Werner Jarowinsky

Werner Jarowinsky (25 April 1927 - 22 October 1990) was an East German economist who became a party official. Between 1963 and 1989 he was a member of the powerful Party Central Committee which, under the Leninist constitutional structure that the country had adopted after 1949, was the focus of political power and decision making. Within the Central Committee, from 1984 till 1989, he served as a member of Politburo which controlled and coordinated the work of the Central Committee on behalf of the leadership.

Between 1963 and 1990 Werner Jarowinsky combined his party responsibilities with membership of the People's Parliament (Volkskammer). He was also employed during this period by the People's Police, though it is not clear from sources whether he was a "member" of the police

In 1956 Jarowinsky was appointed to head up the "Research Institute for Inter-German Trade" ("Forschungsinstituts für den Binnenhandel"), which was part of the Economics faculty at Berlin University. In 1957 he became Head of National Administration ("Leiter der Hauptverwaltung") at the East German Ministry for Trade and Supplies ("Ministerium für Handel und Versorgung"), which had connections to the university institute. Jarowinsky remained in office at the ministry till 1963.

In November 1989, the Berlin Wall was breached by large numbers of East German street protestors. To the surprise of commentators (and others) it quickly became apparent that the East German borderguards observing events had received no instructions to intervene. Seeing this, the protestors got sledgehammers and began demolishing the wall. A succession of events now unfolded which led - seemingly inexorably - to East Germany's first and last free election. To Chancellor Kohl of West Germany, who had already had opportunities to discuss the situation with President Gorbachev in some detail, it may already have been apparent that the way was opening up to reunification. For most people that was not yet so obvious. Nevertheless, during November and December 1989 the East German political establishment underwent a terminal loss of collective confidence, while East German citizens cautiously concluded that they were not, after all, about to experience a re-run of 1953. The Party Central Committee and Politburo (including Jarowinsky) resigned en masse on 3 December 1989. That was the context in which, in November 1989, Werner Jarowinsky had become a deputy president of the People's Parliament (Volkskammer).

On 21 January 1990, Werner Jarowinsky was excluded from the party,

The process of German reunification was rapid. The free election in East Germany was won by the East German CDU (which acted as the East German wing of the West German party of the same name for that election) specifically because it promised speedy reunification. Although they won the election, they did not win enough seats to govern the Volkskammer. A coalition government with the CDU and several other parties was formed to govern and lead the talks for formal reunification. In September, the reunification treaty was passed by both the Volkskammer in East Berlin and the West German Bundestag in Bonn and it was agreed that the formal reunification would be effective from 3 October. This event happened as planned and merged not only Germany but also East Berlin and West Berlin (until then, an enclave controlled by West Germany) into modern-day Berlin. On 22 October 1990, Werner Jarowinsky died aged 63 in reunified Berlin. He outlived East Germany by only 19 days.

Awards and honours 1977 Order of Karl Marx 1987 Order of Karl Marx