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Heinz Geggel

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Heinz Geggel
Geggel in his USC Shoah Foundation interview
Head of the Agitation Department of the Central Committee
In office
14 December 1973 – November 1989
Secretary
Deputy
  • Eberhard Fensch
  • Günter Pötschke
  • Klaus Raddatz
  • Dieter Langguth
Preceded byHans Modrow
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Head of the West Department of the Central Committee
In office
23 June 1965 – 14 December 1973
Secretary
Deputy
  • Herbert Häber
  • Max Schmidt
  • Günter Pötschke
  • Dieter Kerschek
Preceded byArne Rehan
Succeeded byHerbert Häber
Personal details
Born
Heinz Geggel

(1921-11-11)11 November 1921
Munich, Bavaria, Weimar Republic (now Germany)
Died15 November 2000(2000-11-15) (aged 79)
Berlin, Germany
Political partySocialist Unity Party
(1948–1989)
Other political
affiliations		Communist Party of Germany
(1944–1948)
Alma mater
Occupation
  • Journalist
  • Politician
  • Party Functionary
Awards
Central institution membership
Other offices held

Heinz Geggel (11 November 1921 – 15 November 2000) was a German Holocaust survivor, journalist and party functionary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

Geggel, who became infamously known as "Dr. Geggels" (in reference to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels) among the journalists he directed and controlled, served as the longtime head of the powerful Agitation Department of the Central Committee of the SED that de facto commanded East German press.

Life and career

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Early life

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Born to a merchant, Geggel attended primary and secondary school in Munich from 1928 to 1936.[1]

Due to his Jewish heritage, he had to emigrate from Germany after the Nazis rose to power. He initially fled to Switzerland, where he completed an apprenticeship at a commercial school in Neuchâtel. In 1938, he moved to Belgium, studying textile engineering at a technical school in Verviers. When Belgium was invaded by Nazi Germany in May 1940, Geggel's German citizenship was revoked and he was interned and forced into labor until June 1941.[1]

In December 1941, he emigrated with his family via Casablanca to Cuba,[1][2] where he worked as a diamond cutter.[1] He became active in the German resistance against the Nazis, joining the Confederation of Cuban Workers and the Committee of German Antifascists in Cuba.[1][3] In 1944, Geggel additionally joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and dealt with the registration of German Nazis living in Cuba.[1]

Journalist in the Soviet occupation zone and East Germany

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He returned to Germany in November 1947, arriving in Berlin via Frankfurt am Main in February 1948. He became a member of the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) in March 1948 and initially worked as an editor at the Grünau radio station. From 1949 to 1956, he was an editor and department head at Berliner Rundfunk. He concurrently attended the SED's "Karl Marx" Party Academy for a one-year course from 1953 to 1954.[1]

In 1957, he was promoted to director of the Deutschlandsender[4] and concurrently the deputy chairman of the State Broadcasting Committee of the GDR. Following this, until 1962, he headed the SPD Working Group of the West Commission and from 1962 was the secretary of the West Commission at the Politburo of the SED Central Committee.[1][4]

SED Central Committee

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Geggel moved to the apparatus of the Central Committee of the SED in 1960 as head of the SPD Working Group of the West Commission at the Politburo of the SED Central Committee,[1][2] briefly becoming secretary of the Commission from 1962.[1]

In 1963, he was made deputy head of the West Department of the SED Central Committee, which was responsible for influencing West German politics. He was additionally elected to the SED Central Committee as a candidate member in January 1963 (VI. Party Congress).[1]

Two years later, Geggel succeeded Arne Rehahn as head of the West Department, which by 1965 had become the deciding Central Committee institution responsible for West Germany. Geggel's tenure at the department coincided with the underground work of the illegal West German KPD and its 1968 reestablishment as German Communist Party (DKP). In June 1971 (VIII. Party Congress), he was made a full member of the Central Committee.[1][2]

Geggel about accusations against East Germany

"The constant talk of freedom, democracy and human rights in for example the imperialist Federal Republic [of Germany] are only attempts to conceal the brutality and inhumanity of this exploitive society."[5]
Heinz Geggel at a December 1976 agitation conference of the Bezirk Frankfurt (Oder) SED leadership

In October 1973, he succeeded Rudi Singer, Werner Lamberz, and Hans Modrow as the fourth head of the Agitation Department of the SED Central Committee,[6][7][5][8] a position he held until stepping down during the Peaceful Revolution in November 1989.[1] From 1971 to 1990, Geggel was also a board member of the Association of Journalists of the GDR.[1]

