Gustav Hertzfeldt

Gustav Hertzfeldt (born June 4, 1928 in Berlin ; † March 13, 2005 ) was a German politician , journalist and diplomat . He was the GDR's ambassador to the People's Republic of China and deputy foreign minister of the GDR.

Life

Hertzfeldt was born out of wedlock to a small employee in Berlin. Since his father was Jewish , he was persecuted by the National Socialists "for racial reasons". He was detained several times and had to do forced labor as a teenager. At the age of 14 he went illegally. Children of communists had warned him of the threat of being deported to the extermination camp , and it was also communist families who hid him at risk for their own lives. Hertzfeldt was one of the few Jews who survived the Nazi rule in Berlin illegally.

After the war ended in 1945, he worked as a carpenter in the youth emergency service. Hertzfeld was a founding member of the Antifa Youth and the Free German Youth . In 1945 he joined the KPD and Hertzfeldt was the youngest delegate at the unification congress of the KPD and SPD to the SED . From 1947 to 1949 he worked as a journalist for the Berliner Rundfunk and then until 1962 as an employee in the editorial team of the theoretical journal of the Central Committee of the SED “ Unity ” and specialized in foreign policy. In the meantime, from 1954 to 1957, he studied at the party college at the Central Committee of the CPSU in Moscow , graduating as a social scientist .

In 1962 he joined the diplomatic service of the GDR. From 1962 to 1965 Hertzfeldt was Consul General of the GDR in Jakarta . From 1966 to 1969 he was one of the deputies of the Foreign Minister and then represented the GDR from March 1969 to 1973 as ambassador in Beijing . Herzfeldt took office at the time of the military conflict between the PRC and the USSR on the Ussuri . From 1973 to 1983 he was editor-in-chief of the magazine "Deutsche Außenpolitik", the organ of the GDR foreign ministry.

After the “ Wende ”, Hertzfeldt continued to be politically active - in the communist platform of the PDS , in the association of those persecuted by the Nazi regime - Bund der Antifaschistinnen und Antifaschisten eV and in the association Society for the Protection of Citizens' Rights and Human Dignity .

Fonts (selection)

• National question and class question in the Arab countries . In: Einheit , Heft 4 (1959), pp. 564-570
• Two German states - two lines of foreign policy . In: Einheit , Heft 10 (1959), pp. 1308-1324.
• (together with Paul Markowski ): Some problems of the national liberation movement . In Einheit , Heft 19 (1960), pp. 1586-1601.
• (together with Jochen Radde ): National democracy - objective content of the current national liberation movement . In: Einheit , Heft 11/12 (1961).
• Subjectivism and Geopolitics or Realities and Science? (On the “ superpower ” thesis) . In: Deutsche Außenpolitik , heft 5 (1974), pp. 1095–1116.
• "The superpower" thesis and the goals of its proponents . In: horizont , 7 (1974), No. 45, pp. 8-9.
• Vietnam , Asia and world peace . In: German Foreign Policy , Issue 7 (1975), pp. 1007-1026.
• Maoist foreign policy from an imperialist perspective . In: Deutsche Außenpolitik , Heft 9 (1976), pp. 1361-1373.
• The "3 Worlds" of Mao Tse-tung . A conception against peace and socialism In: Deutsche Außenpolitik , Heft 10 (1978), pp. 110–118.
• The Leninist theory of imperialism - a signpost in the struggle for peace and social progress . In: Deutsche Außenpolitik , Heft 4 (1980), pp. 23–38.
• (together with Bernd Kaufmann ): China- USA . On the foreign policy strategy and tactics of the Chinese leadership . In: Deutsche Außenpolitik , Heft 6 (1981), pp. 123-127.
• Asia - factor of peace or arena of confrontation? In: German Foreign Policy , Issue 11 (1981), pp. 40–60.
• Taiwan and Sino-US Relations . In: Deutsche Außenpolitik , Heft 3 (1983), pp. 41–49.

Awards

• Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze (1969) and in silver (1978)
• Order of the Star of Friendship of Nations in Silver (1988)

literature

• Walter Osten: The foreign policy of the GDR. In the field of tension between Moscow and Bonn . Verlag CW Leske, Opladen 1969, pp. 90 and 105.
• Günther Buch: Names and dates of important people in the GDR. 4th, revised and expanded edition. Dietz, Berlin (West) / Bonn 1987, ISBN 3-8012-0121-X , p. 122.
• Werner Meissner (Hrsg.): The GDR and China 1949 to 1990. Politics, economy, culture . Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1995, pp. 145, 169, 175 and 456.
• Ragna Boden: The Limits of World Power. Soviet policy towards Indonesia from Stalin to Brežnev . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, pp. 95, 149, 218, 230, 308f., 315 and 332.
• Siegfried Bock , Ingrid Muth , Hermann Schwiesau: The GDR foreign policy, an overview. Data, facts, people (III) . LIT Verlag Dr. W. Hopf, Berlin 2010, p. 313.
• Andreas Herbst :  Gustav Hertzfeldt . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Web links

• GDR. Sharp corner. The SED is attacking Mao's China more violently than ever before. The attack on the Far East is aimed at its own comrades who have proven susceptible to Chinese slogans . In: Der Spiegel , 8/1972, p. 44f.
• Entry in the Munzinger archive.
• From the obituary for Gustav Hertzfeldt. A life shaped by the liberation by the Red Army . In: Arbeiterpolitik, No. 4 (May 2005) (PDF; 832 kB), p. 9f.