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Wolfgang Junker

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Wolfgang Junker
Junker in 1978
Minister for Construction
In office
14 November 1963 – 18 November 1989
Chairman of the
Council of Ministers
Preceded byErnst Scholz
Succeeded byGerhard Baumgärtel (Construction and Housing)
Volkskammer
Member of the Volkskammer
for Eisleben, Hettstedt, Sangerhausen
In office
29 October 1976 – 11 January 1990
Preceded bymulti-member district
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born
Wolfgang Junker

(1929-02-23)23 February 1929
Quedlinburg, Province of Saxony, Free State of Prussia, Weimar Republic (now Saxony-Anhalt, Germany)
Died9 April 1990(1990-04-09) (aged 61)
East Berlin, East Germany
Cause of deathSuicide by hanging
Political partySocialist Unity Party
(1949–1989)
Alma mater
  • Ingenieurschule für Bauwesen
Occupation
  • Politician
  • Civil Servant
  • Construction Manager
  • Bricklayer
Awards
Central institution membership
Other offices held
  • 1961–1963: First Deputy Minister,
    Ministry for Construction
  • 1958–1961: Director,
    VEB Industriebau Brandenburg
  • 1955–1957: Director,
    VEB Bagger- und Förderarbeiten Berlin

Wolfgang Junker (23 February 1929 – 9 April 1990) was a German construction manager, civil servant and politician of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

Starting in 1963, Junker served as the GDR's influential Construction Minister for over two decades, overseeing the country's massive housing programme and construction of the Palace of the Republic but also the deterioration of the historic inner cities in the 1970s and 1980s. He also was a member of the Central Committee of the SED.

He was forced out of office during the Peaceful Revolution and committed suicide in April 1990 after being indicted on abuse of office charges.

Life and career

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Early career

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Junker was a member of the Jungvolk and the Hitler Youth from 1939 to 1945.[1] After attending elementary and middle school, he completed an apprenticeship as a bricklayer in 1945 and worked in that profession until 1949 in Quedlinburg.[1][2][3]: 85–86 

In 1949, he joined the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) and studied at the Engineering School for Construction in Osterwieck until 1952. From 1952 to 1953, he was a construction manager during the construction of Stalinallee in Berlin,[1][2][3]: 86  and until 1954, at the Bau-Union Nord in Glowe.[1][3]: 86 

He then served as the director of several state-owned enterprises: from 1955 to 1957 of the VEB Excavation and Conveying Works Berlin and from 1958 to 1961 of the VEB Industrial Construction Brandenburg.[1][2][3]: 86 

Minister

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Junker joined the Ministry for Construction in 1961 as first deputy minister. He succeeded Ernst Scholz, who was appointed ambassador to the United Arab Republic, as minister in November 1963[1][2][3]: 86 [4] From 1972 to 1989, he was chairman of the GDR's delegation to and from 1973 also chairman of the permanent commission of Comecon for cooperation in construction.[1][3]: 87 

From April 1967 (VII. Party Congress) to 1971, he was a candidate member and from June 1971 (VIII. Party Congress) until its collective resignation in December 1989, a full member of the Central Committee of the SED.[1][2] He additionally became a member of the Volkskammer in 1976,[1] nominally representing a constituency in northwestern Bezirk Halle.[5][6]

Junker (center) alongside Erich Honecker (left of center) at the opening of the Palace of the Republic in April 1976

When Junker came to power, the GDR still suffered from a post-war housing shortage.[3]: 86  In 1971, new SED leader Erich Honecker proposed a massive housing programme, aiming to eliminate the GDR's housing shortage by 1990. While the official statistics for number of housing units built was greatly inflated, the programme was still considered a success and became the signature policy of Honecker, with 1.9 million housing units being built by 1988. At the same time, Junker's Ministry struggled to maintain the rate of construction in particular during the 1980s due to severe shortages of labor, machines and construction materials. Furthermore, the historic inner cities of the GDR were neglected in favor of Plattenbauten in new planned cities such as Halle-Neustadt and thus greatly deteriorated.[3]: 87 

Another signature project of Junker's tenure was the Palace of the Republic, constructed from 1973 to 1976.

In October 1979, Junker also became the first official government member of the GDR to visit the West Germany and held discussions with his counterpart, Federal Minister for Regional Planning, Building and Urban Development Dieter Haack and State Minister Hans-Jürgen Wischnewski.[1][7]

Junker was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold in 1969, the Honorary Clasp to this order in 1979, the Order of Karl Marx in 1976, the Star of Peoples' Friendship in Gold in 1984 and its Grand Star in 1989.[1]

Downfall and Death

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During the Peaceful Revolution, on 7 November 1989, he resigned alongside rest of the government led by Willi Stoph.[1][3]: 88  He was the longest-serving GDR minister at that time.[8]

Junker's grave in 2024

Afterward, fearing prosecution, Junker initially planned to flee to the Soviet Union with KoKo head Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski, but this was foiled when Schalck-Golodkowski instead defected to West Germany and became an BND informant.[3]: 84–85  The Volkskammer revoked his parliamentary immunity in January 1990, after which he was arrested and put in pre-trial detention in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen on suspicion of embezzlement of state funds and breach of the constitution.[1][3]: 88 [8][9]

He was accused of illicitly collecting 20,000 East German marks annually as an honorary member of the GDR Construction Academy.[8] He had also appointed SED leader Erich Honecker and his economics czar Günter Mittag as honorary members. The change of statutes allowing this was deemed unconstitutional, as only the GDR's finance minister could have made the appointments.[10] Additionally, it was alleged that he used funds from a reserve fund of his ministry to build private houses for SED officials.[8]

On 28 February, Junker was released due to his poor health condition,[8][3]: 88–89  his health having deteriorated significantly in prison.[3]: 88  On 9 April 1990, he committed suicide by hanging in his Berlin apartment.[1][3]: 88–89 [8][9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n "Junker, Wolfgang". www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de. Wer war wer in der DDR? (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. 2009. Retrieved 2024-04-06.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Wolfgang Junker". www.munzinger.de (in German). Munzinger-Archiv. Retrieved 2024-04-06.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Behling, Klaus (2016). "Plötzlich und unerwartet ...": Selbstmorde nach Wende und Einheit (3. Auflage ed.). Berlin: edition berolina. ISBN 978-3-95841-004-6.
  4. ^ Fritsch, Barbara, ed. (2013). "Bereich Minister". www.argus.bstu.bundesarchiv.de (in German). German Federal Archives. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
  5. ^ Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1981-1986 (PDF) (in German). VEB Staatsverlag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. 1982. p. 34. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
  6. ^ Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1986-1990 (PDF) (in German). VEB Staatsverlag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik. 1987. p. 34. Retrieved 2024-07-17.
  7. ^ "Ungewohnter Ton". Der Spiegel (in German). 1978-09-17. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2024-11-14.
  8. ^ a b c d e f "Ex-DDR-Minister Junker beging Suizid". Die Tageszeitung (in German). No. 3085. 1990-04-18. p. 1. ISSN 0931-9085. Retrieved 2024-04-06.
  9. ^ a b Appelius, Stefan (2010-09-17). "Selbstmorde nach der Wende". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  10. ^ Averesch, Sigrid (1994-01-27). "Weihnachtsgeld an die Genossen". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2024-11-16.
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