Word: schirdewan
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Karl Schirdewan, long considered Ulbricht's heir apparent, rose to back up Oelssner. What had Ulbricht's policies actually accomplished, he asked, but the alienation of "the bourgeoisie, the youth, the intelligentsia, the housewives, and 2,000,000 refugees?" Ulbricht replied by kicking Oelssner and Schirdewan out of the Politburo...
Most important was grave, bespectacled Karl Schirdewan, generally considered Ulbricht's prospective heir as Communist boss of East Germany. When Ulbricht visited Moscow last year, Schirdewan sat in for him as First Secretary. Schirdewan was charged with "advocating a safety-valve policy akin to that applied in Hungary and Poland." In an indictment that was also an unconscious admission, a Politburo spokesman explained: "Had we followed [Schirdewan's] opinions, very probably we would have had to suppress a counterrevolution with use of arms...
| 1 |