Herbert Ziegenhahn

Herbert Ziegenhahn (27 October 1921 – 29 June 1993) was a German politician and party functionary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

In the German Democratic Republic, he served as the longtime First Secretary of the SED in Bezirk Gera and was a member of the Central Committee of the SED.

Life and career Early career Herbert Ziegenhahn was born on 27 October 1921, as the son of a small farming family in Dankerode. After completing elementary school, he attended an agricultural vocational school and worked from 1936 to 1941 as a farm laborer, mason, and in his parents' business.

As a soldier in the Wehrmacht, he served as a gunner and in a sound-ranging company. Ziegenhahn was captured by the Soviets during the war and returned to Germany in 1949 after attending Antifa schools. Roscher was promoted to First Secretary of the SED in the much larger Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt.

Additionally, later in 1963, he was given a mandate by his party as a representative of the Volkskammer, In September 1966, Ziegenhahn became a full member of the Central Committee of the SED. He was removed by his party from the Volkskammer two weeks later, on 16 November 1989.

At its last session on 3 December 1989, the Central Committee expelled Ziegenhahn from the Central Committee and from the SED shortly before its collective resignation "due to the severity of their violations against the SED statute and in consideration of numerous demands and requests from district delegate conferences."

Ziegenhahn faced an arrest warrant in January 1990, an investigation being underway against him for breach of trust. He was however released from pre-trial detention on 13 February due to his poor health.

Reunified Germany Ziegenhahn died in 1993 at the age of 71.