Horst Sindermann; East German Parliament Chief Who Was Ousted

Former Parliament leader Horst Sindermann, a powerful East German Communist official ousted in last year’s pro-democracy revolt, has died, the ADN news agency said Saturday. He was 74.

Sindermann died Friday after suffering a heart attack, the East German news service quoted family members as saying.

Sindermann was a member of the ruling party Politburo and president of the Communist-dominated Parliament until November, after mass demonstrations toppled the Stalinist leaders who had ruled the country for four decades.

He was the first of the aging hard-line Communists to die since last year’s revolution.

Sindermann rose through the Communist Party ranks after spending a decade in prison for party activities under the old Nazi regime.

The son of a Dresden book printer, he joined a Communist youth group and was jailed for eight months in 1933. He was convicted of high treason in 1935 and spent the next decade in Nazi prison camps until the end of World War II.

After the Germanys were divided by the Allies, Sindermann became editor of various Communist Party newspapers and held regional party posts before being named to the Politburo in 1967.

He became president of Parliament and a member of the former council of state in 1976.

Massive demonstrations in October toppled former party leader Erich Honecker. Communist leaders who replaced him purged many members of the old guard, and Sindermann was stripped of power and party membership in November.

A judicial inquiry into whether he should be charged with crimes against the nation began in January but it was dropped in February because of Sindermann’s failing health.

A Communist caretaker government allowed free elections on March 18 and a democratic government was elected.