Karl Schirdewan

Karl Schirdewan
Karl Schirdewan
	Schirdewan in Wilhelm Pieck – Das Leben unseres Präsidenten, 1952
First Secretary of the; Socialist Unity Party in Bezirk Leipzig
	In office; 26 July 1952 – December 1952
Second Secretary	Luise Bäuml;
Preceded by	Himself (Saxony)
Succeeded by	Paul Fröhlich (1953)
First Secretary of the; Socialist Unity Party in Saxony
	In office; 27 June 1952 – 26 July 1952
Second Secretary	Gerda Meschter;
Preceded by	Ernst Lohagen
Succeeded by	Himself (Bezirk Leipzig); Hans Riesner; (Bezirk Dresden); Walter Buchheim; (Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt)
Member of the Volkskammer
	In office; 23 July 1952 – 24 February 1958
Preceded by	Ernst Lohagen
Succeeded by	Harry Bachmann
Central Committee Secretariat responsibilities
1956–1958	Cadre Affairs
1953–1958	KPD Work Office
1953–1958	West
1953–1958	Women
1953–1958	Youth
1953–1955	Neuer Weg editorial team
1952–1956	Leading Party Organs and Mass Organizations
Personal details
Born	14 May 1907; Stettin, Province of Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire (now Szczecin, Poland)
Died	14 July 1998 (aged 91); Potsdam, Brandenburg, Germany
Party	KPD (1925–1946); SED (1952–1989); PDS (1989–1998)
Spouse	Gisela Schirdewan
Children	4
Relatives	Martin Schirdewan; (grandson);
Occupation	Politician; Civil Servant; Party Clerk;
Awards	Patriotic Order of Merit, 1st class
	Central institution membership 1953–1958: Full member,; Politburo of the Central Committee ; 1953–1958: Full member,; Central Committee ; Other offices held 1958–1965: Director,; State Archives Administration ; 1954–1957: Member,; Security Commission at the Politburo ; 1950–1952: Head,; West Department of the Central Committee ;

Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with deprecated parameter "otherparty". Replace with "other_party".

Karl Schirdewan (14 May 1907 – 14 July 1998) was a German Communist activist who after World War II became a top East German politician.

During the mid 1950s, Schirdewan was seen as a potential successor to Walter Ulbricht but fell out of favour in 1958. Ulbricht continued to lead the government until 1971, while 1958 was the year in which Schirdewan was thrown out of the Politburo and placed in charge of the National Archives at Potsdam, a position from which he retired in 1964 or 1965.