Margot Honecker

Also known as Margot Feist, Purple Witch

East German politician (1927-2016)

Person · Open Library

Works: 6

Top works

Der Volkswirtschaftsplan 1965 und die Aufgaben auf dem Gebiet des Bildungswesens
Zur Volksbildung
La otra Alemania, la RDA
The social function of our schools
Unser sozialistisches Bildungssystem

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Person
Gender: Male
Origin: East Germany
Active from: 1912-08-25
Active to: 1994-05-29

politician

Discography

Hammer Und Zirkel Im Ährenkranz1996

Discogs

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Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 1
Total plays: 1

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Academic profile · OpenAlex

0h-index

Works: 1
Cited by: 0

Research areas

Materials science

Most cited works

Dokument 389-4032013 · 0 cit

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Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

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Key facts

President: Erich Honecker
Preceded by: Alice Stoph
Succeeded by: Erika Krenz
Chairman of the council of ministers: Otto Grotewohl Horst Sindermann Willi Stoph
Deputy: See list Karl Dietzel Rudolf Parr Ernst Machacek Werner Engst Günther Fuchs Karl-Heinz Höhn
Born: Margot Feist , ( 1927-04-17 ) 17 April 1927, Halle (Saale) , Province of Saxony , Free State of Prussia , Weimar Republic (now Saxony-Anhalt , Germany )
Died: 6 May 2016 (2016-05-06) (aged 89), Santiago , Chile
Resting place: Parque del Recuerdo , Santiago
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: Erich Honecker ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1953 ; died 1994 )
Children: Sonja Honecker ( born</span>"}]]}'>b. 1952)
Occupation: Politician Civil Servant Commercial Clerk Telephone Operator
Awards: Patriotic Order of Merit Hero of Labour Order of Karl Marx Order of Rubén Darío

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Wikidata facts

Image: Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1986-0313-300, Margot Honecker, Minister für Volksbildung.jpg

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Commons category: Margot Honecker
date of birth: 1927-04-17
birth name: Margot Feist
date of death: 2016-05-06
name in native language: Margot Honecker

Sources (3)

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~16 min read

Article

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. 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. 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, and is considered to have "left a cruel legacy of separated families." Honecker also established highly controversial youth disciplinary institutions which housed several thousand juvenile offenders between 1964 and 1989, the most notorious of which was located at Torgau. 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.