{{Short description|East German politician (1919–1994)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}} {{Infobox Minister | image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1986-0613-314, Ludwig Mecklinger.jpg | image_size = | caption = Mecklinger in 1986 | office = [[Council of Ministers of East Germany#Ministries|Minister of Health]] | 1blankname = {{nowrap|[[Council of Ministers of East Germany#Chairmen of the Council of Ministers|Chairman of the<br />Council of Ministers]]}} | 1namedata = {{ubl|[[Willi Stoph]]|[[Horst Sindermann]]|Willi Stoph}} | term_start = 29 November 1971 | term_end = 27 January 1989 | predecessor = [[Max Sefrin]] | successor = [[Klaus Thielmann]] {{Collapsed infobox section begin |last=yes |Volkskammer |titlestyle=border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder | embed = yes | office1 = Member of the [[Volkskammer]] <br /> for Eisenach, Gotha | term_start1 = [[1981 East German general election|25 June 1981]] | term_end1 = [[1990 East German general election|5 April 1990]] | predecessor1 = [[Alois Bräutigam]] | successor1 = ''Constituency abolished''{{Collapsed infobox section end}} }} | birth_date = {{birth date|1919|11|14|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Buchdorf]], [[Bavaria]], [[Weimar Republic]] {{small|(now [[Germany]])}} | death_date = {{death date and age|1994|6|22|1919|11|14|df=y}} | death_place = [[Berlin]], [[Germany]] | resting_place = | party = [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party]]<br />{{small|(1946–1989)}} | other_party = [[Communist Party of Germany]]<br />{{small|(1945–1946)}} | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * [[Leipzig University]] * [[University of Hamburg]] * [[Humboldt University of Berlin]] * ''Deutsche Akademie für Staats- und Rechtswissenschaft „Walter Ulbricht“'' ([[Diplom-Jurist|Dipl.-Jur.]]) }} | spouse = | awards = {{hlist|[[Patriotic Order of Merit]], 1st class}} | children = | module2 = {{collapsible list | title = Central institution membership | bullets = on | 1986–1989: Full member,<br />[[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#Central Committee|Central Committee]] | 1976–1986: Candidate member,<br />[[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#Central Committee|Central Committee]] }} ---- {{collapsible list | title = Other offices held | bullets = on | 1969–1971: First Deputy Minister,<br />[[Council of Ministers of East Germany#Ministries|Ministry of Health]] | 1964–1969: Deputy Minister,<br />[[Council of Ministers of East Germany#Ministries|Ministry of Health]] }} }}
'''Ludwig Mecklinger''' (14 November 1919 – 22 June 1994) was a German politician who was one of the health ministers of [[East Germany]] and a member of the ruling party [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|Socialist Unity Party]] (SED). He had degrees both in medicine and law.
==Early life and education== Mecklinger was born in [[Buchdorf]], near [[Donauwörth]], on 14 November 1919.<ref name=bundes>{{cite web|title=Mecklinger, Ludwig |url=https://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/de/recherche/kataloge-datenbanken/biographische-datenbanken/ludwig-mecklinger|language=de |publisher=Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung|access-date=23 August 2022}}</ref> He studied medicine in Leipzig, Hamburg and Berlin in the period between 1939 and 1944.<ref name=bundes/> In 1944 he was drafted into the German army and was arrested by the American forces.<ref name=bundes/> He was detained in a war camp in [[Traunstein]].<ref name=rodopi/> In 1945 he was released and joined the SED.<ref name=rodopi/> In 1954 he also obtained a degree in law from the German Academy for State and Law in [[Potsdam]].<ref name=rodopi/>
==Career== Between 1945 and 1947 Mecklinger was in the provincial government of Saxony-Anhalt responsible for disease control.<ref name=rodopi/> Between 1948 and 1952 he served the minister of labor and health of the Land Saxony-Anhalt.<ref name=rodopi/> In the period 1952–1954 he acted as the deputy chairman of the central committee of the [[German Red Cross]].<ref name=rodopi/> From 1954 to 1957 he was the deputy chief of the medical service of the [[Kasernierte Volkspolizei]] and then of the [[National People's Army]].<ref name=rodopi/> In 1957 he was named as the head of the military medical section at the [[University of Greifswald]] which he held until 1964.<ref name=rodopi/> Mecklinger began to work for the [[Stasi|Ministry for State Security]] or Stasi in 1962.<ref name=rodopi/> In 1964 he was promoted to the professorship and was appointed deputy dean of the military medicine.<ref name=rodopi/> The same year he was also named as the vice health minister.<ref name=rodopi/>
