Günter Simon

Günter Simon (born Großbaudis, Liegnitz 6 May 1933) is a German journalist.

Between 1981 and 1989 he was chief editor of , the weekly newspaper of the Free German Trade Union Federation.

Life

Early years Born the son of an agricultural worker in Lower Silesia, Simon received an education that included lower, middle and upper schools, successfully obtaining his Abitur. By this time the German Democratic Republic had come into being, based on what had previously been the Soviet occupation zone. The frontier dividing Germany from Poland had moved west, and Simon was among the millions of Germans who had been relocated as part of the process. He joined East Germany's ruling SED (party) in 1950. remaining in the post till 1989.

On 23 September 1981, he was co-opted for the 14th session of the FDGB executive committee and elected to membership of its presidium, another function which he retained till 1989.

Awards Fritz Heckert Medal (1967) Journalists' Prize of the Free German Trade Union Federation (1973) Patriotic Order of Merit (Vaterländischer Verdienstorden) in Silver (1977) Hermann Duncker Medal (1985)