{{Short description|East German politician and diplomat}} {{Infobox Officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Peter Florin | image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-M0921-014, Beglaubigungsschreiben DDR-Vertreter in UNO.jpg | caption = Florin (left) and [[Kurt Waldheim]], 1973 | image_size = | order = [[President of the United Nations General Assembly]] | term_start = 1987 | term_end = 1988 | predecessor = [[Humayun Rashid Choudhury]] | successor = [[Dante Caputo]] | office1 = [[Ministry for Foreign Affairs (East Germany)|East German Ambassador]] to the<br />[[United Nations]] | term_start1 = 1973 | term_end1 = 1982 | predecessor1 = Horst Grunert | successor1 = Harry Ott | office2 = [[Ministry for Foreign Affairs (East Germany)|East German Ambassador]] to <br />[[Czechoslovakia]] | term_start2 = 1967 | term_end2 = 1969 | predecessor2 = Heinz Willmann | successor2 = [[Herbert Krolikowski]] | office3 = Head of the [[Departments of the SED Central Committee#International Relations|International Relations Department]] of the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#Central Committee|Central Committee]] | 1blankname3 = {{nowrap|[[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#Secretariat of the Central Committee|Secretary]]}} | 1namedata3 = {{ubl|[[Walter Ulbricht]]|[[Hermann Axen]]}} | term_start3 = 1953 | term_end3 = 1966 | predecessor3 = [[Grete Keilson]] | successor3 = [[Paul Markowski (politician)|Paul Markowski]] {{Collapsed infobox section begin |last=yes |Volkskammer |titlestyle=border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder | embed = yes | office4 = Member of the [[Volkskammer]] <br /> for Dresden-Süd, Dresden-West, Dresden-Mitte | term_start4 = [[1954 East German general election|19 November 1954]] | term_end4 = [[1990 East German general election|5 April 1990]] | predecessor4 = ''Multi-member district'' | successor4 = ''Constituency abolished''{{Collapsed infobox section end}} }} | birth_date = {{Birth date|1921|10|2|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Cologne]], [[Rhine Province]], [[Free State of Prussia]], [[Weimar Republic]] {{small|(now [[North Rhine-Westphalia]], [[Germany]])}} | death_date = {{Death date and age|2014|02|17|1921|10|2|df=yes}} | death_place = [[Berlin]], [[Germany]] | spouse = | father = [[Wilhelm Florin]] | 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 = [[D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia|D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology]] ([[Diplom#Germany|Dipl.-Ing.]]) | occupation = {{hlist|Diplomat|Party Functionary}} | awards = {{hlist|[[Order of the Red Star]]|[[Patriotic Order of Merit]], 1st class|[[Medal for Fighters Against Fascism]]|[[Banner of Labor]]|[[Order of the Patriotic War]]|[[Order of Karl Marx]]|[[Star of People's Friendship]]|[[Hero of Labour (GDR)|Hero of Labour]]||[[Order of Karl Marx]]|}} | module = {{Infobox military person |embed = yes |embed_title = Military Service |allegiance = [[Soviet Union]] |branch = [[Red Army]] |service_years = 1941–1944 |battles = [[Second World War]] }} | module2 = {{collapsible list | title = Central institution membership | bullets = on | 1958–1989: Full member,<br />[[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#Central Committee|Central Committee]] | 1954–1958: Candidate member,<br />[[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#Central Committee|Central Committee]] }} ---- {{collapsible list | title = Other offices held | bullets = on | 1973–1989: Deputy Minister,<br />[[Ministry for Foreign Affairs (East Germany)|Ministry for Foreign Affairs]] | 1969–1973: State Secretary,<br />[[Ministry for Foreign Affairs (East Germany)|Ministry for Foreign Affairs]] | 1949–1950: Deputy Head, [[Departments of the SED Central Committee#International Relations|International Relations Department]] of the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany#Central Committee|Central Committee]] }} }}
'''Peter Florin''' (2 October 1921 – 17 February 2014) was an [[East Germany|East German]] politician and diplomat.
