Kurt Kieß

Kurt Kieß (28 May 1914 – 30 December 1970) was a German politician and party functionary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

Until his sudden death in 1970, he served as the longtime First Secretary of the SED at SDAG Wismut since the 1960s and was a candidate member of the Central Committee of the SED. As First Secretary, he was a powerful leader in the GDR's most important mining company, the fourth largest uranium producer in the world.

Life and career Early life Kieß was born on 28 May 1914, as the son of a locksmith, who later also became a KPD member, in Griesbach (now a part of Schneeberg) in the Ore Mountains.

After elementary school, he completed an apprenticeship as a tinsmith from 1928 to 1931. During his apprenticeship, he joined the Young Communist League of Germany,

The SDAG Wismut SED party organization, titled territorial party leadership , held the rank of a Bezirk party organization, unlike all other industrial party organizations, as SDAG Wismut was a massive mining undertaking with dozens of locations. Kieß succeeded him. He additionally became a member of the Volkskammer in November 1963, and a candidate member of the Central Committee of the SED in April 1967 (VII. Party Congress).