Hans Rietz

Hans Rietz (1960)

Hans Rietz (* 26. April 1914 in rounders ; † 25. May 1996 ) was an East German - politician and one of the highest ranking officials of the GDR block party DBD . For many years he was a member of the People's Chamber and at times deputy chairman of the State Council .

Life

Hans Rietz was born on April 26, 1914 as the son of a working-class family in Könnern. After attending elementary and middle school in Bitterfeld , he completed an apprenticeship as a locksmith from 1928 to 1932. When he started his apprenticeship, Rietz became a member of the KJVD and the German Metalworkers' Association. After completing his apprenticeship, Rietz worked as a locksmith at IG Farben in Wolfen until 1939, interrupted by 2 years of military service . After the start of the war he was first drafted into the Reich Labor Service (RAD) and later drafted into the Wehrmacht . He was taken prisoner of war by the Soviets on the Eastern Front in the rank of sergeant major . In the prisoner of war camp, Rietz became a member of the camp active and completed courses and training at an Antifa camp school. In 1949 he returned to Germany. It can be assumed that this return was linked to a willingness to assume a political function in the Soviet zone of occupation.

After his return to the Soviet occupation zone, Rietz became a professional politician. Due to the lack of suitable cadres, Rietz became a member of the DBD and immediately took on an important role for his party: he was appointed the first head of the central Thomas Münzer party school in Borkheide and helped to build this institution until 1951. Then he moved to the party executive committee and became a kind of cadre leader. Until 1957 he also headed the party arbitration tribunal for the first time. Rietz managed it again between 1977 and 1982. From 1954 to 1982 he was a member of the presidium of the party executive committee of the DBD. In 1963 Rietz was elected secretary for organization within the presidium and at the same time as deputy party chairman. He gave up his party offices in 1982, but remained a member of the People's Chamber. Rietz represented the DBD in the People's Chamber for the first time in 1954 and ended his membership in 1986 at the age of 72. In the 7th electoral term from 1976 to 1981 he represented his party in the Presidium of Parliament. From 1960 to 1976 he sat for the DBD in the State Council of the GDR and was one of the deputy state council chairmen. After his official retirement in 1979, Rietz devoted himself to popular solidarity from 1980 as a member of the Presidium and Central Committee . In 1990 he turned against a merger of the DBD with the CDU and thereby became non-party.

Awards

• 1964 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold
• 1970 Gold medal for the Patriotic Order of Merit
• 1974 Order of the Star of Friendship of Nations in gold
• 1979 Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold

literature

• Andreas Herbst (eds.), Winfried Ranke, Jürgen Winkler: This is how the GDR worked. Volume 1: Lexicon of organizations and institutions, departmental union management , League for Friendship between Nations (= rororo-Handbuch. Vol. 6348). Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-499-16348-9 .
• Siegfried Kuntsche:  Rietz, Hans . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Web links

Commons : Hans Rietz  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files