{{Short description|German politician (1921–1990)}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Alfred Rohde | honorific_suffix = | image = | image_size = | caption = | order = | office = First Secretary of the<br />Socialist Unity Party at SDAG Wismut | 1blankname = {{nowrap|Second Secretary}} | 1namedata = {{unbulleted list|Heinz Freitag}} | term_start = 5 February 1971 | term_end = 12 November 1989 | predecessor = Kurt Kieß | successor = Heinz Freitag {{Collapsed infobox section begin |last=yes |Volkskammer |titlestyle=border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder |embed=yes | office1 = Member of the Volkskammer <br /> for Aue, Stollberg | term_start1 = 26 November 1971 | term_end1 = 16 November 1989 | predecessor1 = Wolfgang Rauchfuß | successor1 = Jochen Thiele{{Collapsed infobox section end}}}} | birth_name = Alfred Rohde | birth_date = {{birth date|1921|04|21|df=y}} | birth_place = Dresden, Free State of Saxony, Weimar Republic {{small|(now Germany)}} | occupation = {{hlist|Politician|Party Functionary|Machinist}} | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1990|01|30|1921|04|21}} | death_place = | spouse = | children = | party = SED-PDS<br />{{small|(1989–1990)}} | other_party = Socialist Unity Party<br />{{small|(1946–1989)}}<br />Social Democratic Party<br />{{small|(1945–1946)}} | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * ''Landesparteischule „Ernst Thälmann“'' * "Karl Marx" Party Academy (Dipl.-Ges.-Wiss.) }} | awards = {{hlist|Medal of Merit of the GDR|Patriotic Order of Merit, 1st class|Order of Karl Marx|Banner of Labor|Order of Lenin}} | website = | module2 = {{collapsible list | title = Central institution membership | bullets = on | 1971–1989: Full member,<br />Central Committee }} ---- {{collapsible list | title = Other offices held | bullets = on | 1966–1971: Second Secretary,<br />Socialist Unity Party at SDAG Wismut }} }}
'''Alfred Rohde''' (21 April 1921 – 30 January 1990) was a German politician and party functionary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).
In the German Democratic Republic, he served as the longtime First Secretary of the SED at SDAG Wismut and was a member of the Central Committee of the SED. As First Secretary, he was a powerful leader in the GDR's most important mining company, the fourth largest uranium producer in the world.
He committed suicide in January 1990, having lost power in the Peaceful Revolution.
==Life and career== ===Early career=== Rohde was born as the son of a locksmith and a factory worker. He attended elementary and vocational school until Easter 1935. Between April 1935 and February 1939, he trained as a machinist and subsequently worked in this profession in Dresden from March 1939 to October 1940 and in Leipzig from October 1940 to March 1942.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |year=2009 |title=Rohde, Alfred |url=https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/de/recherche/kataloge-datenbanken/biographische-datenbanken/alfred-rohde |access-date=2024-08-03 |website=www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de |series=Wer war wer in der DDR? |publisher=Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship |language=de}}</ref>
From March 1942 to May 1945, he served in the Wehrmacht. From May to September 1945, Rohde was held as a British prisoner of war in Schleswig-Holstein. After his release, he worked again as a machinist in Dresden until December 1950.<ref name=":0" />
In September 1945, he joined the SPD (Social Democratic Party of Germany) in 1945, which was forcibly merged with the KPD (Communist Party of Germany) to form the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) in 1946. Additionally, he joined the FDGB (Free German Trade Union Federation) in 1946.<ref name=":0" />
From 1946 to 1950, he was the chairman of the BGL (company trade union leadership) and, after attending the state party school "Ernst Thälmann" in Meißen, served as secretary of the SED party organization at VEB Universelle-Werke, a factory making machines for the production of cigarettes, from January to November 1951 and as a member of an SED city district leadership in Dresden.<ref name=":0" />
From December 1951 to June 1952, he was the head of the organization and instructor department of the Dresden SED and from July 1952 to February 1953, the head of the department for party organs and mass organizations of the Dresden-Land SED.<ref name=":0" />
From February 1953 to September 1955, he participated in the first three-year course at the "Karl Marx" Party Academy. He graduated with a diploma in social sciences (Dipl.-Ges.-Wiss.). From November 1955 to June 1966, he subsequently worked as an instructor in the party organs department and as a political staff member in the Central Committee of the SED.<ref name=":0" />
===SDAG Wismut SED=== thumb|left|upright|Former SDAG Wismut SED building in Chemnitz in August 2008 In 1969, Rohde was transferred to the Soviet-German joint-stock company (SDAG) Wismut SED as Second Secretary, succeeding Günter Eichmann,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=SED-Gebietsleitung Wismut (Bestand) |url=https://www.archivportal-d.de/item/QJMBCNVPTBXEG4XAOEH7RYI6QUPFOTVJ |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=www.archivportal-d.de |publisher=Sächsisches Staatsarchiv |language=de}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |url=https://www.gvoon.de/art/dokumente/1970/parteiapparat-ddr-1970/pdf/parteiapparat-ddr-1970-seite_32.pdf |title=Parteiapparat der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik (DDR) 1970 |publisher=Gesamtdeutsche Institut - Bundesanstalt für gesamtdeutsche Aufgaben |year=1970 |pages=32 |language=de |access-date=2024-08-05}}</ref> who left to study at the ''Bergakademie Freiberg''.<ref>{{Cite web |year=2009 |title=Eichmann, Günter |url=https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/de/recherche/kataloge-datenbanken/biographische-datenbanken/guenter-eichmann |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de |series=Wer war wer in der DDR? |publisher=Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship |language=de}}</ref>
