Siegfried Böhm

Siegfried Böhm (20 August 1928–4 May 1980) was an East German politician and long-term finance minister of East Germany. He was in office for nearly fourteen years between 1966 and 1980.

Siegfried Böhm
Minister of Finance and Prize
In office
12 December 1966 – 5 May 1980
Prime Minister
Preceded byWilly Rumpf
Succeeded byWerner Schmieder
Personal details
Born20 August 1928
Plauen
Died4 May 1980(1980-05-04) (aged 51)
Berlin-Karlshorst
NationalityGerman
Political partySocialist Unity Party of Germany

Biography

Böhm was born in Plauen on 20 August 1928.[1] In 1966 he was appointed the finance minister and his term lasted until 1980.[1] He was among the central committee members of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.[2] He was also a member of the Working Group Balance of Payments from 1974 to 1980.[1] Böhm was one of the first officials who alerted the East German authorities about the negative consequences of the indebtedness to the Western countries.[1][3] He also criticized the illegal currency and gold transactions carried out in the country.[4]

Böhm died at his home in Berlin-Karlshorst on 4 May 1980.[1][5] The East German officials reported on the next day that his wife shot him during a quarrel and then she committed suicide.[2][6] In 2003 it was revealed as a result of the investigations that Böhm was in fact killed by an East German hit squad due to his potential reports about the bankruptcy faced in East Germany.[6] His wife was also murdered by the squad to fabricate the official story of his death.[6]

Böhm was succeeded by Werner Schmieder as finance minister in June 1980.[7][8]

References
  1. "Siegfried Böhm". European University Institute. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  2. "Rätsel um Tod eines DDR-Ministers". LR Online (in German). 26 November 2003. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  3. Maximilian Graf (2020). "Drifting Westward? East Germany and Integrated Europe". In Angela Romano; Federico Romero (eds.). European Socialist Regimes' Fateful Engagement with the West: National Strategies in the Long 1970s. London; New York: Taylor & Francis. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-00-021035-4.
  4. Andreas Förster (27 September 2003). "Bundesanwaltschaft ermittelt im Fall Siegfried Böhm / SED-Politiker war 1980 erschossen worden: DDR-Killerkommando soll Minister getötet haben". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Berlin. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  5. "Questions over death squad". news24. Berlin. 29 September 2003. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  6. "East German leaders' hit squad revealed". The Sydney Morning Herald. Deutsche Presse-Agentur. 29 September 2003. Archived from the original on 21 February 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  7. "Was War am 22. Mai 1980" (in German). Chroniknet. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  8. Peter Joachim Lapp (2013). Der Ministerrat der DDR: Aufgaben, Arbeitsweise und Struktur der anderen deutschen Regierung (in German). Opladen: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. p. 137. ISBN 978-3-322-88734-4.
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