Horst Koehler (diplomat)

Horst Köhler (born May 21, 1924 in Chemnitz ; † May 20, 1984 ) was a German diplomat . He was ambassador of the GDR in Somalia and in several countries in southern Africa .

Life

Köhler did military service in the Wehrmacht after visiting teacher training institutions . After 1945 he worked in the school service and became a member of the SED .

From the beginning of the 1960s he was an employee of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the GDR (MfAA). From 1961 to 1965 he was an employee of the Consulate General in Cairo , then Third Secretary at the Embassy in Zanzibar and Vice Consul at the Consulate General in Tanzania .

Köhler then began studying history at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig , graduating in 1970 with a degree in history. He then worked as a sector manager for African and Arab countries or as a deputy head of department in the “International Relations” department of the FDGB's federal board .

From 1974 he worked again for the MfAA. From 1974 to 1978 he was ambassador of the GDR in the Somali capital Mogadishu , from May 1979 ambassador in Lusaka ( Zambia ) and from November 1979 second accredited in Botswana and Lesotho . He died the day before his 60th birthday.

Awards

• Medal of Merit of the GDR
• Patriotic Order of Merit in Bronze (1978)

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. 162.
• 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 , pp. 414-415.
• Siegfried Bock , Ingrid Muth , Hermann Schwiesau: The GDR foreign policy, an overview. Data, facts, people (III) . LIT Verlag Dr. W. Hopf, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-643-10559-2 , p. 322 and passim.