The SDAG Wismut SED party organization, titled territorial party leadership ({{langx|de|Gebietsparteileitung}}), held the rank of a Bezirk party organization,<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Schütterle |first=Juliane |year=2008 |title=Die toten Helden der Arbeit |url=https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/de/vermitteln/wissenschaft/publikationen-wissenstransfer/stipendiaten-lesebuecher/die-ddr-im-blick/tote-helden |access-date=2024-08-07 |website=www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de |series=Die DDR im Blick - Ein zeithistorisches Lesebuch |publisher=Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship |language=de |isbn=978-3-940938-04-6}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Beleites |first=Michael |url=https://www.wise-uranium.org/pdf/aw.pdf |title=Altlast Wismut: Ausnahmezustand, Umweltkatastrophe und das Sanierungsproblem im deutschen Uranbergbau |date=1992 |publisher=Brandes & Apsel |isbn=978-3-86099-104-6 |edition=1. Aufl |location=Frankfurt a. M |pages=24 |language=de |access-date=2024-09-18}}</ref> unlike all other industrial party organizations, as SDAG Wismut was a massive mining undertaking with dozens of locations.<ref name=":1" /> It was described as a "state within a state".<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />
In December 1970, First Secretary Kurt Kieß surprisingly died at the age of 56.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |year=2009 |title=Kieß, Kurt |url=https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/de/recherche/kataloge-datenbanken/biographische-datenbanken/kurt-kiess |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de |series=Wer war wer in der DDR? |publisher=Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship |language=de}}</ref> Rohde was elected to succeeded him in February 1971.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=1971-02-06 |title=Alfred Rohde zum 1. Sekretär gewählt |url=https://www.nd-archiv.de/artikel/807106.alfred-rohde-zum-1-sekretaer-gewaehlt.html |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=www.nd-archiv.de |publisher=Neues Deutschland |language=de}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |year=2006 |title=Gebietsparteileitung Wismut der SED und Vorläufer (1947 - 1990) |url=https://www.bundesarchiv.de/sed-fdgb-netzwerk/html/gremien.html?mode=SED&cat=15 |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=www.bundesarchiv.de |publisher=German Federal Archives |language=de}}</ref> He additionally became a full member of the Central Committee of the SED in June (VIII. Party Congress), serving until its collective resignation in December 1989, and of the Volkskammer in November,<ref name=":0" /> nominally representing a constituency in the Ore Mountains in Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.gvoon.de/art/dokumente/1971/volkskammer-ddr-6-wahlperiode-1971-1976/pdf/volkskammer-ddr-6-wahlperiode-1971-1976-seite_784.pdf |title=Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1971-1976 |publisher=VEB Staatsverlag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik |year=1971 |pages=784 |language=de |access-date=2024-08-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.gvoon.de/art/dokumente/1981/volkskammer-ddr-8-wahlperiode-1981-1986/pdf/volkskammer-ddr-8-wahlperiode-1981-1986-seite_035.pdf |title=Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1981-1986 |date= |publisher=VEB Staatsverlag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik |year=1981 |pages=35 |language=de |access-date=2024-08-07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.gvoon.de/art/dokumente/1986/volkskammer-ddr-9-wahlperiode-1986-1990/pdf/volkskammer-ddr-9-wahlperiode-1986-1990-seite_035.pdf |title=Volkskammer der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik 1986-1990 |publisher=VEB Staatsverlag der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik |year=1986 |pages=35 |language=de |access-date=2024-08-15}}</ref>
Rohde was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze in 1968, in silver and in Gold in 1986, the Order of Karl Marx in 1981, the Banner of Labor in 1984 and the Order of Lenin.<ref name=":0" />
===Peaceful Revolution and death=== During the ''Wende'', on 12 November 1989, the SDAG Wismut SED removed him from the position of First Secretary and installed his longtime deputy Heinz Freitag as his successor.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |year=2009 |title=Freitag, Heinz |url=https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/de/recherche/kataloge-datenbanken/biographische-datenbanken/heinz-freitag |access-date=2024-08-05 |website=www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de |series=Wer war wer in der DDR? |publisher=Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship |language=de}}</ref> Freitag led the party organization until its dissolution in December.<ref name=":1" /> He was removed by his party from the Volkskammer a week later, on 16 November 1989.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chronik der DDR Donnerstag 16. November 1989 |url=https://www.ddr89.de/chronik/1189/161189.html |access-date=2024-06-29 |website=www.ddr89.de |language=de}}</ref>
Rohde committed suicide on 30 January 1990.
== References == {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rohde, Alfred}} Category:1921 births Category:1990 deaths Category:Politicians from Dresden Category:German Army soldiers of World War II Category:German communists Category:Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians Category:Members of the 6th Volkskammer Category:Members of the 7th Volkskammer Category:Members of the 8th Volkskammer Category:Members of the 9th Volkskammer Category:Members of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany Category:Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze Category:Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver Category:Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold Category:Recipients of the Order of Karl Marx Category:Recipients of the Banner of Labor Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin Category:1990 suicides Category:German politicians who died by suicide