Alfred Rohde

Alfred Rohde (21 April 1921 – 30 January 1990) was a German politician and party functionary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

In the German Democratic Republic, he served as the longtime First Secretary of the SED at SDAG Wismut and was a member of the Central Committee of the SED. As First Secretary, he was a powerful leader in the GDR's most important mining company, the fourth largest uranium producer in the world.

He committed suicide in January 1990, having lost power in the Peaceful Revolution.

Life and career Early career Rohde was born as the son of a locksmith and a factory worker. He attended elementary and vocational school until Easter 1935. Between April 1935 and February 1939, he trained as a machinist and subsequently worked in this profession in Dresden from March 1939 to October 1940 and in Leipzig from October 1940 to March 1942.

From March 1942 to May 1945, he served in the Wehrmacht. From May to September 1945, Rohde was held as a British prisoner of war in Schleswig-Holstein. After his release, he worked again as a machinist in Dresden until December 1950. who left to study at the Bergakademie Freiberg.

The SDAG Wismut SED party organization, titled territorial party leadership , held the rank of a Bezirk party organization, unlike all other industrial party organizations, as SDAG Wismut was a massive mining undertaking with dozens of locations. Rohde was elected to succeeded him in February 1971. He additionally became a full member of the Central Committee of the SED in June (VIII. Party Congress), serving until its collective resignation in December 1989, and of the Volkskammer in November,

Rohde was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze in 1968, in silver and in Gold in 1986, the Order of Karl Marx in 1981, the Banner of Labor in 1984 and the Order of Lenin. Freitag led the party organization until its dissolution in December.

Rohde committed suicide on 30 January 1990.