What is Erich Honecker?
{{Infobox President | name='''Erich Honecker''' | image=Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R1220-401, Erich Honecker (cropped).jpg | nationality=[[Germany|German]] | order=[[Leadership of East Germany|General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] | term_start=1971 | term_end=1989 | predecessor=[[Walter Ulbricht]] | successor=[[Egon Krenz]] | birth_date={{birth date|1912|8|25|df=y}} | birth_place=[[Neunkirchen, Saarland|Neunkirchen]], [[Germany]] | death_date={{death date and age|1994|5|29|1912|8|25|df=y}} | death_place=[[Santiago de Chile|Santiago]], [[Chile]] | spouse=Edith Baumann<br />[[Margot Honecker|Margot Feist]] (1953-1994) | party=[[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] | profession=[[Politician]] | order2=[[Leaders of East Germany|Chairman of the Council of State of the German Democratic Republic]] | term_start2=1976 | term_end2=1989 | predecessor2=[[Willi Stoph]] | successor2=[[Egon Krenz]] }} '''Erich Ernst Paul Honecker''' (25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was an [[Germany|East German]] [[communism|Communist]] [[politician]] who led the [[German Democratic Republic]] from 1971 until 1989. After [[German re-unification]], he went to the [[Soviet Union]] but was sent back by the new Russian government to Germany, where he was imprisoned and tried for high [[treason]] and crimes committed during the [[Cold War]]. However, as he was dying of [[liver cancer]], he was released from prison. He died in exile in [[Chile]] about a year and a half later. == Origins and early political career == Honecker was born in [[Neunkirchen, Saarland|Neunkirchen]], nowadays [[Saarland]]. He had two brothers and three sisters. He joined the [[Young Communist League of Germany]] (KJVD), the youth section of the [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD), in 1926 and joined the KPD itself in 1929. Between 1928 and 1930 he worked as a roofer, but did not finish his apprenticeship. Thereafter he was sent to [[Moscow]] to study at the [[International Lenin School]] and for the rest of his life remained a full-ti