Was wurde aus dem Politbüro nach dem Mauerfall? | DDR Doku

Twenty-one members. Five candidates. An average age of sixty-seven. In the fall of 1989, this was the Politburo of the SED Central Committee—twenty-six people who decided on prices, housing, travel, and borders. Six weeks later, this body no longer existed. This video documents ten stages on the path from power to the record: what became of the men and women who ruled the GDR for forty years—with dates, file numbers, and court decisions that are now freely available in full. On December 3, 1989, the Central Committee expelled twelve of its own members from the party, including the General Secretary, the Minister for State Security, and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers. At the end of November 1989, a team from the youth program "Elf 99" went to the Waldsiedlung (Forest Settlement) near Bernau and filmed what lay behind two fences—in January 1990, the residents had to leave, and the Brandenburg Clinic Bernau was built on the site. Erich Mielke spoke before the People's Chamber for the first and only time on November 13, 1989, and was ridiculed; he was sentenced in 1993 to six years in prison—for two murders committed in 1931, not for a single year as a minister. Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski left the country on the night of December 3–4, 1989, and subsequently lived for twenty-five years on Lake Tegernsee. Willi Stoph spent fifteen months in pretrial detention without a verdict, Günter Mittag was declared unfit to stand trial, and Harry Tisch received an eighteen-month suspended sentence for one hundred million marks of FDGB (Free German Trade Union Federation) funds. Erich Honecker learned of his cancer diagnosis on January 6, 1990, from the television news. He spent ten weeks in Uwe Holmer's parsonage in Lobetal, then in the Soviet military hospital in Beelitz, and finally landed in Tegel on July 29, 1992. The indictment ran to 783 pages, and the trial ended after 169 days without a verdict. He died in Santiago, Chile, in 1994. Margot Honecker lived there for another 22 years. Heinz Keßler received a seven-and-a-half-year sentence, Egon Krenz six and a half, and Günter Schabowski three. In the end, ten members of the entire SED leadership were convicted. No verdict, no judgment. Ten paths, ten stages of proceedings—and one man who is still alive today. GDR Unveiled documents the hidden history of the German Democratic Republic—the places, people, and decisions that official GDR history kept silent about. 00:00 Introduction 01:27 #1 The Fall — October to December 1989 09:14 #2 Wandlitz — The Settlement is Opened 15:39 #3 Erich Mielke 21:46 #4 Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski 27:36 #5 Those Unfit to Trial — and Harry Tisch 39:06 #6 Erich Honecker — Lobetal, Moscow, Santiago 49:33 #7 Margot Honecker and the Family in Chile 58:30 #8 The Trials — Ten Convicted 1:08:40 #9 Günter Schabowski 1:15:32 #10 Egon Krenz 1:19:34 The Balance Sheet Contact: [email protected] © GDR Unveiled 2026