Podbit · Fin vs History
Walter Ulbricht didn't rise to lead East Germany through merit — he survived everything else. Nazi persecution, Stalin's purges of German communists in Moscow, the Spanish Civil War. By 1945, he was simply the only one left.
Where this was said
At 17:23 · chapter starts 17:14
If the GDR had a founding father, it was a man nobody would have chosen. Walter Ulbricht — born in Leipzig in 1893, voice permanently ruined by diphtheria, five foot five and charisma-free — rose to lead East Germany through sheer biological persistence. Nazis purged the communists; Stalin purged the German communists who fled to Moscow; the Spanish Civil War claimed more. Of the German communist exiles in the Soviet Union, only about a quarter survived. Ulbricht was one of them, making him the default choice when Stalin needed someone to run the Soviet sector. Horatio draws the comparison to Tom Wamsgans from Succession — the unremarkable man who inherits power because everyone more interesting has been eliminated. Fin adds colour: Ulbricht went into exile in the 1930s, abandoned his wife and daughter, returned in 1945, and didn't bother to contact either of them. They divorced in 1949. 'Aspirational dad,' Fin notes drily. The GDR is formally declared on 7 October 1949 — and immediately starts a propaganda war with West Germany over who is the 'real' heir to Nazi Germany.
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