundörfchen workers' district<ref name=":0" /> before they moved to the [[Gottschedstrasse (Leipzig)|Gottschedstrasse]].

==First World War and the German Revolution==
Ulbricht served in the [[Imperial German Army]] during [[World War I]] from 1915 to 1917 in [[Galicia (Central Europe)|Galicia]], on the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]], and in the [[Balkans Campaign (World War I)|Balkans]].<ref>[[Mario Frank|Frank, Mario]], ''Walter Ulbricht. Eine Deutsche Biographie'' (Berlin 2001) 52–53.</ref> He [[desertion|deserted]] the Army in 1918, as he had opposed the war from the beginning. For this, he was sentenced to two months in prison. Shortly after his release, while stationed in [[Brussels]], Ulbricht was arrested for having anti-war leaflets. He avoided further prosecution when the November Revolution broke due to [[German Revolution of 1918–19|collapse of Imperial Germany]].<ref>Applebaum, Anne, ''Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944–56'' (USA 2012)</ref><ref>Mario Frank: ''Walter Ulbricht.'' Siedler, Berlin 2001, S. 52, 53.</ref>

In 1917 he became a member of the [[Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany|Independent Social Democratic Party]] (USPD) after it split off from the Social Democratic Party over support of Germany's participation in World War I.

During the [[German Revolution of 1918–1919|German Revolution of 1918]], Ulbricht became a member of the soldier's [[Soviet (council)|soviet]] of his army corps. In 1919, he joined the ''[[Spartacus League|Spartakusbund]]''.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Heads of States and Governments Since 1945|last=Lentz|first=Harris M.|date=2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1884964442|location=Oxon|pages=304}}</ref>

==The Weimar years==
[[File:Walter Ulbricht 1930.jpg|thumb|left|Ulbricht's official [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] portrait, 1930]]
Along with the bulk of the USPD, he joined the KPD in 1920 and became one of its active organizers.<ref name=":3" /> He rose fast in the ranks of the KPD, becoming a member of the Central Committee in 1923. Ulbricht was an adherent of the Lenin model, which favored a highly centralized party.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=Europe Since 1945: An Encyclopedia|last=Cook|first=Bernard|date=2001|publisher=Garland Publishing, Inc.|isbn=9780815340584|location=New York|pages=1283}}</ref> Ulbricht attended the [[International Lenin School]] of the [[Comintern]] in Moscow in 1924/1925. He came home in 1926 and went on to assist the newly appointed party chief [[Ernst Thälmann]].<ref name=":4" /> The electors subsequently voted him into the [[Administrative divisions of Weimar Germany|regional]] parliament of [[Saxony]] (''Sächsischer Landtag'') in 1926. He became a Member of the ''[[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]]'' for South [[Westphalia]] from 1928 to 1933 and served as KPD chairman in [[Berlin]] and [[Brandenburg]] from 1929.

In the years before the 1933 [[Nazi]] election to power, paramilitary wings of Marxist and extreme nationalist parties provoked massive riots connected with demonstrations. Besides the [[Berlin Police]], the KPD's arch-enemies were street-fighters like the [[Nazi Party]]'s [[Sturmabteilung|SA]], the [[Monarchist]] [[German National People's Party]]'s [[Der Stahlhelm, Bund der Frontsoldaten|Stahlhelm]], and Stormtroopers affiliated with "radical nationalist parties". The [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] and its paramilitary [[Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold|Reichsbanner]] forces, which dominated local and national politics from 1918 to 1931 and which the KPD accused of "[[Social fascism]]", was their most detested foe. Ulbricht quickly became a KPD functionary and this was attributed to the [[Bolsheviks|Bolshevization]] of the party.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:Goebbels und Ulbricht.jpg|thumb|left|Ulbricht (standing in the background) speaking at a debate between himself and [[Joseph Goebbels]] in the Friedrichshain. Goebbels is visible on the left in the foreground. The debate ended in a massive brawl between Nazis and the KPD.<ref>{{Cite web |title=In eigener Sache - Dr. Oliver Reschke |url=https://doktor-oliver-reschke.de/in-eigener-sache/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=doktor-oliver-reschke.de}}</ref>]]
At an event arranged by the [[Nazi Party]] on 22 January 1931, Ulbricht was allowed by [[Joseph Goebbels]], the Nazi Party's [[Gauleiter]] of Berlin and Brandenburg, to give a speech. Subsequently, Goebbels delivered his own speech. The attempt at a friendly discussion turned hostile and became a debate.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lcy_BAAAQBAJ&q=Walter+Ulbricht+1931+speech&pg=PT457|title=The Surreal Reich|last=Tyson|first=Joseph Howard|date=23 September 2010|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=9781450240208|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Press and Politics in the Weimar Republic|url=https://archive.org/details/presspoliticswei00fuld|url-access=limited|last=Fulda|first=Bernhard|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|isbn=9780199547784|location=Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/presspoliticswei00fuld/page/n189 171]}}</ref> A struggle between Nazis and Communists began: police officers divided them. Both sides had tried to use this event for their election propaganda.<ref>[http://www.zeit.de/1969/40/was-geschah-in-friedrichshain Was geschah in Friedrichshain], Die Zeit, 1969/40</ref> The brawl took two hours to disperse and over a hundred were injured in the melee.<ref name=":2" />

