Gerald Götting

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Gerald Götting (1961)
Gerald Götting (1989)

Gerald Götting (born June 9, 1923 in Nietleben , Saalkreis , today Halle (Saale) , † May 19, 2015 in Berlin ) was a German politician. He was from 1966 to 1989 chairman of the founded in 1945 block party Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and 1969-1976 President of the People's Chamber of the GDR . From 1960 to 1989 he was deputy chairman of the State Council .

Life

Götting, son of a commercial employee who died in 1934, attended the Latin secondary school (Latina) of the Francke Foundations in Halle (Saale) from 1933 to 1941 . He finished school in 1941 with the Abitur. From late 1941 to early 1942 he was with the Reich Labor Service , then with the Air Force Intelligence Unit (last rank: Corporal ). At the beginning of May 1945 he was initially able to escape capture by the Red Army from what was then the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia and went home. In June, he came briefly into American captivity .

In January 1946, Götting joined the CDU. From 1947 to 1949 he studied philology , German studies and history at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg without an academic degree . Götting was from 1949 to 1966 as the successor to Georg Dertinger General Secretary and until 1989 as the successor to August Bach Chairman of the CDU.

Götting was largely responsible for bringing the GDR CDU into line.

From 1949 to March 1990, Götting was a member of the People's Chamber: until 1958 as Vice President and Deputy President, until 1963 as Chairman of the CDU parliamentary group, until 1969 as Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, until 1976, succeeding Johannes Dieckmann as President and until 1989 as deputy president. From November 1976 he was also president of the League for Friendship between Nations , the Association of Friendship Societies of the GDR. From December 1971 to 1989, Götting held the position of Vice-President of the GDR Committee for European Security , founded in Berlin in 1970 , which was renamed the GDR Committee for European Security and Cooperation in January 1974 .

Götting and Robert Havemann visited Albert Schweitzer in January 1960 on the occasion of his 85th birthday in Lambarene .

In addition, Götting was deputy chairman of the Committee for National Defense from 1960 to 1989 and deputy chairman of the State Council of the GDR from 1960 to 1989 . On May 6, 1955, he received the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver and in 1961 the Patriotic Order of Merit (honor bar) .

During the peaceful revolution in East Germany Götting became effective on November 2, 1989 back as CDU chairman, was recalled, and on November 7, from the State Council of the CDU in February 1991 ruled . In July 1991 he was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment on probation by the Berlin district court for embezzling party funds.

Gerald Götting worked for the Berlin Alternative History Forum .

Götting married the journalist Sabine Richter in 1952 with a church wedding. In 1956 the daughter Katharina and in 1960 the son Gisbert were born.

Götting is said to have been an unofficial employee of the GDR State Security under the code name "Göbel" since 1953 and has worked for the KGB since 1951 . From the mid-1970s onwards, as party leader, he tolerated spy deployments by the CDU base against church events, Christians and members of the opposition. However, he was also monitored by the State Security.

tomb

Gerald Götting died after a serious illness on May 19, 2015 and was buried in the cemetery of the Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichswerder communities in Berlin.

Publications

  • The Christian says yes to socialism. Berlin 1960
  • Encounter with Albert Schweitzer . Berlin 1961
  • Great moment in Africa. 1962
  • The Christian in building socialism. Berlin 1963
  • Land under Kilimanjaro. 1964
  • A guest in Lambarene. 1964
  • Christian co-responsibility in socialism. Berlin 1965
  • Christian probation in socialism. 1967
  • Reformation and Revolution. 1967
  • Albert Schweitzer. Pioneer of humanity. 1970
  • with Paul Verner : Christians and Marxists in common responsibility. 1974
  • Red October. Berlin 1977
  • Christian Democrats in creative collaboration for the good of the people. Berlin 1982
  • Contribution of Christian Democrats to the Present and Future. From speeches and essays. Union-Verlag, Berlin 1986, ISBN 978-3-372-00081-6
  • Christian Democrats heading into the 90s. Berlin 1988
  • with Kurt Nowak : Paul Gerhard Braune . A Christian indeed. 1988, ISBN 3-92246-357-6
  • Preacher for a just world. Berlin 1989
  • with Siegwart-Horst Günther : What does reverence for life mean? Encounter with Albert Schweitzer. Verlag Neues Leben, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-355-01709-4 .

literature

Web links

Commons : Gerald Götting  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Long-time head of the GDR CDU Gerald Götting dead. In: rbb-online.de. May 31, 2015, archived from the original ; accessed on May 31, 2015 .
  2. ↑ News about the former CDU , Federal Agency for Civic Education , accessed on March 4, 2019
  3. ^ Gerald Götting President of the League for Friendship of Nations . In: Neues Deutschland , November 2, 1976, p. 1.
  4. ^ GDR Committee for European Security and Cooperation Federal Archives under "Introduction"
  5. ↑ http://www.staat-kirche-forschung.de/Dokumente/Besuch%20in%20Lambarene.pdf
  6. ↑ http://www.adel-genealogie.de/CDU-Ost.html#Kapitel7
  7. ^ Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung: History of the CDU; Götting, Gerald Philologist, Chairman of the CDU in the GDR, President of the People's Chamber
  8. ↑ Stasi man Götting Der Spiegel September 23, 1991.
  9. ↑ See Christoph Wunnicke: The block parties of the GDR. Continuities and Transformation 1945–1990. Berlin 2014, pp. 34–43.
  10. ^ Letters from the Friedensfreund Mitteldeutsche Zeitung September 16, 2010.
personal data
SURNAME Götting, Gerald
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German politician (CDU of the GDR), MdV and President of the People's Chamber
DATE OF BIRTH June 9, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Nietleben , Saalkreis
DATE OF DEATH 19th May 2015
Place of death Berlin