Wilhelm Pieck re-elected president of the GDR

© Schnitzler Contemporary postcard with a portrait of Wilhelm Pieck

On 7 October 1953 , the East Berlin People’s Chamber elects Wilhelm Pieck president of the GDR for the second time. Due to his already compromised state of health he hardly ever appears in public. Nevertheless, he will also be re-elected in 1957. After Pieck’s death on 7 September 1960, Walter Ulbricht will abolish the office of state president and instead assume the position of „chairman of the State Council of the GDR“, an office which concurrently will include the leadership of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).