Walter Ulbricht

Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht 30 June 1893 1 August 1973 was a German communist politician Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimarera Communist Party of Germany KPD and later after spending the years of Nazi rule in exile in France and the Soviet Union in the early development and establishment of the German Democratic Republic in East Germany As the First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1950 to 1971 he was the chief decisionmaker in East Germany From President Wilhelm Piecks death in 1960 on he was also the East German head of state until his own death in 1973 As the firm leader of the strongest and most important Soviet satellite Ulbricht had a degree of bargaining power with the Kremlin that he used effectively For example he demanded the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961 when the Kremlin was reluctant Description above from the Wikipedia article Walter Ulbricht licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia