1971 55 years ago Selected Events May 3 3 sources

Erich Honecker became First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the governing party of East Germany.

On May 3, in the year 1971, Erich Honecker became First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the governing party of East Germany. This event is recorded as a Selected Events event in the history of May 3, one of 381 recorded events on this date across all of history.

Erich Ernst Paul Honecker was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts of General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and Chairman of the National Defence Council; in 1976, he replaced Willi Stoph as Chairman of the State Council, the official head of state. As the leader of East Germany, Honecker was viewed as a dictator. During his leadership, the country had close ties to the Soviet Union, which maintained a large army in the country.

Key Facts

  • This event took place on May 3, 1971 (AD era).
  • It is categorised as a Selected Events event in recorded history.
  • Referenced in 3 Wikipedia articles.
  • Wikipedia source last updated on 9 April 2026.

On This Date in History 381

Type Year Date Event
Notable Deaths 2024 May 3 Dick Rutan, American military aviator and officer (born 1938)
Historical Events 2023 May 3 Nine students and a security guard are killed in the Belgrade school shooting, the first attack of its kind in Serbia
Historical Events 2023 May 3 Ethnic violence breaks out between the Meitei and the Kuki Zo people in the state of Manipur
Historical Events 2021 May 3 Twenty-six people are killed and ninety-eight are injured after an elevated section of the Mexico City Metro collapses
Notable Deaths 2021 May 3 Lloyd Price, American R&B vocalist (born 1933)
Selected Events 2021 May 3 An elevated section of the Mexico City Metro collapsed, killing 26 people and injuring 98 others
Notable Deaths 2020 May 3 Victoria Barbă, Moldovan animated film director (born 1926)
Notable Deaths 2020 May 3 Dave Greenfield, English rock keyboardist (born 1949)
Notable Deaths 2017 May 3 Daliah Lavi, Israeli actress, singer and model (born 1942)
Historical Events 2016 May 3 Eighty-eight thousand people are evacuated from their homes in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada as a wildfire rips through
Notable Deaths 2016 May 3 Ian Deans, Canadian politician (born 1937)
Notable Deaths 2016 May 3 Jadranka Stojaković, Yugoslav singer-songwriter (born 1950)
Historical Events 2015 May 3 Two gunmen launch an attempted attack on an anti-Islam event in Garland, Texas, which was held in response to the Charli
Notable Deaths 2015 May 3 Revaz Chkheidze, Georgian director and screenwriter (born 1926)
Notable Deaths 2015 May 3 Danny Jones, Welsh rugby player (born 1986)
Notable Deaths 2015 May 3 Warren Smith, American golfer and coach (born 1915)
Notable Deaths 2014 May 3 Gary Becker, American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1930)
Notable Deaths 2014 May 3 Francisco Icaza, Mexican painter (born 1930)
Notable Deaths 2014 May 3 Jim Oberstar, American educator and politician (born 1934)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 3 Joe Astroth, American baseball player (born 1922)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 3 Herbert Blau, American engineer and academic (born 1926)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 3 Cedric Brooks, Jamaican-American saxophonist and flute player (born 1943)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 3 Keith Carter, American swimmer and soldier (born 1924)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 3 Brad Drewett, Australian tennis player and sportscaster (born 1958)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 3 David Morris Kern, American pharmacist, co-invented Orajel (born 1909)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 3 Curtis Rouse, American football player (born 1960)
Notable Deaths 2013 May 3 Branko Vukelić, Croatian politician, 11th Minister of Defence for Croatia (born 1958)
Notable Deaths 2012 May 3 Jorge Illueca, Panamanian politician, 30th President of Panama (born 1918)
Notable Deaths 2012 May 3 Felix Werder, German-Australian composer, conductor, and critic (born 1922)
Notable Deaths 2011 May 3 Jackie Cooper, American actor, television director, producer and executive (born 1922)
Notable Deaths 2011 May 3 Sergo Kotrikadze, Georgian footballer and manager (born 1936)
Notable Deaths 2011 May 3 Thanasis Veggos, Greek actor and director (born 1927)
Notable Deaths 2010 May 3 Roy Carrier, American accordion player (born 1947)
Notable Deaths 2010 May 3 Peter O'Donnell, English soldier and author (born 1920)
Notable Deaths 2010 May 3 Guenter Wendt, German-American engineer (born 1923)
Notable Deaths 2009 May 3 Renée Morisset, Canadian pianist (born 1928)
Notable Deaths 2009 May 3 Ram Balkrushna Shewalkar, Indian author and critic (born 1931)
Notable Deaths 2008 May 3 Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, Spanish engineer and politician, Prime Minister of Spain (born 1926)
Historical Events 2007 May 3 The three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappears in Praia da Luz, Portugal, starting "the most heavily report
Notable Deaths 2007 May 3 Warja Honegger-Lavater, Swiss illustrator (born 1913)
Notable Deaths 2007 May 3 Wally Schirra, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (born 1923)
Notable Deaths 2007 May 3 Knock Yokoyama, Japanese politician (born 1932)
Selected Events 2007 May 3 Three-year-old British girl Madeleine McCann disappeared from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal; she has nev
Historical Events 2006 May 3 Armavia Flight 967 crashes into the Black Sea near Sochi International Airport in Sochi, Russia, killing 113 people
Notable Deaths 2006 May 3 Karel Appel, Dutch painter, sculptor, and poet (born 1921)
Notable Deaths 2006 May 3 Pramod Mahajan, Indian politician (born 1949)
Notable Deaths 2006 May 3 Earl Woods, American colonel, baseball player, and author (born 1932)
Notable Deaths 2004 May 3 Ken Downing, English race car driver (born 1917)
Notable Deaths 2004 May 3 Darrell Johnson, American baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1928)
Notable Births 2003 May 3 Florian Wirtz, German footballer

This article draws on content from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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