===The Bülowplatz murders===
{{Walter Ulbricht sidebar}}
{{see also|Murder of Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck}}

During the last days of the [[Weimar Republic]], the KPD had a policy of assassinating two [[Berlin police]] officers in retaliation for every KPD member killed by the police.<ref>Koehler (1999), page 33.</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=May 2024|reason=As noted by editors in [[Talk:Murder of Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck]], Koehler is not a reliable source in this instance.}}

On 2 August 1931, KPD members of the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag]] [[Heinz Neumann (politician)|Heinz Neumann]] and [[Hans Kippenberger]] received a dressing down from Ulbricht, who was the party's leader in the Berlin-Brandenburg region. According to John Koehler, enraged by police interference and by Neumann and Kippenberger's failure to follow the policy, Ulbricht snarled, "At home in [[Saxony]] we would have done something about the police a long time ago. Here in Berlin we will not fool around much longer. Soon we will hit the police in the head."<ref>John Koehler, ''The Stasi'', p. 36.</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=May 2024|reason=As noted by editors in [[Talk:Murder of Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck]], Koehler is not a reliable source in this instance.}}

Kippenberger and Neumann decided to assassinate [[Paul Anlauf]], the captain of the Berlin Police's Seventh Precinct. Captain Anlauf had been nicknamed ''Schweinebacke'', or "Pig Face" by the KPD. Anlauf was notorious for his brutal methods in breaking up Communist-led demonstrations at the time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=German secret police chief convicted |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1993/10/27/german-secret-police-chief-convicted/ |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=Tampa Bay Times |language=en}}</ref>

According to John Koehler, "Of all the policemen in strife-torn Berlin, the reds hated Anlauf the most. His precinct included the area around [[Karl-Liebknecht-Haus|KPD headquarters]], which made it the most dangerous in the city. The captain almost always led the riot squads that broke up illegal rallies of the Communist Party."<ref>''The Stasi'', p. 36.</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=May 2024|reason=As noted by editors in [[Talk:Murder of Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck]], Koehler is not a reliable source in this instance.}}

In 1934, the Nazi government erected a memorial to Anlauf and Lenck at the square where they were killed, then renamed Horst-Wessel-Platz after a Nazi martyr.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Collections Search - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |url=https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn1003433 |access-date=2024-05-23 |website=collections.ushmm.org}}</ref> In 1950 the socialist German government destroyed the monument and the square was renamed [[Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz]].<ref>Stricker, Michael (2010). ''Letzter Einsatz. Im Dienst getötete Polizisten in Berlin von 1918 bis 2010'' [''Last use. Police officers killed on duty in Berlin from 1918 to 2010''] (in German). Frankfurt: Verlag für Polizeiwissenschaft. p. 103. {{ISBN|978-3-86676-141-4}}</ref>

==Nazi and war years==
[[File:Rotmord - Fahndungsplakat der Berliner Polizei (1933).jpg|thumb|"Help with the Search for the Red Murderers": Ulbricht (bottom left) on a wanted poster for the killing of Anlauf and Lenck, 1933]]
The [[Nazi Party]] attained power in Germany in January 1933, and very quickly began a purge of Communist and Social Democrat leaders in Germany. Following the arrest of the KPD's leader, Ernst Thälmann, Ulbricht campaigned to be Thälmann's replacement as head of the party.

Ulbricht lived in exile in Paris and [[Prague]] from 1933 to 1937. The German Popular Front under the leadership of [[Heinrich Mann]] in Paris was dissolved after a campaign of behind-the-scenes jockeying by Ulbricht to place the organization under the control of the Comintern. Ulbricht tried to persuade the KPD founder [[Willi Münzenberg]] to go to the Soviet Union, allegedly so that Ulbricht could have "them take care of him". Münzenberg refused. He would have been in jeopardy of arrest and purge by the NKVD, a prospect in both Münzenberg's and Ulbricht's minds.<ref>Frank, Mario, ''Walter Ulbricht. Eine Deutsche Biographie'' (Berlin 2001), 124–139.</ref> Ulbricht spent some time in Spain during the [[Spanish Civil War|Civil War]], as a Comintern representative, ensuring the murder of Germans serving on the Republican side who were regarded as not sufficiently loyal to Soviet leader [[Joseph Stalin]]; some were sent to Moscow for trial, others were executed on the spot.<ref>Robert Solomon Wistrich, ''Who's Who in Nazi Germany'', Routledge, 2001; John Fuegi, ''Brecht and Company: Sex, Politics and the Making of the Modern Drama'', Grove Press, 2002, p.354; Noel Annan, ''Changing Enemies: The Defeat and Regeneration of Germany'', Cornell University Press, 1997, p.176</ref> {{Better source needed|reason=works cited do not concern spanish civil war or Ulbricht's contribution|date=May 2013}} Ulbricht lived in the Soviet Union from 1937 to 1945, leaving from [[Hotel Lux]] to return to Germany on 30 April 1945.{{Better source needed|reason=entire section is dependent on a single source, which is misrepresented in the information|date=May 2013}}

At the time of the signing of the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]], in August 1939, Ulbricht and the rest of the German Communist Party had supported the treaty.

Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Ulbricht was active in a group of German communists under NKVD supervision called the [[National Committee for a Free Germany]] (a group including, among others, the poet [[Erich Weinert]] and the writer [[Willi Bredel]]) which, among other things, translated propaganda material into German,<ref name=Adam>{{Cite book |last1=Adam |first1=Wilhelm |first2=Otto |last2=Ruhle |translator=Tony Le Tissier |title=With Paulus at Stalingrad |publisher=Pen and Sword Books Ltd. |year=2015 |isbn=9781473833869 |pages=178–179}}</ref> prepared broadcasts directed at the invaders, and interrogated captured German officers. In February 1943, following the surrender of the German Sixth Army at the close of the [[Battle of Stalingrad]], Ulbricht, Weinert and [[Wilhelm Pieck]] conducted a Communist political rally in the center of Stalingrad which many German prisoners were forced to attend.

==Post-war political career==
[[File:Mao, Bulganin, Stalin, Ulbricht Tsedenbal.jpeg|thumb|235px|right|[[Mao Zedong]], Stalin, Ulbricht, Bulganin and [[Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal|Tsedenbal]] at Stalin's 70th birthday celebrations in Moscow, December 1949]]

===Role in communist takeover of East Germany===

In April 1945, Ulbricht led a group of party functionaries ("''[[Ulbricht Group]]''") into Germany to begin reconstruction of the communist party along [[Anti-Revisionism|Anti-revisionist lines]]. According to Grieder, "Espousing the motto 'it must look democratic but we must control everything', he set about establishing an SED dictatorship."<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter Grieder|title=The East German Leadership, 1946–73: Conflict and Crisis|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vzmNb84n7sUC&pg=PA14|year=2000|publisher=Manchester UP|page=14|isbn=9780719054983}}</ref> Within the Soviet occupied zone of Germany, the Social Democrats were pressured into merging with the Communists, on Communist terms, to form the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] (''Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands'' or ''SED''), and Ulbricht played a key role in this.

===Rise to power===

After the founding of the [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]] on 7 October 1949, Ulbricht became Deputy chairman (''Stellvertreter des Vorsitzenden'') of the Council of Ministers (''[[Ministerrat]] der DDR'') under Minister-President and chairman [[Otto Grotewohl]], i.e., [[deputy prime minister]]. In 1950, as the SED restructured itself into a more orthodox Soviet-style party, he became General Secretary of the SED [[Central Committee]], replacing Grotewohl and State President [[Wilhelm Pieck]] as co-chairmen. This position was renamed ''First Secretary'' in 1953.

==Leadership of East Germany==
===Consolidation of authority===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-08618-0005, Berlin, 2. Volkskammersitzung, Bildung DDR-Regierung.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Ulbricht addresses the People's Chamber in 1950. His modeling of his beard on that of [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] did not go unremarked by contemporaries.<ref name=spiegel491948>{{cite web|url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-44419934.html |title=Deine Lippen rauchen Kippen|quote= ...Ulbricht ist geriebener als der dicke Paul [Merker]. So harte Weisheiten wie den Killbefehl für die Betriebsräte sächselt der "deutsche Lenin" nicht selber über den Aether, dazu schickt er Paul Merker. |work=[[Der Spiegel]] (online)|date=4 December 1948|access-date=26 October 2014|author=[[Rudolf Augstein]]}}</ref>]]

After the death of Stalin (whose funeral was attended by Ulbricht, Grotewohl and other German communists) in March of that year, Ulbricht's position was in danger because Moscow was considering taking a soft line regarding Germany.

[[File:Walter Ulbricht-TIME-1953.jpg|thumb|right|Walter Ulbricht on the cover of ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''- 13 July 1953]]

The June [[1953 East German uprising]] forced Moscow to turn to a hardliner, and his reputation as an archetypal Stalinist helped Ulbricht. On 16 June 1953, a protest erupted at East Berlin's [[Karl-Marx-Allee|Stalin Allee]] as enraged workers demanded comprehensive economic reforms.<ref name=":5" /> The East German police had to call in Soviet military units stationed in the city to help suppress the demonstration and communist rule was restored after several dozen deaths and 1,000 arrests.<ref name=":5" /> He was summoned to Moscow in July 1953, where he received the Kremlin's full endorsement as leader of East Germany. He returned to Berlin and he took the lead in calling in Soviet troops to suppress the widespread unrest with full backing from Moscow and its [[Group of Soviet Forces in Germany|large army]] stationed inside the GDR. His position as leader of the GDR was now secure.<ref>{{cite book|author=Richard Millington|title=State, Society and Memories of the Uprising of 17 June 1953 in the GDR|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zVhHBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA172|year=2014|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|pages=172–75|isbn=9781137403513}}</ref><ref>Jonathan R. Zatlin, "The vehicle of desire: The Trabant, the Wartburg, and the end of the GDR." ''German History'' 15.3 (1997): 358–380.</ref> The frustrations led many to flee to the West: over 360,000 did so in 1952 and the early part of 1953.<ref>Martin Kitchen, ''A History Of Modern Germany 1800–2000'', Blackwell, 2006, p.329</ref>

Ulbricht managed to rise to power despite having a peculiarly squeaky falsetto voice, the result of a bout of [[diphtheria]] in his youth. His Upper Saxon accent, combined with the high register of his voice, made his speeches sound incomprehensible at times.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kempe|first=Frederick|title=Berlin 1961|year=2011|publisher=Penguin Group (USA)|isbn=978-0-399-15729-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/94 94]|url=https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/94}}</ref>

===Construction of a socialist society in GDR===
At the third congress of the SED in 1950, Ulbricht announced a [[Five-year plans for the national economy of the Soviet Union|five-year plan]] concentrating on the doubling of industrial production. As Stalin was at that point keeping open the option of a re-unified Germany, it was not until July 1952 that the party moved towards the construction of a socialist society in East Germany.<ref>Martin Kitchen, ''A History Of Modern Germany 1800–2000'', Blackwell, 2006, p.328</ref> The "building of socialism" (''Aufbau des Sozialismus'') had begun in earnest as soon as talks of reunification faltered. By 1952, 80% of industry had been [[Nationalization|nationalized]].

The [[Council of Ministers of East Germany]] decided to close the [[Inner German Border]] in May 1952. The [[National People's Army]] (NVA) was established in March 1956, an expansion of the [[Kasernierte Volkspolizei]] which been set up already in June 1952. The [[Stasi]] (MfS) was founded in 1950, rapidly expanded and employed to intensify the regime's repression of the people. The states (''Länder'') were effectively abolished in July 1952 and the country was governed centrally through districts.

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-18231-0003, LPG Trinwillershagen, Besuch durch Walter Ulbricht.jpg|thumb|right|Ulbricht visiting a [[Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft|collective farm]] in [[Trinwillershagen]] in January 1953]]

Ulbricht uncritically followed the orthodox Stalinist model of industrialization: concentration on the development of heavy industry.

In 1957, Ulbricht arranged a visit to an [[Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft|East German collective farm]] at [[Trinwillershagen]] in order to demonstrate the GDR's modern agricultural industry to the visiting [[Politburo of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Soviet Politburo]] member [[Anastas Mikoyan]]. The collectivization of agriculture was completed in 1960, later than Ulbricht had expected. Following the death of President [[Wilhelm Pieck]] in 1960, the SED wrote the president's post out of the constitution. Taking its place was a collective head of state, the ''[[State Council of the German Democratic Republic|Council of State]]''. Ulbricht was named its chairman, a post equivalent to that of president. His power consolidated, Ulbricht suppressed critics such as [[Karl Schirdewan]], [[Ernst Wollweber]], [[Fritz Selbmann]], Fred Oelssner, Gerhart Ziller and others from 1957 onward, designated them as "factionalists" and eliminated them politically.

===The Berlin Wall===
[[File:Berlin Wall 1961-11-20.jpg|thumb|left|East German construction workers building the Berlin Wall in November 1961]]

