From 1949 to 1961, Modrow worked in various functions for the Free German Youth (FDJ) in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg and Berlin and in 1952/1953 studied at the Komsomol college in Moscow.[1] From 1953 to 1961, he served as an FDJ functionary in Berlin.[4] From 1954 to 1957, he studied at the SED's Karl Marx school in Berlin, graduating as a social scientist.[4] In 1959–1961 he studied at the University of Economics in Berlin-Karlshorst and obtained the degree of graduate economist.[4] He gained his doctorate at the Humboldt University of Berlin in 1966.[4] West Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) kept Modrow under observation from 1958 to 1990.[6]