Bruno Lietz
Lietz (center) in 1983
Minister for Agriculture, Forestry and Food
In office 3 December 1982 – 18 November 1989
Chairman of the Council of Ministers	Willi Stoph
Preceded by	Heinz Kuhrig
Succeeded by	Hans Watzek
Head of the Agriculture Department of the Central Committee
In office 19 November 1981 – 25 November 1982
Secretary	Werner Felfe
Deputy	Heinz Besser Heinz Drescher
Preceded by	Bruno Kiesler
Succeeded by	Helmut Semmelmann
Volkskammer Member of the Volkskammer for Artem, Nebra, Querfurt, Saalkreis In office 16 June 1986 – 5 April 1990 Preceded by Heinz Kuhrig Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	Bruno Lietz (1925-11-22)22 November 1925 Wormstedt, State of Thuringia, Weimar Republic (now Bad Sulza, Thuringia, Germany)
Died	11 May 2005(2005-05-11) (aged 79) Berlin, Germany
Political party	Socialist Unity Party (1949–1989)
Other political affiliations	Nazi Party (1943–1945)
Alma mater	Institut für Agrarökonomie (Dipl. agr. oec.)
Occupation	Politician Party Functionary Civil Servant Farmworker
Awards	Banner of Labor Order of Karl Marx
Central institution membership 1982–1989: Full member, Central Committee 1963–1982: Candidate member, Central Committee Other offices held 1972–1981: Deputy Chairman, State Planning Commission 1961–1972: Secretary for Agriculture, Socialist Unity Party in Bezirk Rostock

Bruno Lietz (22 November 1925 – 11 May 2005) was a German politician and party functionary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED).

One of a few former Nazis to have a political career in East Germany, Lietz rose to become an influential agriculture policymaker in the 1980s, briefly serving as head of the powerful Agriculture Department of the SED Central Committee and later Agriculture Minister before having to step down during the Peaceful Revolution.

Lietz completed training as an auto mechanic from 1940 to 1943.^[1]

On 13 January 1943, he applied for membership in the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and was accepted on April 20 (Hitler's birthday) of the same year (membership number 9,365,258).^[1][2][3] He served as a soldier in the German Wehrmacht until 1945.^[1]

From 1945 to 1947, he worked as an auto mechanic in Apolda, then as a tractor operator at the VdgB in Wormstedt until 1949, and subsequently as a tractor operator, assistant, and technical director at the Machine Rental Stations (MTS) in Apolda, Holbach, and Krölpa until 1952.^[1]

Between 1952 and 1954, Lietz served as a sector leader for political mass work in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.^[1]

Lietz, who had joined the ruling Socialist Unity Party (SED) in 1949, became a full-time party functionary in 1954, working as a staff member and later as a sector leader for Agricultural Production Cooperatives (LPGs) and MTS in the Agriculture Department of the SED Central Committee. In 1961, he was transferred to the Bezirk Rostock SED as secretary for agriculture.^[1][4] Lietz further climbed the party ranks when he was elected as a candidate member of the Central Committee of the SED in January 1963 (VI. Party Congress).^[1]

In 1972, he returned to the state apparatus as a deputy chairman of the State Planning Commission, responsible for agriculture and food industry. He additionally became a member of the Council for Agricultural Production and Food Economy, successor of the GDR's Ministry of Agriculture, the same year.^[1]

Lietz was awarded the Banner of Labor in 1976.^[1]

In November 1981, Lietz acceded to head of the SED Agriculture Department.^[1][5] Longtime head and famed Stakhanovite activist Bruno Kiesler officially retired of his own will, but was actually dismissed due to his disagreements with the SED's economic policies.^[6]

Lietz additionally rose to become a full Central Committee member in 1982.^[1]

After less than a year as department head and in what was at least technically a demotion – GDR ministries where subservient to their respective SED Central Committee department –, he replaced Heinz Kuhrig as minister for agriculture, Forestry and Food in December 1982.^[1]

Kuhrig had been officially relieved of his duties "at his own request", but he was likely forced into retirement. Internally, he had been accused of having to import grain for animal feed purposes.^[7]

Lietz additionally became a member of the Volkskammer in June 1986,^[1] nominally representing a rural constituency in western Bezirk Halle.^[8]

Lietz was again awarded the Banner of Labor in 1984, as well as the Order of Karl Marx in 1985.^[1]

During the Peaceful Revolution, on 7 November 1989, he resigned alongside rest of the government led by Willi Stoph and retired in 1990.^[1]

He died in 2005 and was buried in the Berlin-Kaulsdorf cemetery.^[1]

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