Walter Ulbricht - Dismissal, Death and Legacy

Dismissal, Death and Legacy

Ulbricht's difficult relationship with Leonid Brezhnev, combined with his unwillingness to seek a rapprochement with West Germany, proved to be his eventual undoing. On 3 May 1971 Ulbricht was forced to resign from virtually all of his public functions 'due to reasons of poor health' and was replaced – with the consent of the Soviets – by Erich Honecker. He was allowed to remain head of state as Chairman of the Council of State. Additionally, the honorary position of Chairman of the SED was created especially for him. Ulbricht died at a government guesthouse in Groß Dölln near Templin, north of East Berlin, on 1 August 1973, during the World Festival of Youth and Students, having suffered a stroke two weeks earlier. He was honoured with a state funeral and buried among other communists in the Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde.

Ulbricht remained loyal to Leninist and Stalinist principles throughout his life, rarely able or willing to make compromises. Inflexible and unlikeable (Antony Beevor described him as "widely loathed Stalinist bureaucrat well known for his tactics denouncing rivals".), he was an unlikely figure to attract much public affection or admiration. However, he also proved to be a shrewd and intelligent politician who knew how to get himself out of more than one difficult situation. Despite stabilising the GDR to some extent, he never succeeded in raising the standard of living in the country to a level comparable to that in the West.

In 1956, Ulbricht was awarded the Hans Beimler Medal, for veterans of the Spanish Civil War, which caused controversy among other recipients, who had actually served on the front line.

He was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 29 June 1963. When Ulbricht visited Egypt in 1965, he was awarded by Nasser the Great Collar of the Order of the Nile.

Ulbricht lived in Majakowskiring, Pankow, East Berlin. Ulbricht was married twice; in 1920 to Martha Schmellinsky and from 1953 until his death to Lotte Ulbricht née Kühn (1903–2002). The couple adopted a daughter from the Soviet Union named Beate (1944–1991).