Hans-Joachim Heusinger (7 April 1925 – 26 June 2019) was a German politician and party functionary of the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD).
Hans-Joachim Heusinger | |||||||||||||
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Minister of Justice | |||||||||||||
In office 16 October 1972 – 11 January 1990 | |||||||||||||
Chairman of the Council of Ministers |
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Preceded by | Kurt Wünsche | ||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Kurt Wünsche | ||||||||||||
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Personal details | |||||||||||||
Born | Hans-Joachim Heusinger 7 April 1925 Leipzig, Free State of Saxony, Weimar Republic (now Germany) | ||||||||||||
Died | 26 June 2019 Berlin, Germany | (aged 94)||||||||||||
Political party | Association of Free Democrats (1990) | ||||||||||||
Other political affiliations | Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (1947–1990) | ||||||||||||
Alma mater |
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Occupation |
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Other offices held
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In the German Democratic Republic, he served as the longtime Minister of Justice until having to step down during the Peaceful Revolution.
Life and career
editEarly career
editThe son of a worker, he completed training as an electrician from 1939 to 1942 after attending elementary school and was a soldier in the Wehrmacht until 1945.[1]
From 1945 to 1951, he worked as an electrician and cable fitter.[1]
Bloc party politician
editEarly career
editHeusinger joined the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD), an East German bloc party beholden to the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED), in 1947.[1][2][3][4]
Heusinger initially became active in local politics. From 1951 to 1952, he was a member of the council of the Leipzig-Mitte district. From 1952 to 1957, he was a secretary of the Bezirk Leipzig LDPD. From 1953 to 1959, he was a deputy of the Bezirk Leipzig and Bezirk Cottbus district assemblies and a member of the Bezirk government.[1]
From 1955 to 1960, he pursued distance learning at the German Academy for Political Science and Law (DASR) “Walter Ulbricht” in Potsdam, de facto a Marxist-Leninist cadre factory of the SED,[5] earning a degree in law (Dipl.-Jur.). From 1957 to 1959, Heusinger subsequently served as chairman of the Bezirk Cottbus LDPD and as director of the Cottbus Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Since 1957, he additionally was a member of the central board of the LDPD and its political committee.[1][2][3][4]
From 1959 to 1973, he was a secretary of the LDPD central board.[1][3][4]
From 1958 to 1961, he was also a candidate for succession and from 1961, succeeding the deceased Hans Loch, to 1990 a member of the Volkskammer,[1][2] nominally representing a constituency in southern Bezirk Potsdam.[6] Heusinger initially was a member of the legal committee, and from 1963 to 1973 a member of the committee for industry, construction, and transport.[1][2]
Minister
editIn October 1972, he was made Minister of Justice of the GDR,[1][2][3][4][7] succeeding his party colleague Kurt Wünsche,[1][8][9] who was fired for being critical of SED leader Erich Honecker's push for a complete nationalization of the GDR's remaining small businesses.[10]
He additionally became Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers,[1][3][4] though he did not have an office in the Council of Ministers' building,[3] the bloc party's deputy chairman titles being symbolic. From 1972 to 1980, he also was deputy chairman of the LDPD.[1][2][3][4]
The head of the main department responsible for legislation during Heusinger's tenure was Justice Councilor Gustav-Adolf Lübchen.
Heusinger was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver in 1967, in gold in 1975 and the honor clasp to this order in 1985.[1][4]
Peaceful Revolution
editDuring the Wende, Heusinger was one of only a few Ministers kept by the new transitional government of Hans Modrow, though he did lose the deputy chairman title.[1][3][11][12] However, Heusinger's previous loyalty to the SED proved to be a problem, prompting Modrow to fire him in January 1990.[1][3][4][10][13] His successor was Wünsche, who continued to head the Justice Ministry even in the GDR's last government, the only freely elected one.[8]
The LDP, its new name after being renamed in February 1990, joined forces with the other liberal parties in the GDR to form the Association of Free Democrats (BFD).[14] Heusinger left the BFD in April 1990.[1][2][4]
Reunified Germany
editAfter German reunification, Heusinger became active in the Society for Legal and Humanitarian Assistance (German: Gesellschaft zur Rechtlichen und Humanitären Unterstützung) (GRH),[1][2] a historical negationist lobbying group for former GDR functionaries accused of political repression.[2] In August 2007, Heusinger gave a speech at an event of the German Communist Party (DKP).[1]
Heusinger passed away in 2019 at the age of 94.[15]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Heusinger, Hans-Joachim". www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. 2009. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Chronik-Biographie: Hans-Joachim Heusinger". www.chronikderwende.de (in German). Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Grünspek, Evelyn; Kohn, Andreas; Salopiata, Maria, eds. (2011). "Ministerrat der DDR. - Regierungen bis November 1989. - Teil 2: Stellvertreter des Ministerpräsidenten bzw. der Vorsitzenden des MR (einschließlich Erste Stellvertreter)". www.argus.bstu.bundesarchiv.de (in German). German Federal Archives. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Baumgartner, Gabriele; Hebig, Dieter, eds. (1996). Biographisches Handbuch der SBZ/DDR, 1945-1990 (in German). München : New Providence: K.G. Saur. pp. 315f. ISBN 978-3-598-11130-3.
- ^ Appelius, Stefan (2009-08-29). "DDR-Kaderschmiede". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1986-1990 (PDF) (in German). p. 39.
- ^ "Hans-Joachim Heusinger in Funktion eingeführt". www.nd-archiv.de (in German). Neues Deutschland. 1972-10-17. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ a b "Wünsche, Kurt". www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. 2009. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ Nawrocki, Joachim (1972-10-20). "Zur Einreise ausgebürgert". Die Zeit (in German). No. 42/1972. ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ a b Fleck, Hans-Georg. "Tilman Pohlmann (Hrsg.): Die LDPD und das sozialistische "Mehrparteiensystem" in der DDR" (PDF). Jahrbuch zur Liberalismus-Forschung (in German) (2/2021). Bad Honnef: Friedrich Naumann Foundation: 3.
- ^ "Neue DDR-Regierung gewählt". Die Tageszeitung (in German). 1989-11-20. p. 6. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ "Rauhe Zeiten". Der Spiegel (in German). 1989-12-24. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ "Die Reformierung des Justizwesens". Deutsche Einheit 1990 (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ Schmieder, Jenny (2020-03-05). "Bund Freier Demokraten". Wilhelm-Külz-Stiftung (in German). Retrieved 2024-05-26.
- ^ "Hans-Joachim Heusinger (1925-2019)". saebi.isgv.de (in German). Institut für Sächsische Geschichte und Volkskunde e. V. Retrieved 2024-05-26.