Wilhelm Pieck

Wilhelm Pieck
Wilhelm Pieck
	Pieck in 1946
President of the; German Democratic Republic
	In office; 11 October 1949 – 7 September 1960
Chancellor	Otto Grotewohl
Preceded by	Karl Dönitz (as President of the Reich)
Succeeded by	Walter Ulbricht (as Chairman of the State Council)
Chairman of the; Socialist Unity Party
	In office; 22 April 1946 – 25 July 1950 Serving with Otto Grotewohl
Deputy	Walter Ulbricht; Max Fechner;
Preceded by	Himself (as Chairman of the KPD)
Succeeded by	Walter Ulbricht; (as General Secretary)
Chairman of the; Communist Party of Germany
	In office; 1 February 1934 – 22 April 1946
Preceded by	John Schehr
Succeeded by	East: Himself (as Co-Chairman of the Socialist Unity Party); West: Max Reimann (1948)
Preceded by
Parliamentary constituencies
Member of the; Provisional Volkskammer
	In office; 7 October 1949 – 22 February 1950
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Willi Stoph
Member of the Reichstag ; for Berlin
	In office; 1 July 1928 – 28 February 1933
Preceded by	Multi-member district
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Member of the Landtag of Prussia ; for Potsdam II
	In office; 25 May 1932 – 31 March 1933
Preceded by	Multi-member district
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
	In office; 10 March 1921 – 14 June 1928
Preceded by	Adolph Hoffmann
Succeeded by	Erich Raddatz
Personal details
Born	Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold Pieck; 3 January 1876; Guben, Province of Brandenburg, Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire (now Gubin, Poland)
Died	7 September 1960 (aged 84); East Berlin, East Germany
Resting place	Zentralfriedhof Friedrichsfelde
Party	SPD (1895–1917); USPD (1917–1919); KPD (1919–1946); SED (1946–1960)
Other political; affiliations	Spartacus League (1914–1918)
Spouse	Christine Häfker (m. 1898; died 1936)
Children	Elly; Arthur; Eleonore;
Relatives	Theodor Winter (son-in-law); Richard Staimer (son-in-law)
Occupation	Carpenter; Party Functionary; Politician;
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	German Empire
Branch/service	Imperial German Army
Years of service	1915–1918
Battles/wars	World War I Western Front Battle of Verdun; ; Eastern Front; ;
	Central institution membership 1949–1960: Full member,; Politburo of the Central Committee ; 1946–1960: Full member,; Central Committee ; 1920–1922; 1926–1937: Full member,; KPD Politburo ; 1919–1946: Full member,; KPD Central Committee ; Other offices held 1946–1949: Member,; Landtag of Brandenburg ; 1930–1932: Member,; Prussian State Council ; 1929–1933: Member,; Berlin City Council ; 1926–1929: Political Leader,; Berlin-Brandenberg KPD ; 1924–1925: Chairman,; Rote Hilfe Deutschlands ; 1906–1910: Member,; Bürgerschaft of Bremen ;

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Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold Pieck (German pronunciation: [ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈpiːk]; 3 January 1876 – 7 September 1960) was a German communist politician who served as the co-chairman of the Socialist Unity Party from 1946 to 1950 and as the only president of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1949 until his death in 1960.

Pieck had been active in the SPD since the 1890s, breaking from the party in 1917 over his opposition to the First World War. He co-founded the Spartacus League and the KPD, rising to become chairman of the latter organization following the imprisonment of Ernst Thälmann and John Schehr by the Nazis. After the end of the Second World War, he played a key role in the 1946 merger of the KPD and SPD into the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, which served as the ruling party of East Germany from 1949 until 1989.