EAST GERMANY: The Last Cold Warrior

As East and West have moved toward détente, the symbols of the cold war have gradually disappeared. So have the cold warriors. The last of them was Walter Ulbricht, who died last week of heart failure at age 80 near East Berlin, from where he had ruled East Germany for a quarter-century. So ruthless was he in keeping the 17 million East Germans firmly in the Soviet camp that he was probably the most hated Communist Party leader in the world.

From April 30, 1945, when he returned to Germany from the Soviet Union (where he had spent the war years), Ulbricht was Moscow’s man. Tireless and ruthless, he copied much of the repressive Soviet system. As head of the German Democratic Republic, he stamped out all political opposition, attempted to repress religion, and introduced a Stalinist-style censorship of all publications, broadcasts and literature. East German schools became Marxist indoctrination centers.

Only once did Ulbricht face a serious threat to his power. It came in mid-1953 when East Germans grew resentful because of food shortages and police repression that had filled the jails with political prisoners. Instead of relaxing his grip, however, Ulbricht increased working quotas by 10%—and touched off a rebellion. East Berlin’s workers took to the streets for two days, shouting “Death to Ulbricht!” Only the intervention of Soviet tanks saved him. From that time on, the presence of at least 20 Russian divisions became a crucial prop of his regime.

Eight years later, Ulbricht faced a different kind of crisis. Since the end of the war, more than 3.6 million East German citizens had fled westward, attracted by higher living standards and greater freedom. Ulbricht acted to stop this flood on Aug. 13, 1961, by ordering his soldiers to seal off East Berlin with the infamous 27-mile Berlin Wall. It was cruelly effective: the mass exodus was stopped. Over the years police have killed and injured at least 168 East Germans trying to escape past the wall.

Ulbricht favored similarly harsh measures whenever he felt that orthodox Communist regimes elsewhere in Eastern Europe might permit greater internal freedoms. He championed Soviet intervention in Hungary in 1956 and was the first to denounce the liberal Communist regime of Alexander Dubcek in Czechoslovakia in 1968, earning the hatred of Hungarians and Czechs—but reinforcing his support from Moscow.

Envious East Europeans. Despite his repressive rule, Ulbricht accomplished much for which East Germans must be grateful. After the 1953 uprising, he directed the economy to produce more consumer goods. He recruited thousands of engineers and young technicians to manage the economy, encouraging them to use the most modern techniques and equipment. Today this “computer Communism,” as other East Europeans enviously call it, has thrust the G.D.R. into the ranks of the world’s top ten industrial nations. Its well-stocked supermarkets, the ready availability of many consumer goods such as refrigerators and television sets, and its modern housing complexes give its citizens the highest living standard of any Communist-run country in the world, although still considerably below West Germany’s lifestyle.

At first glance, Ulbricht did not look like the man destined to fulfill Lenin’s dream of extending Communism to Germany. Hardly charismatic, he was short and spoke with a squeaky voice and a rasping Saxon accent. With his steel-rimmed glasses and clipped Lenin beard, he looked more like a bureaucrat than a leader. His tastes were simple. He often referred to himself as a mere cabinetmaker’s apprentice, the craft he practiced before becoming a revolutionary during World War I. He used to enjoy meeting with farmers and sloshing through pigsties and muddy fields with them. He believed in the virtues of hard work, and personally emphasized the importance of scientists and technologists.

Lost Backing. Belying his outward simplicity was his great drive and cunning. Throughout the twists and turns of Communist Party history, he proved the ruthless loyalty that made him the trusted instrument of the Soviets. During the Spanish Civil War he went to Spain and helped liquidate the Communists who deviated from the Stalinist line. During the 1930s Ulbricht was suspected of fingering German Communists for Stalin’s bloody purges. He fought in the Battle of Stalingrad in his own way—by directing propaganda appeals to undermine the morale of the German soldiers. Sentimentality was foreign to him. Though he had a brother in New York City and a daughter by his first wife (he and his second wife Lotte had no children) in West Germany, he failed to get in touch with either of them during his last years.

In the end, Ulbricht’s crusty cold war stance against détente and West Germany’s Ostpolitik lost him some of Moscow’s backing. He found himself increasingly isolated and plagued by failing health. Two years ago he relinquished his post as party First Secretary, naming his longtime protégé Erich Honecker as his successor. Ulbricht retained the largely ceremonial office of Chief of State. Few Germans, East or West, will mourn his passing. Yet few can deny that Ulbricht alone was the architect of modern East Germany, whose separate existence the West Germans have finally accepted and 89 nations now recognize.