Despite economic gains, emigration still continued. By 1961, 1.65&nbsp;million people had fled to the west.<ref>Steven Ozment, ''A Mighty Fortress'', ''Granta'', London, 2005 p.294, quoting Lothar Kettenacker, ''Germany Since 1945'' (Oxford, 1997), pp 18–20 and 50–51, and Hagen Shulze, ''Modern Germany'', p. 316</ref> Fearful of the possible consequences of this continued outflow of refugees, and aware of the dangers an East German collapse would present to the [[Eastern Bloc]], Ulbricht pressured Soviet Premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]] in early 1961 to stop the outflow and resolve the status of Berlin.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kempe|first=Frederick|title=Berlin 1961|year=2011|publisher=Penguin Group (USA)|isbn=978-0-399-15729-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/114 114–117]|url=https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/114}}</ref> During this time, the refugees' mood was rarely expressed in words, though East German laborer Kurt Wismach did so effectively by shouting for free elections during one of Ulbricht's speeches.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kempe|first=Frederick|title=Berlin 1961|year=2011|publisher=Penguin Group (USA)|isbn=978-0-399-15729-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/321 321–322]|url=https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/321}}</ref>
[[File:Walter-Ulbricht-TIME-1961.jpg|thumb|right|Walter Ulbricht's second appearance on the cover of ''Time'' magazine- 25 August 1961]]
When Khrushchev approved the building of a wall as a means to resolve this situation, Ulbricht threw himself into the project with abandon. Delegating different tasks in the process while maintaining overall supervision and careful control of the project, Ulbricht managed to keep secret the purchase of vast amounts of building materials, including barbed wire, concrete pillars, timber, and mesh wire.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kempe|first=Frederick|title=Berlin 1961|year=2011|publisher=Penguin Group (USA)|isbn=978-0-399-15729-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/324 324–325]|url=https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/324}}</ref> On 13 August 1961, work began on what was to become the [[Berlin Wall]], only two months after Ulbricht had emphatically denied that there were such plans ("Nobody has the intention of building a wall"),<ref>In response to a question by Annamarie Doherr, Berlin correspondent of the [[Frankfurter Rundschau]], during a press conference on 15 June 1961.</ref> thereby mentioning the word "wall" for the very first time. Ulbricht deployed GDR soldiers and police to seal the border with West Berlin overnight. The mobilization included 8,200 members of the People's Police, 3,700 members of the mobile police, 12,000 factory militia members, and 4,500 State Security officers. Ulbricht also dispersed 40,000 East German soldiers across the country to suppress any potential protests.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kempe|first=Frederick|title=Berlin 1961|year=2011|publisher=Penguin Group (USA)|isbn=978-0-399-15729-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/345 345]|url=https://archive.org/details/berlin1961kenned0000kemp/page/345}}</ref> Once the wall was in place, Berlin went from being the easiest place to cross the border between East and West Germany to being the most difficult.<ref>Keeling, Drew (2014), [http://www.business-of-migration.com/migration-processes/other-regions/berlin-wall-and-migration/ "Berlin Wall and Migration," ''Migration as a travel business'']</ref>

The 1968 invasion by Warsaw Pact troops of Czechoslovakia and the suppression of the [[Prague Spring]] were also applauded by Ulbricht. East German soldiers were among those massed on the border but did not cross over, probably due to Czech sensitivities about German troops on their soil during World War II. It earned him a reputation as a staunch Soviet ally, in contrast to [[Socialist Republic of Romania|Romanian]] leader [[Nicolae Ceauşescu]], who condemned the invasion.{{citation needed|date=March 2022}}

===The New Economic System===
From 1963, Ulbricht and his economic adviser [[Wolfgang Berger (economist)|Wolfgang Berger]] attempted to create a more efficient economy through a [[New Economic System]] (''Neues Ökonomisches System'' or NÖS). This meant that under the centrally coordinated economic plan, a greater degree of local decision-making would be possible. The reason was not only to stimulate greater responsibility on the part of companies, but also the realization that decisions were sometimes better taken locally. One of Ulbricht's principles was the "scientific" execution of politics and economy: making use of sociology and [[psychology]] but most of all the [[natural sciences]]. The effects of the NÖS, which corrected mistakes made in the past, were largely positive, with growing economic efficiency.

The New Economic System, which involved measures to end price hikes and increase access to consumer goods,<ref name=":5">{{Cite book|title=Germany: A Country Study|last=Solsten|first=Eric|date=1999|publisher=DIANE Publishing|isbn=0844408530|location=Washington, D.C.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/germanycountryst00sols/page/100 100]|url=https://archive.org/details/germanycountryst00sols/page/100}}</ref> was not very popular within the party, however, and from 1965 onwards opposition grew, mainly under the direction of [[Erich Honecker]] and with tacit support of Soviet leader [[Leonid Brezhnev]]. Ulbricht's preoccupation with science meant that more and more control of the economy was being relegated from the party to specialists. The ideological hardliners of the party also accused Ulbricht of having motivations that were at odds with the communist ideals.

===Cultural and architectural policy===
The communist regime demolished large numbers of important historical buildings. The [[Berlin Palace]] and the [[Potsdam City Palace]] were destroyed in 1950 and 1959. About 60 churches, including intact, rebuilt or ruined ones, were blown up, including 17 in East Berlin. The Ulrich Church in [[Magdeburg]] was razed in 1956, the Dresden [[Sophienkirche]] in 1963, the Potsdam [[Garrison Church (Potsdam)|Garrison Church]] in June 1968 and the fully intact Leipzig [[Paulinerkirche, Leipzig|Paulinerkirche]] in May 1968. Citizens protesting the church demolitions were imprisoned.

