Gustav Siemon

Gustav Siemon (20 June 1918 – 17 January 2011) was a German politician. At a national level he was a member of the East German National legislature (Volkskammer). Regionally, he led the National Democratic Party (NPDP) in Mecklenburg. The end of the war had marked the end of the Nazi regime and with it, as it seemed, the end of one-party government in Germany. In July 1945 Gustav Siemon became a member of the (no longer illegal) Communist Party (KPD). Following the contentious merger, in the Soviet controlled zone, of the KPD and SPD, this made him a member of the Socialist Unity Party (SED / Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands) after April 1946. He also joined the national Trade Union Federation and of the national Cultural Association (Kulturbund). He was also appointed, in July 1945, a member of the Mecklenburg Regional Administration and tasked with forming a department for culture in the regional ministry for education. The National Zeitung, founded in 1948, was the NDPD official newspaper. Despite that status, however, the NDPD had never had the opportunity to build a following across the country and circulation volumes were always modest. The job went with membership of the main board of the national Union of Journalists. Siemon relinquished the editorship in 1961.Between 1961 and 1963 he led the International Affairs Department of the NDPD Party Executive. Various further high level jobs within the party nationally followed through the 1960s and early 1970s after which his focus switched to regional politics. From 1982 till January 1984 he was chairman of the NDPD regional leadership in Cottbus. On 10 January 1984 he became deputy chairman of the Cottbus regional executive of the Society for German–Soviet Friendship and a Cottbus local councillor.

Awards and honours National Front Badge of honour East German Order of Merit 1957: Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze 1958: Ernst Moritz Arndt Medal 1958: Party Medal of the NDPD 1965: Patriotic Order of Merit in silver 1978: Banner of Labor 1983: Patriotic Order of Merit in gold 1988: Patriotic Order of Merit gold clasp