In 1969 Mecklinger was appointed secretary of state and first vice health minister.<ref name=rodopi/> In 1971 he was named as the health minister and replaced [[Max Sefrin]] in the post.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ludwig Mecklinger - Ein Buchdorfer als Minister für Gesundheitswesen in der DDR|url=https://www.donau-ries-aktuell.de/das-beste-aus-dem-blaettle/ludwig-mecklinger-ein-buchdorfer-als-minister-fuer-gesundheitswesen-der |access-date=23 August 2022|work=Donau-Ries Aktuell|date=22 January 2021|language=de}}</ref><ref name=wahl>{{cite thesis|author=Markus Wahl |title="It would be better, if some doctors were sent to work in the coal mines". The SED and the medical Intelligentsia between 1961 and 1981 |url=https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/handle/10092/9747|location=University of Canterbury|page=113|degree=MA|doi=10.26021/4201|hdl=10092/9747 |year=2013}}</ref> Mecklinger was the first physician who held the office in East Germany.<ref name=wahl/> He served in the cabinet led by [[Willi Stoph]]<ref>{{cite journal|author=Iris Borowy|title=Medical Aid, Repression, and International Relations: The East German Hospital at Metema|journal=Journal of the History of Medicine|year=2016|volume=71|issue=1|pages=64–92|doi=10.1093/jhmas/jrv010|pmid=26037639 }}</ref> and was in office until his resignation in 1989.<ref name=bundes/> Klaus Thiemann replaced Mecklinger as health minister.<ref>{{cite book |author=Rüdiger Bergien|editor1=Rüdiger Bergien|editor2=Jens Gieseke|title=Communist parties revisited: sociocultural approaches to party rule in the Soviet bloc, 1956–1991|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EUQtDwAAQBAJ|chapter=True Believers Becoming Funded Experts?: Personnel Profile and Political Power in the SED Central Committee’s Sectoral Apparatus, 1946–1989|editor2-link=Jens Gieseke (historian)|year=2018 |publisher=Berghahn Books|location=New York|isbn=978-1-78533-777-2|page=199}}</ref> In the period 1981–1988 Mecklinger served as a deputy at the [[Volkskammer|East German Parliament]].<ref name=bundes/> Between 1986 and 1988 he was a member of the central committee of the SED.<ref name=rodopi/>
==Awards== Mecklinger was the recipient of the bronze, silver and gold medals of the [[National People's Army]] and the gold medal for services to people and fatherland in 1974.<ref name=rodopi/> In 1984 he was awarded with the [[Scharnhorst Order]].<ref name=rodopi>{{cite book|author=Robert van Voren|title=Cold War in Psychiatry. Human Factors, Secret Actors|year=2010 |pages=293–294|publisher=Rodopi|location=Amsterdam; New York|doi=10.1163/9789042030473_023|isbn=978-90-420-3047-3|author-link=Robert van Voren |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/9789042030473_023}}</ref>
==Death and awards== He died in Berlin on 22 June 1994.<ref name=bundes/>
== See also == {{Portal|Biography|East Germany|Medicine|Politics}} * [[Law on the interruption of pregnancy in the German Democratic Republic]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Commons-inline}}
{{Minister of Health of German Democratic Republic}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Mecklinger, Ludwig}} [[Category:1919 births]] [[Category:1994 deaths]] [[Category:People from Donau-Ries]] [[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] [[Category:Candidate members of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] [[Category:Government ministers of East Germany]] [[Category:Members of the 8th Volkskammer]] [[Category:Members of the 9th Volkskammer]] [[Category:Stasi officers]] [[Category:Academic staff of the University of Greifswald]] [[Category:German Army personnel of World War II]] [[Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States]] [[Category:Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit (honor clasp)]] [[Category:Recipients of the Star of Peoples' Friendship]] [[Category:East German medical doctors]]