Third Grotewohl cabinet

Government of the German Democratic Republic

Third cabinet of Otto Grotewohl Cabinet Grotewohl III
2nd government of the German Democratic Republic

Date formed	19 November 1954 (1954-11-19)
Date dissolved	7 December 1958 (1958-12-07)
People and organisations
Head of government	Otto Grotewohl
No. of ministers	15
History
Predecessor	Grotewohl II
Successor	Grotewohl IV

The following overview lists the ministers and state secretaries of the GDR government at the beginning of the government period.

Ministries

The government consisted of:^[1]


Portfolio	Minister	Took office	Left office
Minister-President of the German Democratic Republic	Otto Grotewohl	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	SED
First Deputy Minister-President of the German Democratic Republic	Walter Ulbricht	24 November 1955	7 December 1958	SED
Deputy Minister-President of the German Democratic Republic	Walter Ulbricht	19 November 1954	24 November 1955	SED
	Otto Nuschke	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	CDU
	Heinrich Rau	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	SED
	Hans Loch	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	LDPD
	Lothar Bolz	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	National Democratic Party of Germany (DDR)
	Paul Scholz	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	DBD
	Willi Stoph	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	SED
	Fred Oelßner	18 January 1956	13 February 1958	SED
	Fritz Selbmann	24 November 1955	13 February 1958	SED
	Fred Oelßner	18 January 1956	7 December 1958	SED
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry	Paul Scholz	19 November 1954	19 March 1955	DBD
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry	Hans Reichelt	20 March 1955	7 December 1958	DBD
Ministry of Construction	Heinz Winkler	19 November 1954	15 February 1958	National Democratic Party of Germany (DDR)
Ministry of Finance	Hans Loch	19 November 1954	24 November 1955	LDPD
Ministry of Finance	Willy Rumpf	24 November 1955	7 December 1958	SED
Ministry of Foreign Affairs	Lothar Bolz	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	National Democratic Party of Germany (DDR)
Ministry of Heavy Industry	Fritz Selbmann	19 November 1954	24 November 1955	SED
Ministry of the Interior	Willi Stoph	19 November 1954	12 August 1955	SED
Ministry of the Interior	Karl Maron	12 August 1955	7 December 1958	SED
Ministry of Justice	Hilde Benjamin	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	SED
Ministry for Labor and Vocational Training	Frederick Macher	19 November 1954	15 February 1958	SED
Ministry of Light Industry	William Feldman	19 November 1954	15 February 1958	National Democratic Party of Germany (DDR)
Ministry of Mechanical Engineering	Heinrich Rau	19 November 1954	15 April 1955	SED
Ministry for Post and Telecommunications	Friedrich Burmeister	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	CDU
Ministry of Public Education	Fritz Lange	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	SED
Minister of State Security	Ernst Wollweber	19 November 1954	31 October 1957	SED
Minister of State Security	Ernst Wollweber	11 December 1957	7 December 1958	SED
Ministry of Trade and Supply	Curt Wach	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	SED
Ministry of Transport	Erwin Kramer	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	SED
Ministry of Health	Luitpold Steidle^[2]	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	CDU

Committees


Portfolio	Minister	Took office	Left office
Chairman of the State Planning Commission	Bruno Leuschner	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	SED
First Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Commission	Margaret Wittkowski	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	SED
State Secretary of the Committee for German Unity	Albert North	19 November 1954	7 December 1958	SED

References

^ "Ministries, political parties, etc". rulers.org. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
^ Helmut Müller-Enbergs. "Steidle, Luitpold * 12.3.1898, † 27.7.1984 CDU-Funktionär, Minister für Gesundheitswesen, Oberbürgermeister von Weimar". Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur: Biographische Datenbanken. Retrieved 31 July 2023.

Sources

Herbert Hömig (1985), "Loch, Hans", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 14, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 742–743; (full text online)
Wer war wer in der DDR?
Carl Steinhoff: erster DDR-Innenminister : Wandlungen eines bürgerlichen Sozialisten / Lutz Maeke
"BIOGRAPHISCHE DATENBANKEN". election.de (in German). Retrieved 31 July 2023.
Gesetz über die Regierung der DDR: Online-Veröffentlichung, retrieved 10 January 2018
Gesetz über die Bildung eines Ministeriums für Staatssicherheit: http://www.verfassungen.de/de/ddr/mfsbildung50.htm Online-Veröffentlichung, retrieved 10 January 2018.

