2nd Council of Ministers of the German Democratic Republic

Third cabinet of Otto Grotewohl Cabinet Grotewohl III
2nd government of the German Democratic Republic
Date formed	19 November 1954 (1954-11-19)
Date dissolved	7 December 1958 (1958-12-07)
People and organisations
Head of government	Otto Grotewohl
No. of ministers	15
History
Predecessor	Grotewohl II
Successor	Grotewohl IV

The following overview lists the ministers and state secretaries of the GDR government at the beginning of the government period.

Ministries

The government consisted of:^[1]

Portfolio	Minister	Took office	Left office	Party
Minister-President	Otto Grotewohl	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		SED
First Deputy Minister-President	Walter Ulbricht	24 November 1955	7 December 1958		SED
Deputy Minister-President	Walter Ulbricht	19 November 1954	24 November 1955		SED
	Otto Nuschke	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		CDU
	Heinrich Rau	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		SED
	Hans Loch	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		LDPD
	Lothar Bolz	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		NDPD
	Paul Scholz	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		DBD
	Willi Stoph	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		SED
	Fred Oelßner	18 January 1956	13 February 1958		SED
	Fritz Selbmann	24 November 1955	13 February 1958		SED
	Fred Oelßner	18 January 1956	7 December 1958		SED
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry	Paul Scholz	19 November 1954	19 March 1955		DBD
Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry	Hans Reichelt	20 March 1955	7 December 1958		DBD
Ministry of Construction	Heinz Winkler	19 November 1954	15 February 1958		NDPD
Ministry of Finance	Hans Loch	19 November 1954	24 November 1955		LDPD
	Willy Rumpf	24 November 1955	7 December 1958		SED
Ministry of Foreign Affairs	Lothar Bolz	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		NDPD
Ministry of Heavy Industry	Fritz Selbmann	19 November 1954	24 November 1955		SED
Ministry of the Interior	Willi Stoph	19 November 1954	12 August 1955		SED
	Karl Maron	12 August 1955	7 December 1958		SED
Ministry of Justice	Hilde Benjamin	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		SED
Ministry for Labor and Vocational Training	Frederick Macher	19 November 1954	15 February 1958		SED
Ministry of Light Industry	William Feldman	19 November 1954	15 February 1958		NDPD
Ministry of Mechanical Engineering	Heinrich Rau	19 November 1954	15 April 1955		SED
Ministry for Post and Telecommunications	Friedrich Burmeister	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		CDU
Ministry of Public Education	Fritz Lange	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		SED
Minister of State Security	Ernst Wollweber	19 November 1954	31 October 1957		SED
	Ernst Wollweber	11 December 1957	7 December 1958		SED
Ministry of Trade and Supply	Curt Wach	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		SED
Ministry of Transport	Erwin Kramer	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		SED
Ministry of Health	Luitpold Steidle[2]	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		CDU

Committees

Portfolio	Minister	Took office	Left office	Party
Chairman of the State Planning Commission	Bruno Leuschner	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		SED
First Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Commission	Margaret Wittkowski	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		SED
State Secretary at the Committee for German Unity	Albert Norden	19 November 1954	7 December 1958		SED

References

1. "Ministries, political parties, etc". rulers.org. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
2. Helmut Müller-Enbergs. "Steidle, Luitpold * 12.3.1898, † 27.7.1984 CDU-Funktionär, Minister für Gesundheitswesen, Oberbürgermeister von Weimar". Bundesstiftung zur Aufarbeitung der SED-Diktatur: Biographische Datenbanken. Retrieved 31 July 2023.

Sources

• Herbert Hömig (1985), "Loch, Hans", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 14, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 742–743; (full text online)
• Wer war wer in der DDR?
• Carl Steinhoff: erster DDR-Innenminister : Wandlungen eines bürgerlichen Sozialisten / Lutz Maeke
• "BIOGRAPHISCHE DATENBANKEN". election.de (in German). Retrieved 31 July 2023.
• Gesetz über die Regierung der DDR: Online-Veröffentlichung, retrieved 10 January 2018
• Gesetz über die Bildung eines Ministeriums für Staatssicherheit: http://www.verfassungen.de/de/ddr/mfsbildung50.htm Online-Veröffentlichung, retrieved 10 January 2018.

Government offices
Preceded by Grotewohl II	Cabinets of the German Democratic Republic 19 November 1954–7 December 1958	Succeeded by Grotewohl IV