Ulbricht attempted to shield the GDR from the cultural and social influences of the capitalist parts of the [[Western world]], particularly its [[youth culture]]. He intended to create the most comprehensive youth culture of the GDR, which should be largely independent of capitalist influences.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j4bpBQAAQBAJ&q=walter+ulbricht+western+culture+influences&pg=PA158 |title=Youth and Rock in the Soviet Bloc: Youth Cultures, Music, and the State in Russia and Eastern Europe|date=17 December 2014|publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=9780739178232|editor=William Jay Risch|language=en}}</ref>

In 1965 at the 11th Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|SED]], he made a critical speech about copying culture from the Western world by referring to the "[[She Loves You|Yeah, Yeah, Yeah]]" of [[the Beatles]] song: "Is it truly the case that we have to copy every dirt that comes from the West? I think, comrades, with the monotony of the ''yeah, yeah, yeah'' and whatever it is all called, yes, we should put an end to it".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g1MaBwAAQBAJ&q=walter+ulbricht+monotony&pg=PA45 |title=Rockin' the Borders: Rock Music and Social, Cultural and Political Change |date=16 April 2010 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars |isbn=9781443822077 |editor=Björn Horgby, Fredrik Nilsson |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q55mQpAGNMc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211222/Q55mQpAGNMc |archive-date=2021-12-22 |url-status=live |title=Walter Ulbricht – Yeah Yeah Yeah |language=de |publisher=[[YouTube]] |access-date=29 December 2012}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

===Dismissal and death===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-M0807-069, Beisetzung Walter Ulbrichts.jpg|thumb|Ulbricht's state funeral in East Berlin on 7 August 1973]]
By the late 1960s, Ulbricht was finding himself increasingly isolated both at home and abroad. The construction of the Berlin Wall became a public relations disaster for him, not only in the West, but even with the Eastern Bloc. This became gradually critical as East Germany faced increasing economic problems due to his failed reforms, and other countries refused to offer any kind of assistance. His refusal to seek rapprochement with West Germany on Soviet terms, and his rejection of [[détente]] infuriated Soviet leader [[Leonid Brezhnev|Brezhnev]] who, by that time, found Ulbricht's demands for greater independence from Moscow increasingly intolerable (especially in the aftermath of the [[Prague Spring]]). One of his few victories during this time was the replacement of the GDR's original superficially liberal democratic [[constitution of East Germany|constitution]] with a completely Communist document in 1968. The document formally declared East Germany to be a socialist state under the leadership of the SED, thus codifying the ''de facto'' state of affairs since 1949.

During his later years, Ulbricht became increasingly stubborn and tried to assert dominance vis-a-vis other Eastern bloc countries, and even the Soviet Union. He declared at economic conferences that post-war times when East Germany had to offer other socialist countries free patents, were over once and for all and everything actually had to be paid for. Ulbricht began to believe that he had achieved something special, like Lenin and Stalin had. At the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the [[October Revolution]] in Moscow, he untactfully boasted about having personally known [[Vladimir Lenin|Lenin]] and having been an active communist in the USSR already 45 years ago. In 1969 Ulbricht's Soviet guests at the State Council (''Staatsrat'') showed clear signs of dissatisfaction when he lectured them heavily on East Germany's supposed economic successes.<ref>Mario Frank "Walter Ulbricht: Eine deutsche Biografie", 2001. S. 447</ref>

On 3 May 1971 Ulbricht was forced to resign from virtually all of his public functions "due to reasons of poor health" and was replaced, with the consent of the Soviets,<ref>"Walter Ulbricht: Herausgegeben von Egon Krenz,"  Publisher Das Neue Berlin (The New Berlin), 2013.</ref> by [[Erich Honecker]]. Ulbricht was allowed to remain as [[State Council of East Germany|Chairman of the State Council]], the effective [[head of state]], and held on to this post for the rest of his life. Additionally, the honorary position of Chairman of the SED was created especially for him. Ulbricht died at a government [[Guest house|guesthouse]] in Groß Dölln near [[Templin]], north of East Berlin, on 1 August 1973, during the [[World Festival of Youth and Students]], having suffered a stroke two weeks earlier. He was honoured with a [[state funeral]], cremated and buried at the ''Memorial to the Socialists'' ({{langx|de|Gedenkstätte der Sozialisten}}) in the [[Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde|Friedrichsfelde Central Cemetery]], [[Berlin]].

== Legacy ==
[[File:Berlin Friedrichsfelde Zentralfriedhof, Gedenkstätte der Sozialisten (Rondell) - Ulbricht.jpg|thumb|left|215px|Ulbricht's grave in Berlin]]
Ulbricht remained loyal to [[Marxist-Leninist]] principles throughout his life, rarely able or willing to make doctrinal compromises. Inflexible and unlikeable, a "widely-loathed Stalinist bureaucrat well known for his tactics denouncing rivals",<ref>Antony Beevor, ''The fall of Berlin 1945'', Penguin Books, London, 2003 p.418</ref> he never attracted much public admiration. Nevertheless, he combined strategic intransigence with tactical flexibility; and until his 1971 downfall, he was able to get himself out of more than one difficult situation that defeated many communist leaders with much greater charisma than himself.

