Otto Winzer

Otto Winzer (3 April 1902 – 3 March 1975) was an East German diplomat who served as East Germany's Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1965 to 1975.

Otto Winzer
Winzer in 1972
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the German Democratic Republic
In office 1965–1975
Preceded by	Lothar Bolz
Succeeded by	Oskar Fischer
Personal details
Born	3 April 1902 Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
Died	3 March 1975 (aged 72) East Berlin, German Democratic Republic
Nationality	German
Political party	Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
Profession	Typesetter

Biography

Winzer was born in Berlin in 1902.[1] He was a son of worker. Otto Winzer learned the typesetter craft.[1]

In 1919, he became a member of the Communist Party of Germany.[1] Then he became the head of Communist Youth publication. He was involved in underground activities against Adolf Hitler's regime from 1933 to 1935.[1] In 1935, Winzer went to the Soviet Union, and he stayed there until the end of World War II. During World War II, he used the code name Lorenz.[1] He returned from exile in the Soviet Union as part of the Ulbricht Group, charged with setting up the Soviet Military Administration in Germany after World War II in April 1945.[2]

Winzer joined the Socialist Unity Party, the East German communist party, in 1946, and he became a member of its central committee in 1946.[3] He was named the deputy editor of the party's official paper Neues Deutschland in 1949.[4] Winzer was Secretary of State from 1949 to 1956 and First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1956 to 1965.[3] He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1965 to 1975. He was removed from his post due to ill health[5] and died at age 72 on 3 March 1975.[6]

Awards and decorations

• Patriotic Order of Merit (1955 and 1972)
• Order of Karl Marx (1962)
• Grand Star of People's Friendship (1975)
• Otto-Winzer-Straße in Berlin-Marzahn (1978–1992, now Mehrower Allee)
• Officer College of the National People's Army, for foreign military cadres, in Prora on Rügen was named after him (1981–1990)
• The international school of the East German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Königs Wusterhausen bore his name

References

1. "Otto Winzer". Die Zeit. 13 December 1963. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
2. "Die Tätigkeit der "Gruppe Ulbricht" in Berlin von April bis Juni 1945" German Federal Archives. Retrieved 22 November 2011 (in German)
3. "Winzer, Otto". The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
4. "Ex-E. Diplomat dies". The Telegraph. Berlin. United Press International. 4 March 1975. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
5. "E. German Post Goes to Fischer". Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Berlin. NYT. 21 January 1975. Retrieved 3 September 2012.
6. "Dies at 73". The Tuscaloosa News. 4 March 1975. Retrieved 3 September 2012.