Back Margot Honecker Afrikaans مارجوت هونيكر Arabic مارجوت هونيكر ARZ Margot Honecker Catalan Margot Honeckerová Czech Margot Honecker Danish Margot Honecker German Μάργκοτ Χόνεκερ Greek Margot Honecker Esperanto Margot Honecker Spanish
Margot Honecker | |
|---|---|
 Honecker in 1986 | |
| First Lady of the German Democratic Republic | |
| In role 29 October 1976 – 18 October 1989 | |
| President | Erich Honecker |
| Preceded by | Alice Stoph |
| Succeeded by | Erika Krenz |
| Minister of People's Education | |
| In office 14 November 1963 – 2 November 1989 | |
| Chairman of the Council of Ministers | |
| Deputy | See list
|
| Preceded by | Alfred Lemmnitz |
| Succeeded by | Günther Fuchs (acting) |
| Chairman of the Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation | |
| In office December 1949 – August 1955 | |
| Preceded by | Kurt Morgenstern |
| Succeeded by | Heinz Plöger |
| Member of the Volkskammer for Halle/Saale, Halle-Neustadt[1] | |
| In office 15 October 1950 – 16 November 1989 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Elke Gerhardt |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Margot Feist 17 April 1927 Halle (Saale), Province of Saxony, Free State of Prussia, Weimar Republic (now Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) |
| Died | 6 May 2016 (aged 89) Santiago, Chile |
| Resting place | Parque del Recuerdo, Santiago |
| Political party | Communist Party of Germany (1990) (1990–2016) |
| Other political affiliations | Party of Democratic Socialism (1989–1990) Socialist Unity Party (1946–1989) Communist Party of Germany (1945–1946) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | Sonja Honecker (b. 1952) |
| Residence(s) | Santiago, Chile |
| Occupation |
|
| Awards | |
Central institution membership
Other offices held
| |
Margot Honecker (née Feist; 17 April 1927 – 6 May 2016) was an East German politician and influential member of the country's Communist government until 1989. From 1963 until 1989, she was Minister of National Education (Ministerin für Volksbildung) of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). She was married to Erich Honecker, leader of East Germany's ruling Socialist Unity Party from 1971 to 1989 and concurrently from 1976 to 1989 the country's head of state.
Margot Honecker was widely referred to as the "Purple Witch" ("Lila Hexe" in German) for her tinted hair and hardline Stalinist views.[2] She was responsible for the enactment of the "Uniform Socialist Education System" in 1965 and mandatory military training in schools to prepare pupils for a future war with the west.[3] She was alleged to have been responsible for the regime's forced adoption of children of jailed dissidents or people who attempted to flee the GDR,[4] and is considered to have "left a cruel legacy of separated families."[3] Honecker also established prison-like institutions for children, including a camp at Torgau known as "Margot's concentration camp."[5] She was one of the few spouses of a ruling Communist Party leader who held significant power in her own right, as her prominence in the regime predated her husband's ascension to the leadership of the SED.
Following the downfall of the communist regime in 1990, Honecker fled to the Soviet Union with her husband to avoid criminal charges from the government of reunified Germany.[6] Their asylum pleas were never acted upon in light of similar problems befalling the Soviet government. Fearing extradition to Germany, they took refuge in the Chilean embassy in Moscow in 1991, but the following year her husband was extradited to Germany by Yeltsin's Russian government to face criminal trial, and detained in the Moabit prison.[7][8] Margot Honecker then fled[9] from Moscow to Chile to avoid a similar fate.[10] At the time of her death, she lived in Chile with her daughter Sonja.
- ^ Schmidt, Arthur. "Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1986-1990, Seite 33" (PDF). gvoon.de. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
- ^ Honecker's widow belittles Berlin Wall victims, Reuters; Kate Connolly (2 April 2012). "Margot Honecker defends East German dictatorship". The Guardian.;"Exile in Chile: Former East German Leader's Wife Is Homesick". Der Spiegel. 7 February 2012.;"Purple witch decries fall of the Wall". The Scotsman.; Sven Felix Kellerhoff (16 April 2007). "Margot Honecker: Die meistgehasste Frau der DDR". Die Welt.; "Margot Honecker, Widow of East German Ruler, Dies at 89". The New York Times. 7 May 2016.
- ^ a b Tony Paterson (10 November 2009). "Dictator's wife defiant over forced adoptions". The Independent.
- ^ "Margot Honecker, communist – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. London. 9 May 2016.
- ^ Reuters Editorial (7 May 2016). "East Germany's 'Purple Witch' Margot Honecker dies in Chile aged 89". Reuters UK. Archived from the original on 8 May 2016.
{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ "No apologies: Honecker′s widow breaks silence". Deutsche Welle. 4 April 2012.
- ^ "Honecker Flown to Berlin to Face Criminal Trial". The New York Times. 30 July 1992.
- ^ "Germans rip Honecker's wife for not standing by him". tribunedigital-baltimoresun.
- ^ "Margot Honecker, the 'Purple Witch' of East Germany, dies aged 89". The Daily Telegraph. London. 7 May 2016.
- ^ "Margot Honecker flies from Moscow to Chile". UPI. 30 July 1992.