Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ulbricht in 1960 just 7 year’s after Stalin died in 1953
General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
In office 25 July 1950 – 3 May 1971
Preceded by	Post jointly held by Wilhelm Pieck and Otto Grotewohl
Succeeded by	Erich Honecker
Chairman of the State Council of the German Democratic Republic
In office 12 September 1960 – 1 August 1973
Preceded by	Wilhelm Pieck As State President
Succeeded by	Willi Stoph
Personal details
Born	(1893-06-30)30 June 1893 Leipzig, Kingdom of Saxony, German Empire
Died	1 August 1973(1973-08-01) (aged 80) Groß Dölln, Templin, East Germany
Nationality	German
Political party	SPD (1912-1917) USPD (1917-1920) KPD (1920-1946) SED (1946-1973)
Spouse(s)	Martha Schmellinsky (1920 -?) Lotte Kühn (1953-1973)
Profession	Politician

Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (30 June 1893 – 1 August 1973) was a German communist politician. He was appointed leader of East Germany aka the German Democratic Republic in 1950 by Joseph Stalin and was leader until 1971 just 18 years after Stalin’s death in 1953. Walter Ulbricht worked for Joseph Stalin (leader 1924-1953),Nikita Khrushchev (leader 1953/1955-1964), and Leonid Brezhnev (leader 1964-1982) from 1950-1971. The Berlin Wall was built under his leadership.

Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD). He was a member of both the Landtag of Saxony and the Reichstag during the Weimar Republic.

Some time after Hitler's rise to power Ulbricht fled to France and later to the Soviet Union. As leader of the communist Ulbricht Group he returned to Berlin on April 30, 1945. He was the first secretary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED), and leading East Germany from 1950 to 1971.^[1] Following President Wilhelm Pieck's death in 1960, he was also the East German head of state until his own death in 1973.

As well as being a sports fanatic, Ulbricht considered himself an expert on architecture and urban planning, and was therefore responsible for the destruction of several ancient buildings in East Germany.

He was also involved in intellectual activities by writing a series of books about the history of the German labour movement.

• Extracts from Walter Ulbricht — A Life for Germany, an illustrated 1968 book on Ulbricht Archived 2011-05-14 at the Wayback Machine
• RFE/RL East German Subject Files: Communist Party Archived 2009-02-21 at the Wayback Machine Open Society Archives, Budapest

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