As head of the Agitation Department, Geggel's task was to align the East German press with the political line of the SED.[5][8][9][10][11][12][13]

The chief editors of the East German press organs were required to attend weekly "argumentation sessions" (German: Argumentationssitzungen) (Argus) at the SED headquarters for this purpose.[7][8][9][10][11][14] At times, the wording of headlines and specific phrases were dictated during these Argus.[7][8][10][14][15] Due to his unyielding stance in these sessions, journalists sometimes referred to him as "Dr. Geggels", in reference to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels.[5][8][10][14][16]

Geggel was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in 1959, 1964 and 1970, the Banner of Labor in 1968, 1971 and 1981, the Order of Karl Marx in 1981 and 1986,[1] and the Hero of Labour title in 1984.[17]

Reunified Germany

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Geggel passed away in 2000 at the age of 79 in Berlin.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "Geggel, Heinz". www.bundesstiftung-aufarbeitung.de. Wer war wer in der DDR? (in German). Federal Foundation for the Reappraisal of the SED Dictatorship. 2009. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  2. ^ a b c Mensing, Wilhelm (2010). SED-Hilfe für West-Genossen: die Arbeit der Abteilung Verkehr beim Zentralkomitee der SED im Spiegel der Überlieferung des Ministeriums für Staatssicherheit der DDR (1946 - 1976) (PDF). BF informiert (in German). Berlin: Stasi Records Agency. p. 40. ISBN 978-3-942130-71-4.
  3. ^ "Holocaust survivor, Heinz Geggel". USC Shoah Foundation. University of Southern California. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  4. ^ a b Nawrocki, Joachim (1978-04-07). "Honeckers neuer Chefagitator". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  5. ^ a b c d Bytwerk, Randall, ed. (2002). "Heinz Geggel on Agitation". research.calvin.edu. Calvin University. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
  6. ^ Gräfe, Sylvia, ed. (2005). "Abteilung Agitation im ZK der SED". www.argus.bstu.bundesarchiv.de (in German). Berlin: German Federal Archives. Retrieved 2024-08-19.
  7. ^ a b c deutschlandfunk.de (2007-11-19). "Macht und Freiheit". Deutschlandfunk (in German). Deutschlandradio. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  8. ^ a b c d e Bürger, Ulrich (1990). Das sagen wir natürlich so nicht! Donnerstag-Argus bei Herrn Geggel (in German). Berlin: Dietz. pp. 11–15. ISBN 978-3-320-01619-7.
  9. ^ a b Harnisch, Hanno. "Mit Argus Augen". nd-aktuell.de (in German). Neues Deutschland. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  10. ^ a b c d Loeser, Franz (1984-08-12). "Der Rat der sozialistischen Götter". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  11. ^ a b Wilke, Jürgen (2011-05-23). "Presseanweisungen. Organisation, Themen, Akteure, Sprechakte". pressegeschichte.docupedia.de. Presse in der DDR - Beiträge und Materialien (in German). Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam. Retrieved 2024-08-26.
  12. ^ Rank, Martin (2014-03-03). Die Blätter werden bunter. Zur Presselenkung in der DDR und ihrem Ende im Herbst 1989 (Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) thesis) (in German). Dresden: Qucosa. p. 8. Retrieved 2025-04-13.
  13. ^ Arnold, Karl-Heinz; Otfrid, Arnold (2012). Modrow, Hans (ed.). Das Große Haus: Insider berichten aus dem ZK der SED (in German). Berlin: edition ost. p. 100. ISBN 978-3-929161-20-5.
  14. ^ a b c "In die eigene Tasche gelogen - zur Rolle der aktuellen Medien in der DDR". www.udo-leuschner.de. Retrieved 2023-12-26.
  15. ^ Knabe, Hubertus (2023-10-21). "Der schwarze Kanal". HUBERTUS KNABE (in German). Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  16. ^ Quiring, Manfred (2008). Russland: Orientierung im Riesenreich (in German) (1. Aufl ed.). Berlin: Links. p. 9. ISBN 978-3-86153-471-6.
  17. ^ Hubrich, Dirk (2013). Verleihungsliste zum Ehrentitel "Held der Arbeit" der DDR von 1950 bis 1989 (PDF) (in German). Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ordenskunde e. V. p. 35.
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