Heinz Geggel

Heinz Geggel (11 November 1921 – 15 November 2000) was an East German journalist and party functionary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

Born to a Jewish family of merchants, Geggel fled Nazi Germany to Cuba, where he was involved with the Communist resistance to the Nazis. After the war he returned to the Soviet occupation zone, where he became a journalist. Geggel served as the longtime head of the powerful Central Committee Agitation Department where he played a pivotal role in the censorship of the East German press. He was nicknamed "Dr. Geggels" (in reference to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels) by the journalists he directed and controlled.

Life and career Early life Heinz Geggel was born on 11 November 1921 in Munich to a Jewish family of merchants. He attended primary and secondary school there from 1928 to 1936. Due to his Jewish heritage, he had to emigrate from Germany after the Nazis rose to power. He initially fled to Switzerland, where he completed an apprenticeship at a commercial school in Neuchâtel. In 1938, he moved to Belgium, studying textile engineering at a technical school in Verviers. When Belgium was invaded by Nazi Germany in May 1940, Geggel was interned in Brussels and forced into labor. He was later moved to internment camps in southern France, including the Gurs internment camp and Camp des Milles. His German citizenship had been revoked in 1940. After a few odd jobs in Havana, He became active in the German resistance against the Nazis, joining the Confederation of Cuban Workers and leading the Committee of German Antifascists in Cuba. In 1944, Geggel additionally joined the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and dealt with the registration of German Nazis living in Cuba. East Germany's State Broadcasting Committee.

Central Committee apparatus Geggel moved to the apparatus of the SED Central Committee in 1960 as head of the Politburo West Commission's SPD Working Group,

Two years later, Geggel succeeded Arne Rehahn as head of the Central Committee West Department, which by 1965 had become the deciding Central Committee institution responsible for West Germany. Geggel's tenure at the department coincided with the underground work of the illegal SED-controlled West German KPD and its 1968 reestablishment as German Communist Party (DKP). In June 1971 (VIII. Party Congress), he was made a full member of the Central Committee, serving until its collective resignation in December 1989. From 1971, Geggel was also a board member of the Association of Journalists of the GDR.

Representatives of East German press organs were required to attend so-called "argumentation sessions" (Argus), held every Thursday in the Central Committee building, for this purpose. Officially meant to provide information, Geggel actually dictated which issues are to be reported on, with what priority and how; often, even detailed wording of headlines and specific phrases were prescribed during these Argus. Due to the atmosphere and his unyielding stance in these sessions, even questioning Geggel being suspect,

Geggel received several state awards during his time in the Central Committee apparatus, among other things he was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in 1959, 1964 and 1970, the Banner of Labor in 1968, 1971 and 1981, the Order of Karl Marx in 1981 and 1986,

Peaceful Revolution After Erich Honecker and Joachim Herrmann were removed from power in October 1989 during the Peaceful Revolution, Günter Schabowski, the new Central Committee Secretary responsible for the media, aimed to end the SED's meddling in the media. Geggel still being involved in the transition.

In November 1989, Geggel resigned as department head and went into retirement. He died in Berlin on 15 November 2000 at the age of 79. Thomas Geggel, who became a Stasi officer (reaching the rank of Oberleutnant by 1980), among other things responsible for healthcare facilities in Berlin-Lichtenberg. Thomas Geggel is now active in Jewish Voice for Peace.