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Siegfried Böhm

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Siegfried Böhm
Minister of Finance of the German Democratic Republic
In office
12 December 1966 – 5 May 1980
Prime Minister
Preceded byWilly Rumpf
Succeeded byWerner Schmieder
Personal details
Born20 August 1928
Plauen, Weimar Republic
Died4 May 1980(1980-05-04) (aged 51)
Berlin-Karlshorst, German Democratic Republic
NationalityGerman
Political partySocialist Unity Party of Germany (1948-)

Siegfried Böhm (20 August 1928 – 4 May 1980) was an East German politician and long-term finance minister of East Germany. He was in office for nearly fourteen years between 1966 and 1980.

Biography

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Böhm was born in Plauen on 20 August 1928.[1] He received a degree in economics.[2]

Böhm was appointed the finance minister in December 1966, succeeding Willy Rumpf in the post.[2] Böhm's term lasted until 1980.[1] He was among the central committee members of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.[3] He was also a member of the Working Group Balance of Payments from 1974 to 1980.[1] Böhm was one of the first officials who alerted the East German authorities about the negative consequences of the indebtedness to the Western countries.[1][4] He also criticized the illegal currency and gold transactions carried out in the country.[5]

Böhm died at his home in Berlin-Karlshorst on 4 May 1980.[1][6] The East German officials reported on the next day that his wife shot him during a quarrel and then she committed suicide.[3][7] The official paper Neues Deutschland argued that Böhm and his wife died in an accident without giving any further details about the incident.[8] One week later their children issued an obituary in a state-controlled paper.[8]

Böhm was buried in a state ceremony.[8] He was succeeded by Werner Schmieder as finance minister in June 1980.[9][10]

It was revealed in 2003 as a result of the investigations that Böhm was in fact killed by an East German hit squad due to his potential reports about the bankruptcy faced in East Germany.[7] His wife was also murdered by the squad to fabricate the official story of his death.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "Siegfried Böhm". European University Institute. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  2. ^ a b Ursula Hoffmann-Lange (1971). Die Veränderungen in der Sozialstruktur des Ministerrates der DDR: 1949-1969 (in German). Düsseldorf: Droste Verlag. pp. 54, 60. ISBN 978-3-7700-0281-8.
  3. ^ a b "Rätsel um Tod eines DDR-Ministers". LR Online (in German). 26 November 2003. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  4. ^ Maximilian Graf (2020). "Drifting Westward? East Germany and Integrated Europe". In Angela Romano; Federico Romero (eds.). European Socialist Regimes' Fateful Engagement with the West: National Strategies in the Long 1970s. London; New York: Taylor & Francis. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-00-021035-4.
  5. ^ Andreas Förster (27 September 2003). "Bundesanwaltschaft ermittelt im Fall Siegfried Böhm / SED-Politiker war 1980 erschossen worden: DDR-Killerkommando soll Minister getötet haben". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Berlin. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Questions over death squad". news24. Berlin. 29 September 2003. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  7. ^ a b c "East German leaders' hit squad revealed". The Sydney Morning Herald. Deutsche Presse-Agentur. 29 September 2003. Archived from the original on 27 February 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  8. ^ a b c "East Germans Hush Up Killing of Official and Wife". The New York Times. 5 June 1980. p. A9. ProQuest 423949775. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  9. ^ "Was War am 22. Mai 1980" (in German). Chroniknet. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  10. ^ Peter Joachim Lapp (2013). Der Ministerrat der DDR: Aufgaben, Arbeitsweise und Struktur der anderen deutschen Regierung (in German). Opladen: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. p. 137. ISBN 978-3-322-88734-4.
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Political offices
Preceded by Finance Minister of East Germany
1966–1980 		Succeeded by
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