At the helm when the GDR fell

HANS Modrow, the last but one prime minister of the German Democratic Republic, was born in 1928 in a working-class family and, as a child, had to live through nazi Germany.

In 1949, the year in which the GDR was founded, he started working as a machine locksmith and soon took up various positions in the Free German Youth organisation and then in the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which was formed in 1946 within the future GDR through a merger of the KPD and the SPD.

The GDR gave Modrow the chance to study and, later, he was able to write and defend his doctorate in political economy.

From 1973 to autumn 1989, he was the first secretary of the SED in the district of Dresden and sat in the GDR Volkskammer (parliament) from 1958 up to the very last days of the GDR in autumn 1990.

Modrow came to prominence at the time of the turbulent events of autumn 1989. Then, there were mass demonstrations against the SED and the GDR authorities, which had initially been precipitated by the exodus of thousands of people, many of them highly qualified, to the West following the opening of Hungary's border with Austria earlier that year.

By mid-October, these demonstrations led to the resignation of the GDR party and state leader Erich Honecker. Honecker was replaced by SED politburo member Egon Krenz, who had long been seen as his successor.

By the time of Honecker's resignation, the mass support that the SED had previously enjoyed had already collapsed. Consequently, on the streets, Krenz was not accepted, so the demonstrations continued.

By November 7, these forced the resignation of the GDR government under Prime Minister Willi Stoph. Two days later, Krenz conceded to a major demand from the demonstrations - the opening of the country's borders.

Under the circumstances of mass protest against the policies of the SED, Modrow was seen as the only prominent party member who continued to command wide respect among the GDR people. Consequently, he was called upon to form a new government.

On November 13, four days after the borders were opened, the Volkskammer unanimously elected Modrow as prime minister.

The government that he formed included representatives of the opposition. Its major task was to carry out reforms for the democratic renewal of the GDR. This included preparing the ground for new elections to the Volkskammer on the basis of a new election law.

Parallel to putting together a new government was the formation of the so-called Round Table forum.

This consisted of representatives of all the various parties and social organisations in the GDR those which had already existed plus those which had suddenly come into being.

The Round Table was to meet regularly with the government up to the time of the Volkskammer elections, which took place on March 18 1990.

By the time that the Modrow government got down to work, Krenz had resigned. At this point, the positions that he took over from Honecker had lost their significance.

When the demonstrations began, the slogans "We are the people" were largely seen as the wish for a better GDR, but not by everybody.

When the Modrow government took office, the slogan "We are the people" had become "We are one people."

In this, reactionary forces from the West intervened in the demonstrations and took over the transition process which was to lead to the end of the GDR.

Demands for German unification began to be made and these were whetted by the appetite of many GDR people for the deutschmark, disregarding the benefits of the country's high social wage.

With this mass exodus to the West and the effects of suddenly opening the borders, exposing the GDR to the full thrust of unfettered capitalist competition overnight, the Soviet leadership, under Mikhail Gorbachov, abandoned the GDR.

Not only that but it went along with unification on almost all of the terms demanded by the West. Any hopes of a renewal of the GDR, which the Modrow government had initially set out to achieve, were short-lived.

Unemployment, previously unknown in the country, had become reality following the opening of the borders. Behind the lust for the deutschmark lay deep anxieties of many people over the economic, social and political implications of German unification.

Recognising this and with unification looming on the horizon, the Modrow government, in agreement with the Round Table, took great pains to defend the historic gains of the GDR people.

One of its most notable measures is what is often referred to as the Modrow Gesetz (Modrow Act).

In it, the Volkskammer passed a law to protect those who had benefitted from the land reform programme on the territory which became the GDR following the defeat of the nazis.

When the then West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl promised the deutschmark in the Volkskammer election campaign, the CDU election victory on March 18 became a foregone conclusion, sealing the fate of the first socialist country on German soil.

Lothar de Maiziere became prime minister and, by October 3 1990, the GDR had passed into history.

Once the GDR had ceased to exist, Modrow became a member of the German federal parliament, the Bundestag, where he sat for the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), the political successor to the SED, until 1994.

In 1994, he led the PDS campaign in the European elections and, with 4. 7 per cent of the German vote, then seen as a very encouraging result, narrowly missed election to the European Parliament.

In 1999, when the PDS cleared the 5 per cent hurdle and won its first seats in the European Parliament, Modrow was elected but did not stand for re-election in 2004. Since 1990, he has been honorary chairman of the PDS.

During the political upheavals in eastern and central Europe between 1989-91, no end of party functionaries changed their tune, deserted their own parties and their comrades. Not Modrow. He remained loyal and for this he is held in high esteem by comrades inside and outside Germany and by many ordinary people.

During his long and active political life, he has travelled widely, but there is one major gap. Modrow has always wanted to visit the very country where Karl Marx did much of his theoretical work, but, up to now, has been unable to do so.

At last, the chance has come and it is fitting that, on his very first visit to London, he will give Sunday's annual oration in honour of Karl Marx at his grave in Highgate cemetery.