Despite stabilising the GDR to some extent, and making improvements in the national economy which were unimaginable in many other Warsaw Pact states, he never succeeded in raising East Germany's standard of living to a level comparable to that in the West. [[Nikita Khrushchev]] observed, "A disparity quickly developed between the living conditions of Germans in East Germany and those in West Germany."<ref>{{cite book|author=Nikita Khrushchev|title=Memoirs of Nikita Khrushchev: Statesman, 1953–1964|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nR0f25dmbn0C&pg=PT568|year=2007|publisher=Penn State Press|page=568|isbn=978-0271029351}}</ref>

German historian [[Jürgen Kocka]] in 2010 summarized the consensus of scholars about the state that Ulbricht headed for its first two decades:

{{blockquote|Conceptualizing the GDR as a dictatorship has become widely accepted, while the meaning of the concept dictatorship varies. Massive evidence has been collected that proves the repressive, undemocratic, illiberal, nonpluralistic character of the GDR regime and its ruling party.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Jürgen Kocka|title=Civil Society & Dictatorship in Modern German History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j8mo4uP3SQMC&pg=PA37|year=2010|publisher=UPNE|page=37|isbn=9781584658665}}</ref>}}

== 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>

==Personal life==
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-F0309-0201-001, Berlin, Empfang DDR-Frauen bei Ulbricht.jpg|thumb|235px|Ulbricht (right), wife [[Lotte Ulbricht|Lotte]], and [[Willi Stoph]] in 1967]]
Ulbricht lived in [[Majakowskiring]], [[Pankow]], East Berlin. He married twice: in 1920 to Martha Schmellinsky and from 1953 until his death to [[Lotte Ulbricht]] ''née'' Kühn (1903–2002). Ulbricht and Schmelinsky had a daughter in 1920, who grew up and lived separated from Ulbricht for almost her entire life. After the failure of this first marriage, he was in a relationship with Rosa Michel (born Marie Wacziarg, 1901–1990). With Michel, Ulbricht had another daughter, Rose (1931–1995).

His marriage with Lotte Kühn, his partner for most of his life (they had been together since 1935), remained childless. The couple adopted a daughter whom they named [[Beate Ulbricht|Beate]]. She was born in 1944 to a Ukrainian [[Forced labour under German rule during World War II|forced laborer]] in Leipzig. Although Beate Ulbricht remembered her father warmly, she referred to her mother in an extensive interview given to a tabloid in 1991 as "the hag", adding that she was "cold-hearted and egoistic". She also said that Walter Ulbricht was ordered to marry Lotte by Stalin.<ref name="burnett">{{cite book |last1=Burnett |first1=Simon |title=Ghost Strasse: Germany's East Trapped Between Past and Present |date=2007 |publisher=Black Rose Books |location=Montreal |isbn=978-1551642918 |page=7}}</ref>

==Decorations==
In 1956, Ulbricht was awarded the [[Hans Beimler (Communist)|Hans Beimler]] Medal, for veterans of the [[Spanish Civil War]], which caused controversy among other recipients, who had actually served on the front line.<ref>Josie McLellan, ''Anti-Fascism and Memory in East Germany: Remembering the International Brigades, 1945–1989'', p.67</ref> He was awarded the title [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] on 29 June 1963.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.warheroes.ru/hero/hero.asp?Hero_id=2159|title=Biography|language=ru}} at the website on Heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia</ref> On visiting [[Egypt]] in 1965, Ulbricht was awarded the Great Collar of the [[Order of the Nile]] by [[Gamal Abdel Nasser|Nasser]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,839297,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090220194437/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,839297,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=20 February 2009|title=Watch on the Nile|date=5 March 1965|magazine=Time|access-date=4 December 2016}}</ref> On 9 June 1965, he was awarded the [[Order of the Yugoslav Great Star]].<ref>{{Cite journal |date=10 June 1965 |title=TITO I ULBRICHT ZAVRŠILI prvi dio službenih razgovora |url=https://arhiv.slobodnadalmacija.hr/pvpages/pvpages/viewPage/?pv_page_id=90955&pv_issue_no=650610_A |journal=Slobodna Dalmacija |issue=6312 |pages=1}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Ivan Konev]]
* [[New Economic System]]
* [[Lotte Ulbricht]]
* [[Wilhelm Zaisser]] – tried to depose Ulbricht in 1953
* [[Rudolf Herrnstadt]]

