Vol. 22 ˇ No. 4 ˇ Issue 72 ˇ Winter 2004

Johanna Granville

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Abstract

This study seeks to answer the question: how did the East German leader Walter Ulbricht survive de-Stalinization in the 1950s and remain in power until 1971? How was Ulbricht able to prevent the kind of unrest that was occurring in Poland and Hungary? The answer is not obvious, for Ulbricht had much in common with the Hungarian leader Mátyás Rákosi, who in July 1956 was forced into permanent exile in the Soviet Union, where he died the same year as Ulbricht's resignation (1971). Both had spent the World War II years in the Soviet Union and were "Muscovites." Both were diehard Stalinists who dragged their feet in implementing the reforms dictated by the Twentieth CPSU Congress. Both communist leaders were immensely unpopular. Ulbricht was dubbed the "Goat-beard" (Spitzbart), which, although not as derogatory as "Bald Murderer" (Kopasz Gyilkos) or "Asshead" (Seggfej) for Rákosi, was hardly flattering. (Rákosi's successor, Ernö Gerö, who became First Secretary after his patron was deported to the USSR in July 1956, was just as despised. As Hungarians said in the privacy of their kitchens: "Instead of a fat Rákosi we got a skinny one.")