==Early life== Florin was born in [[Cologne]] on 2 October 1921.<ref name="Biography">[https://www.un.org/french/ga/president/bios/bio42f.shtml Biography] on the website of the United Nations</ref>
His father, [[Wilhelm Florin]] (1894–1944), was a leading figure in the pre-war [[Communist Party of Germany]].<ref name="query.nytimes.com">[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE1DE163FF931A1575AC0A961948260 "MAN IN THE NEWS; A German In Charge: Peter Florin"], ''New York Times'', 22 September 1987</ref> and, between 1924 and 1933, a member of the [[Reichstag (Weimar Republic)|Reichstag (national parliament)]].<ref name=BiographischeDatenbankenWF>{{cite web|url=http://www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de/wer-war-wer-in-der-ddr-%2363%3B-1424.html?ID=4292|title=Florin, Wilhelm * 16.3.1894, † 5.7.1944|publisher= Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur: Biographische Datenbanken|access-date= 19 November 2014}}</ref>
Florin left Germany with his parents in 1933, when [[Adolf Hitler]] came to power and began persecuting [[Communism|Communists]],<ref name="query.nytimes.com"/> moving first to [[France]] and then to the [[Soviet Union]], where he attended the [[Karl Liebknecht School]]. There, he studied [[chemistry]] at the [[D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia|D. Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology]].<ref name="Biography"/>
During the [[Second World War]], he fought with the [[Soviet partisans]] in [[Belarus]]. In 1944, Florin became editor of ''Freies Deutschland'', a weekly anti-Nazi newspaper.<ref name="Biography"/> At the end of the war, he returned to Germany as a member of the [[Ulbricht Group#Regional groups|Ackermann Group]], one of the regional groups sent to lay the groundwork for the [[Soviet Military Administration in Germany]].<ref name="barch-list">[https://www.bundesarchiv.de/oeffentlichkeitsarbeit/bilder_dokumente/00767/index-4.html.de "Namensliste der drei KPD-Einsatzgruppen vom 27. April 1945"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215110713/http://www.bundesarchiv.de/oeffentlichkeitsarbeit/bilder_dokumente/00767/index-4.html.de |date=2014-12-15 }} German Federal Archives. BArch NY 4036/517. Retrieved November 22, 2011 {{in lang|de}}</ref>
==Career== [[File:Peter Florin 1954 Edit.jpg|thumb|left|Florin's official [[Volkskammer]] portrait, 1954]] Following the war, Florin entered politics in the [[German Democratic Republic]] and served as vice-president of the regional parliament of [[Wittenberg]], while working as chief editor of the daily newspaper ''Freiheit''. Then, from 1949 to 1952, he was an advisor for the East German ministry of foreign affairs. In 1953, he was promoted to the head of the [[Departments of the SED Central Committee#International Relations|Department for International Relations]] of the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]]'s central committee. From 1954 to 1971, he was a member of the country's parliamentary committee on foreign affairs, which he presided over for a time.<ref name="Biography"/>
From 1967 to 1969, Florin was East Germany's ambassador to [[Czechoslovakia]].<ref name="Biography"/> He supported the Soviet crushing of the [[Prague Spring]] uprising in 1968.<ref name="query.nytimes.com"/> In 1969, he was named secretary of state and first deputy foreign minister.<ref name="Biography"/>
From 1973 to 1982, Florin was the German Democratic Republic's permanent representative to the [[United Nations]]. In 1982, he became president of the national commission for [[UNESCO]] in East Germany. In 1987 and 1988, he presided over the forty-second session of the [[United Nations General Assembly]].<ref name="Biography"/>
==Personal life== Peter Florin was married, and had three children.<ref name="Biography"/> His wife Edel was, in the late 1980s, a professor of [[Russian literature]] at [[Humboldt University]] in [[East Berlin]].<ref name="query.nytimes.com"/>
Florin spoke fluent [[German language|German]], [[Russian language|Russian]] and [[English language|English]], and good [[French language|French]]. During his presidency of the United Nations General Assembly, he was, according to the ''New York Times'', "nicknamed 'Comrade [[Glasnost]]' by delegates, who s[aw] him as him a symbol of the modern Communist of the [[Mikhail Gorbachev|Gorbachev]] era."<ref name="query.nytimes.com"/>
He died on 17 February 2014, aged 92.<ref name="diewelt">{{cite news | url=https://www.welt.de/newsticker/dpa_nt/regioline_nt/berlinbrandenburg_nt/article124946080/DDR-Diplomat-Peter-Florin-gestorben.html | title=DDR-Diplomat Peter Florin gestorben (German) | newspaper=Die Welt | date=17 February 2014 | access-date=18 February 2014}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{commons-inline}} * [https://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1309/is_/ai_6271989?tag=untagged "Forty-second General Assembly opens in hopeful atmosphere of increasing multilateral co-operation"], ''UN Chronicle'', November 1987
{{s-start}} {{s-dip}} {{succession box|before=[[Humayun Rashid Choudhury]]|title=[[President of the United Nations General Assembly]]|years=1987–1988|after=[[Dante Caputo]]}} {{s-end}}
{{Presidents of the UN General Assembly}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Florin, Peter}} [[Category:1921 births]] [[Category:2014 deaths]] [[Category:Politicians from Cologne]] [[Category:People from the Rhine Province]] [[Category:Members of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] [[Category:Government ministers of East Germany]] [[Category:Members of the State Council of East Germany]] [[Category:Members of the 1st Volkskammer]] [[Category:Members of the 2nd Volkskammer]] [[Category:Members of the 3rd Volkskammer]] [[Category:Members of the 4th Volkskammer]] [[Category:Members of the 5th Volkskammer]] [[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:Ambassadors of East Germany to Czechoslovakia]] [[Category:Permanent representatives of East Germany to the United Nations]] [[Category:Presidents of the United Nations General Assembly]] [[Category:Refugees from Nazi Germany in the Soviet Union]] [[Category:Soviet military personnel of World War II]] [[Category:Soviet partisans]] [[Category:Belarusian partisans]] [[Category:National Committee for a Free Germany members]] [[Category:Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit (honor clasp)]] [[Category:Recipients of the Banner of Labor]] [[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner]] [[Category:Janitors]] [[Category:German newspaper editors]] [[Category:German expatriates in France]] [[Category:German expatriates in the Soviet Union]]