Hans Modrow

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Hans Modrow

Hans Modrow (born January 27, 1928) is a German politician, best known as the last communist premier of East Germany. He currently is the honorary Chairman of the Left Party.

Modrow was born in Jasenitz, Prussian Pomerania, today as Jasienica part of the town of Police, Poland. He briefly served in the Volkssturm towards the end of World War II and was subsequently held as a prisoner of war. Upon release in 1949, he joined the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

Modrow had a long political career in East Germany, including periods as the First Secretary of the SED in Dresden in 1973 and as a member of the Volkskammer. He became premier following the resignation of Willi Stoph on November 13, 1989. After the ousting of Egon Krenz as leader of the Socialist Unity Party on December 7, Modrow became the de facto leader of East Germany, even though he did not become leader of the renamed Party of Democratic Socialism. Modrow remained premier until the elections on March 18, 1990.

After the German reunification, Modrow served as a member of the Bundestag and currently serves as a member of the European Parliament.

In 1993 the German Federal Court found Modrow guilty on three counts of electoral fraud committed in the Dresden municipal elections in May 1989.

In February 2008, following the news that Fidel Castro was abandoning power in Cuba, the press reported that Modrow was in the Caribbean island on an invitation extended by the Cuban government to discuss the experiences of East Germany’s transition to capitalism. He plans to stay there until April, 2008.^[1]