Horst Wenzel (politician)

Horst Wenzel (born October 18, 1921 in Weißbach ) is a former German politician ( SED ). He was chairman of the council of the Gera district in the GDR .

Life

Wenzel, son of a milling cutter and a housewife , attended elementary school in Chemnitz . Between June 1935 and October 1938 he attended vocational school and completed an apprenticeship as a tool fitter at Auto Union in Chemnitz. From October 1938 to April 1939 he was committed to the Reich Labor Service and from April 1939 to May 1945 to military service in the Wehrmacht . As a corporal, he was taken prisoner by the US . After eight weeks of imprisonment in the Mauerkirchen camp ( Austria ), Wenzel returned to Chemnitz.

From July 1945 to June 1946 Wenzel worked as a tool fitter in the Reichsbahn repair shop in Chemnitz. In April 1946 he joined the SPD and then became a member of the SED. From June to October 1946 he attended the preparatory college in Chemnitz and passed his Abitur . From October 1946 to January 1952, Wenzel studied economics at the Technical University of Dresden , graduating with a degree in economics. In 1947/48 he was the first chairman of the student council there.

From February 1952 to 1953 Wenzel was assistant to the works director, from 1953 to March 1955 group leader in the pre-planning and technology department, most recently deputy chief technologist at the Eisenhüttenkombinat Eisenhüttenstadt . From March 1955 to September 1957 he was department head or secretary of the SED district leadership in Eisenhüttenstadt. From September 1957 to July 1958 he studied at the SED party college "Karl Marx" and then worked from July 1958 to October 1963 as secretary for economics and head of the office for industry and construction of the SED district leadership in Saalfeld .

From October 1963 to May 1965 Wenzel acted as first deputy chairman, from May to November 1965 then as acting chairman and finally from November 1965 to March 1973 as chairman of the council of the Gera district. In 1973 he resigned for health reasons. From October 1963, Wenzel was also a member of the Gera district assembly and from March 1967 to March 1973 a member of the SED district leadership secretariat.

Awards

• Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze (1969), silver (1971) and gold (1981)

literature

• Günther Buch: names and dates. Biographies of important people in the GDR. Dietz, Berlin (West) / Bonn-Bad Godesberg 1973, ISBN 3-8012-0020-5 , p. 311.
• Andreas Herbst :  Wenzel, Horst . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
• Mario Niemann , Andreas Herbst : SED squad: The middle level. Biographical encyclopedia of the secretaries of the state and district managements, the prime ministers and the chairmen of the district councils 1946 to 1989 . 1st edition. Ferdinand Schöningh, 2010, ISBN 978-3-506-76977-0 , p. 516 f .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Patriotic Order of Merit in gold to the former chairman of the Gera district council . In: Neues Deutschland , October 6, 1981, p. 2.