Julius Balkow

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Julius Balkow (born August 26, 1909 in Berlin , † July 19, 1973 in East Berlin ) was a resistance fighter against National Socialism and Minister for Foreign Trade and Internal German Trade in the GDR . From 1963 to 1973 he was a member of the Central Committee of the SED .

Life

Balkow was born the son of a carpenter and a machine knitter. After attending primary and secondary school , he completed an apprenticeship as a machine fitter from 1926 to 1929 and then worked in this profession at HF ​​Eckert Landmaschinen Berlin. After evening studies from 1927 to 1931 at the Technikum Barth in Berlin, he was an engineer for general mechanical engineering. Balkow joined the Socialist Workers' Youth in 1926 , became a member of the SPD in 1931 and later the SAP .

In 1933 Balkow broke with the SAP. Between 1933 and 1937 he had contacts with the Revolutionary Socialists group . In 1935 he was interrogated several times by the Gestapo . From 1937 Balkow was an engineer at Siemens and worked illegally for the group around Anton Saefkow ( code name : Bruno Hoffmann ). On July 20, 1944, Balkow was arrested by the Gestapo and in December sentenced to seven years in prison by the People's Court "for favoring the enemy and preparing for high treason " . Until he was liberated by the Red Army in April 1945, he was imprisoned in Brandenburg prison.

In 1945 he joined the KPD and became a member of the SED in 1946 when the SPD and KPD were forced to merge. From May to November 1945 he was dispatcher in the Berlin-Prenzlauer Berg district office , then mayor and KPD instructor of Trebbin / Ludwigsfelde . In 1946/1947 he was first secretary of the SED district leadership in Teltow and there a member of the district assembly . After studying social sciences at the University of Leipzig (1947-1949), which he graduated with a degree in economics, Balkow was from September 1949 a personal assistant to the head of the central regional technology and in 1950/51 a member of the SED district leadership Berlin-Mitte . From January 1951 he worked at the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Internal German Trade , initially as head of the main department for China , then from 1954 as head of the main department for trade policy with the socialist countries. In 1956 he became Deputy Minister - responsible for general mechanical engineering - and was finally Minister for Foreign and Internal German Trade from 1961 to March 1965. From March 1965 to November 1967 he was deputy chairman of the GDR Council of Ministers . From 1963 until his death he was a member of the Central Committee of the SED . Balkow was also a representative of the GDR in the executive committee of the Comecon .

Balkow was also a member of the People's Chamber from 1963 to 1973 and there from 1971 to 1973 deputy chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

From 1967 he was Vice President of the League for Friendship of Nations and from 1971 President of the German-Belgian Society in the GDR .

Awards

Balkow was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze and silver, the GDR Medal of Merit , the Medal for Fighters Against Fascism 1933 to 1945 (1958) and the Labor Banner (1969).

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Balkow, Julius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German SED functionary, MdV, Minister for Foreign Trade and Internal German Trade of the GDR
DATE OF BIRTH August 26, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH 19th July 1973
Place of death East Berlin