Hans Modrow

Hans Modrow (German pronunciation: [ˈhans ˈmoːdʁo]; 27 January 1928 – 10 February 2023) was a German politician best known as the last communist premier of East Germany. Coming into office amidst the Peaceful Revolution, he was the de facto leader of East Germany through the winter of 1989–90. He presided over a transitional government, paving the way to the first and only free elections in East Germany. His cabinet was the last over which the Socialist Unity Party (SED) presided, as well as the first to include opposition members. After the end of Communist rule and reunification of Germany, he was convicted of electoral fraud and perjury by the Dresden District Court in 1995, on the basis that he had been the SED official nominally in charge of the electoral process. He was later convicted of the first charge and was given a nine-month suspended sentence. He was one of the few high-ranking former SED officials retained by its successor, the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), of which he became honorary chairman.[1] He was the president of the "council of elders" of the PDS' successor, the Left Party, from 2007.[2]