Paul Wandel

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Paul Wandel (February 16, 1905 – June 3, 1995) was a German communist politician in East Germany. He became the first Minister of People’s Education, serving from 1949 to 1952. Born in Mannheim, he trained as an electrical engineer in 1919 and joined socialist youth groups and the Communist Party in 1926. He rose in the KPD, becoming the first secretary of the Baden district and later the chair of the KPD parliamentary group in Mannheim. In 1931 he went to the Soviet Union, studied at the International Lenin School, joined the All-Union Communist Party (b) and worked at the Marx–Engels–Lenin Institute.

After World War II, Wandel returned to Germany and led the Central Administration for People’s Education from 1945 to 1949, then served as Minister of People’s Education from 1949 to 1952. He later worked as secretary of the Culture and Education Department at the Socialist Unity Party Central Committee. From 1958 to 1961 he was East Germany’s ambassador to China, and he then became deputy Foreign Minister. He chaired the League of Friendship Among Nations from 1964 to 1976, and from 1982 to 1989 headed the DDR–People’s Republic of China Friendship Committee. He was a member of the Volkskammer from 1954 to 1958. After German reunification, he joined the Party of Democratic Socialism. Wandel was married to Helene Berg and died in Berlin in 1995 at the age of 90.