==Notes==
{{refbegin}}

{{refend}}
{{Reflist}}
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

==Further reading==
*Baras, Victor. “Beria’s Fall and Ulbricht’s Survival.” Soviet Studies 27, no. 3 (1975): 381–95. http://www.jstor.org/stable/150443.
*Brinks, J. H. “Political Anti-Fascism in the German Democratic Republic.” Journal of Contemporary History 32, no. 2 (1997): 207–17. http://www.jstor.org/stable/261241.
*Connelly, John. “Ulbricht and the Intellectuals.” Contemporary European History 6, no. 3 (1997): 329–59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20081638.
* Granville, Johanna. "The Last of the Mohicans: How Walter Ulbricht Endured the Hungarian Crisis of 1956." ''German Politics & Society'' 22.4 (73) (2004): 88–121.
* Granville, Johanna. "East Germany in 1956: Walter Ulbricht's Tenacity in the Face of Opposition." ''Australian Journal of Politics & History'' 52.3 (2006): 417–438.
* Harrison, Hope M. '' Driving the Soviets Up the Wall: Soviet–East German Relations, 1953–1961.'' (Princeton UP, 2003)
* Kopstein, Jeffrey. ''The politics of economic decline in East Germany, 1945–1989'' (U of North Carolina Press, 2000).
* Long, Andrew. ''Berlin in the Cold War: Volume 2: The Berlin Wall 1959–1961'' (2021)
* Major, Patrick, and Jonathan Osmond, eds. ''The workers' and peasants' state: communism and society in East Germany under Ulbricht 1945–71'' (Manchester UP, 2002).
* Stern, Carola.  ''Ulbricht, A Political Biography''. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1965. Pp. xi, 231
* Sandford, Gregory W. ''From Hitler to Ulbricht. The Communist Reconstruction of East Germany 1945–46''. Princeton, 1983
* {{cite book|last=Spilker|first=Dirk|title=The East German leadership and the division of Germany : patriotism and propaganda; 1945–1953|publisher=Oxford Univ. Press|year=2006|isbn=0-19-928412-1}}[http://www.oup.co.uk/pdf/0-19-928412-1.pdf Sample Chapter]
* Ulbricht, Walter. ''Whither Germany? Speeches and Essays on the National Question'' (Dresden: Zeit im Bild Publishing House, 1967). 440 pp in English translation; a primary source.

===In German===
* Norbert Podewin, ''Walter Ulbricht: Eine neue Biographie''. Dietz, Berlin 1995, {{ISBN|3-320-01886-8}}.
* [[Mario Frank]], ''Walter Ulbricht. Eine deutsche Biografie''. 2000, Siedler-Verlag, {{ISBN|3-88680-720-7}}
* [[Heyden, Florian]], "Walter Ulbricht. Mein Urgrossvater." Neuauflage. Nova MD, Berlin. {{ISBN|978-3-9859500-3-4}}
* {{citation
  |title=Der meistgehaßte, meistunterschätzte Mann
  |url=http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-43176368.html
  |work=[[Der Spiegel]]
  |year=1971
  |issue=20
  |series=13 September
  |pages=34
}}

==External links==
{{reflist|group=note}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Walter Ulbricht}}
*[http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/ulbricht.htm Extracts from ''Walter Ulbricht — A Life for Germany'', an illustrated 1968 book on Ulbricht]
*[https://catalog.osaarchivum.org/catalog/O8BABAKB RFE/RL East German Subject Files: Communist Party], [[Blinken Open Society Archives]], Budapest
* {{PM20|FID=pe/017673}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-ppo}}
{{s-new|Creation}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Leadership of East Germany|General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany]]|years=25 July 1950–3 May 1971}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Erich Honecker]]}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Wilhelm Pieck]]<br /><small> As President </small>}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Leadership of East Germany|Chairman of the Council of State of the German Democratic Republic]]|years=12 September 1960–1 August 1973}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Willi Stoph]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{SEDGenSecs}}
{{Head of State of the German Democratic Republic}}
{{Leaders of the Ruling Parties of the Eastern Bloc}}
{{Heads of State of Germany}}
{{Cold War}}
{{Berlin Wall}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulbricht, Walter}}
[[Category:1893 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Leipzig]]
[[Category:Politicians from the Kingdom of Saxony]]
[[Category:Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians]]
[[Category:Independent Social Democratic Party politicians]]
[[Category:Communist Party of Germany politicians]]
[[Category:Members of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Germany]]
[[Category:Members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany]]
[[Category:Leaders of East Germany]]
[[Category:Deputy prime ministers of East Germany]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1928–1930]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1930–1932]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1932]]
[[Category:Members of the Reichstag 1932–1933]]
[[Category:Members of the Provisional Volkskammer]]
[[Category:Members of the 1st Volkskammer]]
[[Category:Members of the 2nd Volkskammer]]
[[Category:Members of the 3rd Volkskammer]]
[[Category:Members of the 4th Volkskammer]]
[[Category:Members of the 5th Volkskammer]]
[[Category:Members of the 6th Volkskammer]]
[[Category:International Lenin School alumni]]
[[Category:German Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:German atheists]]
[[Category:German assassins]]
[[Category:German anti–World War I activists]]
[[Category:German prisoners and detainees]]
[[Category:Murder of Paul Anlauf and Franz Lenck]]
[[Category:Communists in the German Resistance]]
[[Category:Communist assassins]]
[[Category:Refugees from Nazi Germany in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:National Committee for a Free Germany members]]
[[Category:People of the Cold War]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Karl Marx]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit (honor clasp)]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Banner of Labor]]
[[Category:Heroes of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Foreign Heroes of the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the October Revolution]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples]]
[[Category:Collars of the Order of the White Lion]]
[[Category:People convicted of desertion]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Germany]]
[[Category:20th-century German murderers]]