| Gerald Götting | |
|---|---|
| President of the Volkskammer | |
| In office 1969–1976 |
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| Preceded by | Johannes Dieckmann |
| Succeeded by | Horst Sindermann |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 June 1923 Nietleben, Germany |
| Political party | Christian Democratic Union |
| Profession | Politician |
Gerald Götting (born 9 June 1923) is a former East German Christian Democratic (CDU) politician.
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Götting was born in Nietleben, Province of Saxony, now part of Halle/Saale. During World War II, he served in the Reichsarbeitsdienst, an auxiliary support and supply organization, and later in the Wehrmacht. He was briefly held as a prisoner of war by US forces in 1945.
In 1946, Götting joined the East German Christian Democratic Union, a christian-democratic party. He then spent two years at the Martin Luther University of Halle, where he studied German studies, history and philology.
In 1949, Götting became General Secretary of the CDU and, after the establishment in the Soviet Zone of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), began his career as a member of the People's Chamber (Volkskammer), the East German legislative body, in which he served for the next forty years. During that time, Götting came to hold a number of influential positions within the East German state: from 1949 to 1963, he served as the Chairman of the CDU faction in the People's Chamber; from 1958 to 1963 as Deputy Prime Minister of the GDR; and from 1963 to November 1989 Götting served as Deputy Chairman of the Council of State, a position equivalent in rank to the vice-presidency of the GDR. Götting also served as Chairman of the People's Chamber from 1969 to 1976 and as its Vice-Chairman from 1969 to 1989. Finally, Götting was elected Chairman of the CDU at its 1966 party congress. As chairman, he worked closely with the other parties that formed the National Front and with the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, and during his party leadership published brochures exploring the relationship between Christianity and socialism.
Götting held a number of other positions in East German society. From 1961 to 1969, Götting was Vice-President of the German-African Society, and from 1963 he was a member of the Albert Schweitzer Committee. He visited with Schweitzer twice, which meetings he recorded and publicized in his book “Begegnungen mit Albert Schweitzer“. In 1976, Götting was elected Chairman of the People's Friendship League of the GDR.
On 2 November 1989, just days before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Götting was forced to resign as Chairman of the CDU. Five days later he stepped down from his position as a member of the Council of State, too. In December Götting was arrested, but released in February 1990. He was later charged with stealing the party funds and was expelled from the CDU in February 1991.
...here is our fatherland, to which we are tied and which we actively design...—On a meeting of the leadership of the CDU (East Germany) on August 22, 1989, Die Transformation der DDR-Blockparteien während und nach der politischen Wende[1]
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