Beate Ulbricht

Beate Ulbricht (born ; 6 May 1944 – between 27 November and 3 December 1991), also known as Beate Matteoli, was the adopted daughter of the supreme leader of the East German SED, Walter Ulbricht and his wife Lotte.

Biography Parentage and adoption Ulbricht was born Maria Pestunova in 1944 in Leipzig during the Nazi dictatorship in Germany. Her birth mother was a Ukrainian forced labourer from the Soviet Union; the identity of her father was unknown. In summer 1944, shortly after Ulbricht's birth, her mother died in an air raid bombing. Maria was sent to an orphanage, whereupon she was adopted for a short time before her foster mother decided to return her. In January 1946, she was adopted a second time by Walter Ulbricht, then a member of the Landtag of Saxony, and his partner Lotte. who wanted children, but were unable to have them on their own because prior illnesses left Lotte Ulbricht unable to conceive. Beate Ulbricht's birth parentage was kept secret from the public until after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Because of Soviet laws which prevented children born to Soviet citizens from being adopted by foreign parents, Ulbricht's adoption was not formally approved until 26 August 1950, with the caveat that she could not renounce Soviet citizenship in favor of East German citizenship. While in the Soviet Union, she met a former classmate, Yuri Polkovnikov, whom she married in March 1968. In January 1969 she gave birth to a son and resumed her studies. Ulbricht was subjected to violence from her husband and became an alcoholic as a result.

On the night of 3/4 December 1991, neighbors of her apartment in the Lichtenberg borough of eastern Berlin reported loud arguments, barking dogs and many men coming and going to police. When they arrived, they found Ulbricht's body, with facial injuries and showing signs of prolonged alcohol abuse. She had either fallen or been beaten; the manner of death, whether an accident or homicide, has never been determined. If she was murdered, her death has been linked to that of a man, said to have once been her lover, found stabbed in his burnt apartment almost two years later. Lotte Ulbricht was apparently unsurprised, saying "Fancy that ...", when a reporter visited her to inform her of her daughter's death.

After Ulbricht wed her first husband, she was subjected to a campaign of harassment by East German authorities. Her parents revoked her privileges, cut off further contact, and forced her to work as a solderer at the VEB Stern-Radio plant in Berlin. She learned after her father's death that she had been disinherited from his will.

Ulbricht spoke warmly about her adoptive father, Walter, who had treated her well and doted upon her. But she referred to her mother, Lotte, as "the hag," calling her "cold-hearted and egotistic." According to her, Walter Ulbricht married Lotte on the orders of Stalin.