Stoph, Willi

*		1914
†		1999

Beruf
German politician

Überblick

	1931 enters the Communist Party of Germany
	soldier in World War II
	after the war, enters the SED
	1950-1953 Secretary of the Central Committee of the SED
	1952-1955 Minister of the Interior
	1953-1989 member of the Politburo
	1956-1989 Minister of Defense
	1962-1964 First Vice Prime Minister of the GDR
	1964-1973 and 1976-1989, Prime Minister
	1973-1976 Chairman of the State Council
	retires in November 1989
	1990 arrested. The case against Stoph, based on his joint responsibility for the orders to shoot trespassers at various domestic German borders, is dropped because of his ill health.