The GDR State Planning Commission chief who warned of bankruptcy but could not save the system
When I warned Honecker against this policy in the Politburo I was brushed aside as a 'saboteur'.
Gerhard Schürer was the economic official who chaired the GDR State Planning Commission from 1965 to 1989. He warned that Honecker's 'unity of economic and social policy' was tilting the country toward insolvency by favouring consumption over investment, but was denounced as a 'saboteur' in the Politburo and remained a candidate member for 18 years. Summoned by Egon Krenz, on 30 October 1989 he presented the 'Analysis of the Economic Condition of the GDR' revealing 49 billion Valutamark in Western debt and impending insolvency, and proposed looser border controls in exchange for West German loans: a document that laid bare the regime's desperation. After reunification he was jailed for 18 days on charges of 'breach of trust,' released without trial, and later published his memoir Gewagt und verloren (Dared and Lost).
Career Timeline
- 1936–1939Trained as a machinist
- 1939–1945Luftwaffe service, flight instructor
- 1948Joined the SED
- 1955–1958Studied at the CPSU Party Academy, Moscow
- 1960–1962Head of Planning, Finance and Technical Dept, SED CC
- 1962–1965Deputy Chairman, State Planning Commission; promoted to Chairman 1965
- 1965–1989Chairman, State Planning Commission & Presidium of the Council of Ministers
- 1973–1989Candidate member, SED Politburo; full member Nov 1989