Siegfried Böhm
{{Short description|East German finance minister (1928–1980)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-J0416-0030-001, Berlin, 24. DDR-Staatsratsitzung.jpg
| imagesize =
| office = Minister of Finance
|1blankname = {{nowrap|Chairman of the
Council of Ministers}}
|1namedata = {{ubl|Willi Stoph|Horst Sindermann|Willi Stoph}}
| term_start = 12 December 1966
| term_end = 5 May 1980
| predecessor = Willy Rumpf
| successor = Werner Schmieder
| office1 = Head of the Planning and Finance Department of the Central Committee
|1blankname1 = {{nowrap|Secretary}}
|1namedata1 = {{ubl|Günter Mittag}}
| term_start1 = 1963
| term_end1 = 17 December 1966
| predecessor1 = Gerhard Schürer
| successor1 = Karl Hengst
| birth_date = {{birth date |df=yes|1928|8|20}}
| birth_place = Plauen, Saxony, Weimar Republic {{small|(now Germany)}}
| death_date = {{death date and age|1980|5|4|1928|8|20|df=y}}
| death_place = Berlin-Karlshorst, East Germany
| resting_place =
| party = Socialist Unity Party
{{small|(1948–1980)}}
| awards = {{hlist|Patriotic Order of Merit}}
| alma_mater = Karl Marx University
| spouse =
| module2 = {{collapsible list
| title = Central institution membership
| bullets = on
| 1967–1980: Full member,
Central Committee
}}
----
{{collapsible list
| title = Other offices held
| bullets = on
| 1961–1963: Deputy Head, Planning and Finance Department of the Central Committee
}}
}}
Siegfried Böhm (20 August 1928 – 4 May 1980) was an East German politician and long-term finance minister of East Germany. He was in office for nearly fourteen years between 1966 and 1980.
Biography
Böhm was born in Plauen on 20 August 1928.{{cite web|title=Siegfried Böhm|url=https://paneur1970s-map.eui.eu/people/556
|publisher=European University Institute|access-date=20 July 2021}} He received a degree in economics.{{cite book
|author=Ursula Hoffmann-Lange|title=Die Veränderungen in der Sozialstruktur des Ministerrates der DDR: 1949-1969|year=1971|publisher=Droste Verlag|location=Düsseldorf|isbn=978-3-7700-0281-8|pages=54,60|url=https://fis.uni-bamberg.de/entities/publication/40b6f7f6-d08b-4fbc-9b9f-7dddc739aadf/details|language=de}}
Böhm was appointed the finance minister in December 1966, succeeding Willy Rumpf in the post. Böhm's term lasted until 1980. He was among the central committee members of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.{{cite news
|title=Rätsel um Tod eines DDR-Ministers|url=https://www.lr-online.de/nachrichten/raetsel-um-tod-eines-ddr-ministers-33757500.html|access-date=20 July 2021|work=LR Online|date=26 November 2003|language=de}} He was also a member of the Working Group Balance of Payments from 1974 to 1980. Böhm was one of the first officials who alerted the East German authorities about the negative consequences of the indebtedness to the Western countries.{{cite book|editor1=Angela Romano|editor2=Federico Romero|title=European Socialist Regimes' Fateful Engagement with the West: National Strategies in the Long 1970s|publisher=Taylor & Francis|author=Maximilian Graf|year=2020
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=35r6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT122|isbn=978-1-00-021035-4|page=122|chapter=Drifting Westward? East Germany and Integrated Europe|location=London; New York}} He also criticized the illegal currency and gold transactions carried out in the country.{{cite news|author=Andreas Förster|title=Bundesanwaltschaft ermittelt im Fall Siegfried Böhm / SED-Politiker war 1980 erschossen worden: DDR-Killerkommando soll Minister getötet haben|url=https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/bundesanwaltschaft-ermittelt-im-fall-siegfried-boehm-sed-politiker-war-1980-erschossen-worden-ddr-killerkommando-soll-minister-getoetet-haben-li.63721|access-date=20 July 2021|work=Berliner Zeitung
|date=27 September 2003|location=Berlin|language=de}}
Böhm died at his home in Berlin-Karlshorst on 4 May 1980.{{cite news|title=Questions over death squad|location=Berlin|
url=https://www.news24.com/news24/questions-over-death-squad-20030929|access-date=20 July 2021|work=news24|date=29 September 2003}} The East German officials reported on the next day that his wife shot him during a quarrel and then she committed suicide.{{cite news|title=East German leaders' hit squad revealed|url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/east-german-leaders-hit-squad-revealed-20030929-gdhhbc.html|access-date=20 July 2021|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|agency=Deutsche Presse-Agentur|date=29 September 2003
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227013723/https://www.smh.com.au/world/east-german-leaders-hit-squad-revealed-20030929-gdhhbc.html
|archive-date=27 February 2021}} The official paper Neues Deutschland argued that Böhm and his wife died in an accident without giving any further details about the incident.{{cite news|title=East Germans Hush Up Killing of Official and Wife|access-date=18 July 2023|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/423949775|date=5 June 1980|page=A9|id={{ProQuest|423949775}}
}} One week later their children issued an obituary in a state-controlled paper.
Böhm was buried in a state ceremony. He was succeeded by Werner Schmieder as finance minister in June 1980.{{cite web|title=Was War am 22. Mai 1980|publisher=Chroniknet|url=https://chroniknet.de/extra/was-war-am/?ereignisdatum=22.5.1980|access-date=20 July 2021|language=de}}{{cite book|author=Peter Joachim Lapp|title=Der Ministerrat der DDR: Aufgaben, Arbeitsweise und Struktur der anderen deutschen Regierung|publisher=VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften|year=2013|isbn=978-3-322-88734-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QCWfBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA137|language=de|page=137|location=Opladen}}
It was revealed in 2003 as a result of the investigations that Böhm was in fact killed by an East German hit squad due to his potential reports about the bankruptcy faced in East Germany. His wife was also murdered by the squad to fabricate the official story of his death.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
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{{succession box | before=Willy Rumpf | title=Finance Minister of East Germany | years=1966–1980 | after=Werner Schmieder}}
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{{Finance Ministers of Germany|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bohm, Siegfried}}
Category:20th-century German economists
Category:European politicians assassinated in the 1980s
Category:Assassinated German politicians
Category:Politicians assassinated in 1980
Category:Finance ministers of East Germany
Category:Members of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
Category:Members of the Volkskammer
Category:People murdered in Berlin