Arno Donda

Arno Donda (28 April 1930 – 24 November 2008) was an East German economist and statistician. Between July 1963 and October 1990 he was in charge of the East German Statistical Authority ("Staatliche Zentralverwaltung für Statistik").

Life Arno Donda was born in Berlin. His father worked as a typesetter. He attended middle school in Rumburg and Berlin before transferring, in 1947, to an apprenticeship with the main office of the statistic office in the region that was, by this time, administered as the Soviet occupation zone. He left the school before attempting school final exams ("Abitur"), but by attending evening classes he was able to sit for and passed these exams in 1949 in Berlin as an external student, which opened the way to a university-level education. Despite being only 33, Arno Donda was appointed to take on the position. Despite the mutual suspicions arising from the Cold War tensions of the period, Arno Donda was widely respected in the international statistics community for his ability and integrity. Between 1980 and 1985 he served as vice-president of the Conference of European Statisticians: in 1987 he was its president. He also belonged to several other international academic institutions. It had been commissioned by the newly appointed Party Secretary Egon Krenz, for presentation to the Politburo. The analysis disclosed a catastrophic picture. The East German economy was over-indebted and had for years "been consuming itself" ("zehrt seit Jahren von der Substanz"). A far reaching economic reform programme was proposed, but in the view of the authors that would not be enough to avert looming national insolvency. The only remaining hope was massive additional loans from the German Federal Republic ("West Germany").

The winds of Glasnost had been blowing across from, of all places, Moscow since 1986 resonated strongly in the German Democratic Republic. Street protesters breached the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and it became clear that Soviet troops had no instructions to re-enact the brutal suppression of 1953 or 1968. As further changes unfolded during 1989/90 it turned out that the economic solution for the country would arrive not in the form of massive additional loans from the west, but as part of German reunification, which was formally enacted in October 1990. Donda successfully led the successful transition of the East German statistical authority towards integration with its formerly West German counterpart. Till December 1991 he held the title and office, "President of the General Statistical Service of the New Federal States". However, his task having been accomplished the Ministry officials informed him that they had no further use for his services. It was not an unusual experience after 1990 for former senior officials of the East German state, and a sense of injustice is evident in sources. Between 1992 and 1994 he was registered as unemployed. In January 1995 Donda was formally retired, reaching the age of 65 a couple of months later.

Arno Donda died in Berlin.

Awards and honours

1964 East German Medal for Merit 1969 Patriotic Order of Merit in silver 1980 Banner of Labor