Günter Kohrt

Günter Kohrt (born March 11, 1912 in Berlin ; † December 17, 1982 ) was a German politician ( SED ) and diplomat . He was Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the GDR and Ambassador of the GDR to the People's Republic of China and the Hungarian People's Republic .

Life

Kohrt, the son of an electrician and a saleswoman , completed a commercial apprenticeship after completing elementary and secondary school and then worked as an accountant in Berlin. In 1927 he joined the Central Employees' Association , in 1929 the German Freethinkers Association and in 1930 the SPD . In 1932 Kohrt became active in the " Social Science Association ", from which the " Red Fighters " resistance group later emerged. In 1934/1935 several house searches were carried out on him. In 1941 he was drafted into the army for military service. He served in a medical unit and was at the end of the war in May / June 1945 in Moosbach near Braunau / Inn in a US prisoner of war .

In 1945 Kohrt joined the KPD and in 1946 became a member of the SED. From August 1945 to 1949 he was successively main clerk, head of department, speaker and from December 1948 finally head of department in the public education department of the Greater Berlin City Council . In April 1949 attended the SED district party school in Berlin-Kaulsdorf , and from September to December 1949 the German Administrative Academy .

From December 1949 to February 1951 Kohrt was Anton Ackermann's personal assistant in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the GDR (MfAA). In 1951 he became Head of Department I (Germany Policy of the Western Occupation Powers), 1952 Head of Main Department II (Policy on Western States), and in 1953 Main Department III (Germany and European Policy) in the MfAA.

From 1954 to 1957 Kohrt studied at the party college at the Central Committee of the CPSU in Moscow , graduating as a social scientist . After graduating from October 1957 to March 1964, he was first deputy head of the Foreign Policy and International Relations Department at the SED Central Committee, Peter Florin .

From April 1964 to March 1966 Kohrt was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the GDR in Beijing . Kohrts was ordered back through the decision of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED on January 25, 1966 based on a submission by Foreign Minister Otto Winzer . The reason was a restructuring of the management level in the MfAA to relieve the winegrower, strengthen international information and coordination. On February 24, 1966, Kohrt was appointed State Secretary in the MfAA and First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs. Kohrt played a key role in the preparation of the German-German summit meetings in Erfurt and Kassel in 1970. During the talks between Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt and the Chairman of the State Council of the GDR Willi Stoph in Erfurt and Kassel (March 19 and May 21) Kohrt was part of Stoph's delegation. Kohrt was appointed negotiator for talks with the West Berlin Senate. As part of the negotiations on the four-power agreement on Berlin , talks between the Berlin Senate and the GDR began on March 6, 1971 at the level of Senate Director Ulrich Müller and State Secretary Kohrt. After a total of 26 negotiations, on December 20, 1970, both signed the agreements on travel and visitor traffic as well as the exchange of territory.

From March 1973 Kohrt was the GDR's ambassador in Budapest . In 1974 he returned to the MfAA as a consultant and retired in 1975 as a disability pensioner. In September 1980 he took on the honorary position of President of the League for the United Nations in the GDR , which he held until his death in 1982. His urn was in the grave conditioning Pergolenweg the memorial of the socialists at the Berlin Central Cemetery Friedrichsfelde buried.

Awards

• Patriotic Order of Merit (VVO) in silver (1962) and in gold (1972)
• Gold medal for the VVO (1982)
• Order Banner of Labor (1969)
• Order of Star of People's Friendship in gold (1977)

Fonts

• On a stable course. Stations of foreign policy in the GDR . Dietz, Berlin 1980.

Article (selection)

• The conspiracy of the American and German imperialists against German unity and peace. In: Einheit , Heft 2 (1959), pp. 201-220.
• The German Democratic Republic and the struggle for peace and socialism . In: Einheit , Heft 2 (1961), pp. 219–242.
• What is behind the plans of the Western European imperialists to create a “European Political Union”? In: Einheit , Heft 5 (1962), pp. 75-86.
• The struggle for peace - the most important condition of the struggle for socialism . In: Einheit , Heft 3 (1963), pp. 84-94.
• May 8, 1945 - a turning point in German history . In: Außenpolitische Korrespondenz , 18 (1970), pp. 133-134.
• 25 years of the United Nations . In: German Foreign Policy , Issue 1 (1971), pp. 5-18.
• Maoist politics on the path of counterrevolution and war . Parts I – IV. In: horizont , 8th vol. (1975) No. 46, pp. 8-9; No. 47, pp. 14-15; No. 48, pp. 8-9 and No. 49, pp. 8-9.
• Permanent crisis and increasing danger of Maoism . Parts I – V. In: horizont , 9th Jg. (1976), No. 33, pp. 8-9; No. 34, pp. 8-9; No. 35, pp. 8-9; No. 36, pp. 25-26 and No. 37, pp. 8-9.

literature

• Günther Buch: Names and dates of important people in the GDR. 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Dietz, Berlin (West) / Bonn 1979, ISBN 3-8012-0034-5 , p. 164.
• Ursula Schoop: Kuhrt, Günter . In: Gabriele Baumgartner, Dieter Hebig (Hrsg.): Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ / DDR. 1945–1990 . Volume 1: Abendroth - Lyr . KG Saur, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-598-11176-2 , p. 417.
• Werner Meissner (Hrsg.): The GDR and China 1949 to 1990. Politics, economy, culture . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-05-002806-8 , pp. 185, 198, 228f. and 459.
• Gerhard Kunze: Borderline experiences. Contacts and negotiations between the State of Berlin and the GDR 1949–1989 . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-05-003442-4 , p. 248f. and passim.
• Helmut Müller-Enbergs :  Kohrt, Günter . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ New Germany of February 25, 1966.