Karl Namokel (9 August 1927 – 25 July 1988) was a German politician. He was first Secretary of the Central Council of the

Free German Youth The Free German Youth (; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth wing of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The organization was meant for young adults, both male a ...

(FDJ) and a member of the ''

Volkskammer The Volkskammer (, "People's Chamber") was the supreme power organ of East Germany. It was the only branch of government in the state, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs were subservient to it. The Volkskammer was initia ...

'' of the

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

Life

Born in

Demmin Demmin () is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in north-eastern Germany. It was the capital of the former district of Demmin. Geography Demmin lies on the West Pomeranian plain at the confluen ...

as son of a baker, Namokel attended elementary school and was then trained as a shipbuilder in

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

from 1942 to 1944. On February 12 1944, he applied for membership in the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...

and was accepted on April 20 of the same year (membership number 9,893,452). Namokel then served in the Reich Labor Service and from September 1944 to May 1945 was a

Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...

soldier with the final rank of sailor. On May 5 1945, he deserted and returned to Demmin. Namokel got by with odd jobs and joined the

Communist Party of Germany The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...

in 1945, becoming a member of the

Socialist Unity Party of Germany The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (, ; SED, ) was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from the country's foundation in 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a Mar ...

(SED) and FDJ in 1946. From June 1948 to January 1949 he was 1st Secretary of the FDJ District Leadership in Demmin. After attending the Mecklenburg State Party School, Namokel went to the Volkswerft in

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German language, German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklen ...

, where he was Secretary of the FDJ Basic Organization from June 1949 to 1950 and then first Secretary of the SED Party Organization until 1951. From February 1951 to March 1952 he attended the CPSU Party School in Moscow. After that, from April to July 1952 he was Secretary for Economics of the SED State Leadership in Mecklenburg and then Secretary for Economics of the SED District Leadership in

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

until May 1955, and from 1954 to 1955 he was a member of the Rostock District Assembly. From May 1955 to May 1959, Namokel was the successor to

Erich Honecker Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the post ...

as First Secretary of the Central Council of the FDJ. At the 6th Parliament of the FDJ he was replaced due to "weaknesses and his lack of experience in youth work". From July 1958 to January 1963 he was a member of the Central Committee of the SED. At the same time he was a member of the ''

'' from October 1958 to 1963 and was chairman of the Youth Committee. From 1959 to 1963 Namokel studied shipbuilding in Rostock-

Warnemünde (, literally ''Mouth of the Warnow'') is a seaside resort and a district of the city of Rostock in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Mecklenburg, Germany. It is located on the Baltic Sea and, as the name implies, at the estuary of the river Warnow (river ...

, graduating as a naval architect and then worked as an employee in the vocational training department of

Volkseigener Betrieb The Publicly Owned Enterprise (; abbreviated VEB) was the main legal form of industrial enterprise in East Germany. These state-owned enterprise were all publicly owned and were formed after mass nationalisation between 1945 and the early 1960s, ...

Schiffbau and its successor institution '' Kombinat Schiffbau''. In May 1986 he received a

disability pension A disability pension is a form of pension given to those people who are permanently or temporarily unable to work due to a disability. North America An example of a disability pension is from a private or Public Pension Plan, or the Canada Pen ...

Awards

Patriotic Order of Merit The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'', or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding ...

(1970) * Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold (1987) * Arthur Becker Medal in Gold

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Namokel, Karl 1988 deaths 1927 births Members of the Volkskammer