Government offices
Preceded by Grotewohl II	Cabinets of the German Democratic Republic 19 November 1954–7 December 1958	Succeeded by Grotewohl IV

German cabinets

German Empire (1871–1918)

Weimar Republic (1918–1933)

Nazi Germany (1933–1945)

German Democratic Republic (1949–1990)

Federal Republic of Germany (since 1949)

v t e Political parties in East Germany
Parties of the Democratic Bloc (1945–1950)	Communist Party of Germany (to 1946) Social Democratic Party of Germany (to 1946) Christian Democratic Union Liberal Democratic Party Socialist Unity Party of Germany (from 1946)
Parties of the National Front (1950–1989)	Socialist Unity Party of Germany Christian Democratic Union of Germany Liberal Democratic Party of Germany National Democratic Party of Germany (formed in 1948) Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany (formed in 1948)
Parties during and after the Peaceful Revolution (1989–1990)	Alliance 90 Democracy Now Initiative for Peace and Human Rights New Forum Alliance for Germany Christian Democratic Union Democratic Awakening German Social Union Association of Free Democrats Liberal Democratic Party Free Democratic Party German Forum Party Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany Communist Party of Germany Green Party National Democratic Party of Germany Social Democratic Party Socialist Unity Party of Germany—Party of Democratic Socialism United Left
Constituent Mass Organizations	Free German Trade Union Federation Free German Youth Democratic Women's Federation of Germany Cultural Association of the GDR Peasants Mutual Aid Association
East Germany portal Politics of East Germany Political parties in East Germany

Current and former ruling parties of communist states

Afghanistan

People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan

Albania

Party of Labour of Albania

Angola

People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola*

Benin

People's Revolutionary Party of Benin

Bulgaria

Bulgarian Communist Party

Burkina Faso

African Independence Party

Cambodia

DK	Communist Party of Kampuchea
PRK	Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party

Cape Verde

African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde*

China

Chinese Communist Party

Congo

Congolese Party of Labour*

Cuba	Communist Party of Cuba
Czechoslovakia	Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
East Germany	Socialist Unity Party of Germany
Ethiopia	Derg (COPWE, Workers' Party of Ethiopia)
Grenada	New Jewel Movement
Guinea-Bissau	African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde*
Hungary	Hungarian Working People's Party Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party
Laos	Lao People's Revolutionary Party
Madagascar	Vanguard of the Malagasy Revolution*
Mongolia	Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party*
Mozambique	FRELIMO*

North Korea	Workers' Party of Korea
Poland	Polish Workers' Party, Polish United Workers' Party
Romania	Romanian Communist Party
São Tomé and Príncipe	Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe*
Seychelles	Seychelles People's Progressive Front*
Somalia	Supreme Revolutionary Council, Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party
South Yemen	National Liberation Front, Yemeni Socialist Party*
Soviet Union	Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Tuva	Tuvan People's Revolutionary Party
North Vietnam, Vietnam	Communist Party of Vietnam
Yugoslavia	League of Communists of Yugoslavia

Italics indicates a current ruling party or communist state
An asterisk indicates a party no longer espousing communism

Leaders of the ruling Communist parties of the Eastern Bloc

Party of Labour of Albania	Enver Hoxha Ramiz Alia
Bulgarian Communist Party	Georgi Dimitrov Valko Chervenkov Todor Zhivkov Petar Mladenov
Communist Party of Czechoslovakia	Klement Gottwald Antonín Novotný Alexander Dubček Gustáv Husák Miloš Jakeš Karel Urbánek
Socialist Unity Party of Germany	Wilhelm Pieck Otto Grotewohl Walter Ulbricht Erich Honecker Egon Krenz
Hungarian Working People's Party Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party	Mátyás Rákosi Ernő Gerő Imre Nagy János Kádár Károly Grósz Rezső Nyers

Polish Workers' Party Polish United Workers' Party	Władysław Gomułka Bolesław Bierut Edward Ochab Edward Gierek Stanisław Kania Wojciech Jaruzelski Mieczysław Rakowski
Romanian Communist Party	Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej Gheorghe Apostol Nicolae Ceaușescu
Communist Party of the Soviet Union	Vladimir Lenin Joseph Stalin Georgy Malenkov Nikita Khrushchev Leonid Brezhnev Yuri Andropov Konstantin Chernenko Mikhail Gorbachev
League of Communists of Yugoslavia	Josip Broz Tito Stevan Doronjski Lazar Mojsov Dušan Dragosavac Mitja Ribičič Dragoslav Marković Ali Shukriu Vidoje Žarković Milanko Renovica Boško Krunić Stipe Šuvar Milan Pančevski