Modrow, Hans
[key], 1928–2023, German politician. He served in the German Army,
and was a prisoner of war until 1949. Joining the Socialist Unity party
(Communists) in East Germany in 1949, he became first secretary of the East
Berlin city committee (1953–61) and was a member of the city council
until 1971. Rising slowly through the Communist party, he gained a
reputation for honesty and open-mindedness as party secretary at Dresden; he
refrained from suppressing the antigovernment agitation there in 1989. Taken
into the East German Politburo and made prime minister at the height of the
agitation against the Communist government, he formed a grand coalition that
included 12 non-Communists in the cabinet of 27 (Nov., 1989–Mar.,
1990). His government and party were soundly defeated in the momentum for
German reunification. Modrow served in the enlarged Bundestag after
unification and won reelection in Dec., 1990. In 1993 he was convicted of
vote rigging in the municipal elections held in Dresden in May, 1989. He
served in the parliament of the newly reunified Germany until 1994 and in
the European Union Parliament from 1999 to 2004.
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