Peter Moreth


Peter Moreth was a German politician and party official of the East German LDPD. In 1989/90 he was Local Government Deputy Chairman of the East German Council of Ministers.
During the transition towards German reunification he was briefly the first president of the Treuhand, the organisation entrusted with the privatisation of East German enterprises.

Life

Moreth was born in central Saxony on 28 July 1941, during the war. His father was shopkeeper. After leaving school he served an apprenticeship as a bricklayer between 1955 and 1957, followed by another apprenticeship in retailing from 1957 till 1959. He then worked in the retail sector from 1959 to 1968.
He joined the East German Liberal Democratic Party, one of the country's so-called bloc parties controlled through the East German National Front organisation by the ruling SED. Having joined the party he became, between 1962 and 1968 a local politician in Mittweida.
In 1968 he became a full-time employee of the regional party organisation of the LDPD in the Karl-Marx-Stadt region. In 1970 he became a Deputy Mayor of the city with responsibility for trade and supply. Then from 1971 till 1983 he became the LDPD District Chairman and city councillor in Cottbus approximately 160 km to the north-east. He was placed on the list of succession candidates for the central committee of the LDPD in 1967, becoming a member in 1972. In 1977 he became a member of the party's central committee, and in May of that same year he received his doctorate.
From 8 July 1983 till 20 November 1989 he served as Chairman of the Party's regional association in Magdeburg. Then between 16 June 1986 and 17 November 1989 he served nationally as a member of the East German State Council. On 19 November 1989 he served during the short-lived premiership of Hans Modrow as Deputy Minister-president and minister for regional government, a position in which his administrative responsibilities included the Stasi. On 30 November 1989 he was appointed to head up the government commission for the future development of Leipzig.
On 1 March 1990 he was appointed the first president of the Treuhand. However, on 15 July 1990 he was replaced in this position by the well-regarded business manager :de:Reiner Maria Gohlke.
After this Peter Moreth lived as a business consultant in Berlin which is where, in February 2014, he died.

Award