Wilhelm Stoph (9 July 1914 – 13 April 1999) was a German politician. He served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1964 to 1973, and again from 1976 until 1989. He also served as chairman of the State Council from 1973 to 1976.
Stoph was drafted on February 17, 1940. He was assigned to the 293rd Infantry Division's artillery regiment,
That same year, he was promoted to private first class. In 1941, he was transferred from Brittany to the Eastern Front. In 1942, while serving as a corporal, he contracted dysentery and jaundice. In 1943, he became a staff private and fell ill with jaundice again, which is why he was deemed unfit for front-line duty and transferred to a reserve unit in Frankfurt (Oder), where he remained until 1944 due to a diagnosed case of heart failure.
In 1944–45, he completed a noncommissioned officer training course lasting several weeks. In February 1945, he became a noncommissioned officer (Unteroffizier). He was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class.
On April 21, 1945, he deserted and allowed himself to be arrested by Red Army soldiers, who released him in mid-July after a brief period of captivity in the Wriezen and Küstrin camps.
Then, Stoph worked with the Communist-dominated Socialist Unity party and served on the party's executive committee from 1947.
Following the establishment of the GDR in 1949, Stoph became a member of the Socialist Unity Party's Central Committee and member of the Volkskammer in 1950. He was named to the Politbüro in 1953. He served as Interior Minister from 9 May 1952 to 1 July 1955, and as East Germany's first Defense Minister from 18 January 1956 to 14 July 1960. As defense minister, he was awarded the rank of Armeegeneral.
Stoph delivering New Year's Eve address to the East German people, 1974
After having served as first deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers (first Deputy Prime Minister) from 1960 to 1964, he was named Chairman of the Council of Ministers (Ministerrat), or Prime Minister, in 1964 after the death of Otto Grotewohl. De facto, he had been serving as acting chairman of the council since October 1960 due to Grotewohl's poor health. He was initially thought to be the heir apparent to longtime party leader Walter Ulbricht, but his ascendancy was checked by Erich Honecker. After Ulbricht's death in 1973, Stoph became Chairman of the Council of State—a post equivalent in rank to president of the GDR. After the Volkskammer election in october 1976, Honecker re-arranged the state and party leadership structure. Believing that Stoph's successor as prime minister, Horst Sindermann, was too liberal on economic matters, Honecker replaced him with Stoph.
Stoph with West German Chancellor Willy Brandt (on his right), 1970
During his first stint as Prime Minister, Stoph began a series of negotiations with West German Chancellor Willy Brandt in 1970. It marked the first ever meeting between the leaders of East and West Germany.
Stoph was known as a man who could be trusted to carry out the directives of the SED's Politburo; indeed, Honecker tapped him for his second stint in the premiership for this reason. Although he nominally held the highest state post in the GDR, in practice he was outranked by Honecker, who derived most of his power from his post as general secretary of the SED.
For the most part, Stoph was a loyal supporter of Honecker. However, Stoph joined the plot to remove Honecker in October 1989. At the Politburo meeting at which Honecker was voted out, Stoph made the motion to "release" Honecker and replace him with Egon Krenz.
On 9 November 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. Four days later, Stoph and his entire 44-member cabinet resigned in response to public pressure. Stoph was arrested for corruption in December 1989. Despite his role in pushing Honecker out, the SED expelled Stoph on December 3, the same day it expelled Honecker. He was later spared detention on grounds of ill health. On 10 October 1994, the Verwaltungsgericht Berlin decided that his seized savings of 200,000 Deutsche Mark would not be returned to him.
Death
Stoph died in Berlin at the age of 84 on 13 April 1999. He was buried in Wildau.
Trivia
A study published in 2026 suggests that Stoph assumed a false identity during World War II and kept it until his death. He was actually SA Obertruppführer and Wehrmacht Lieutenant Walter Blume, husband of the artist Gwendolyn Liselotte Blume (1914–1983).
↑on May 22, 1935, the Nazi regime had introduced compulsory military service in the 'Military Service Act' (Wehrgesetz)
↑Rogers, Steven (2014). "Stoph, Willi (1914–1999)". In Zabecki, David T. (ed.). Germany at War: 400 Years of Military History. Vol.3. ABC Clio. pp.1244–1245. ISBN9781598849806.
↑Ulrich Mählert: Willi Stoph – Ein Fußsoldat der KPD als Verteidigungsminister der DDR. In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (ed.): Genosse General! Die Militärelite der DDR in biografischen Skizzen. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-86153-312-X, p 279–303, here p 280, 284, 289.
↑Ulrich Mählert: Willi Stoph – Ein Fußsoldat der KPD als Verteidigungsminister der DDR. In: Hans Ehlert, Armin Wagner (Ed.): Genosse General! Die Militärelite der DDR in biografischen Skizzen. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-86153-312-X, p 279–303, here p 287.
↑Ewald Hülk, Dirk Weber: Der DDR-Staatschef – ein Nazi vom Niederrhein?, Rheinische Post 'Sonntag' , 27. September 2026, p 1.
↑Wolfgang Posten, Matthias Schrör: Zwei Namen für ein Leben. Die Akte Willi Stoph. Vergangenheitsverlag Berlin 2026. ISBN 978-3-86408-373-0 www.vergangenheitsverlag.de
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