Manfred Gerlach (8 May 1928 – 17 October 2011) was a German jurist and politician, and the longtime leader of the East German Liberal Democratic Party. He served as Chairman of the Council of State and was thus head of state of East Germany from 6 December 1989 to 5 April 1990. Early life Gerlach was born in Leipzig and became a member of the resistance during World War II. Political career After the war, he studied law at the German Academy of State Sciences and Law "Walter Ulbricht" from 1951 to 1954. He worked as editor-in-chief of the Liberal-Democratic newspaper in Halle/Saale. In 1964, he earned his doctorate and would become a professor two decades later, in 1984. He was a co-founder of the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (LDPD) and the Free German Youth (FDJ) in Leipzig. He was the LDPD youth leader of North-West Saxony from 1946 to 1950. From 1947 to 1952 he was also a member of the executive council of the Saxon LDPD from 1947 to 1952. In the 1950s, he was a mayor (Bürgermeister and deputy Oberbürgermeister) of the city of Leipzig. He served as the LDPD's vice-chairman until 1953. From 1954 to 1967, he was the LDPD's General Secretary. At the LDPD's general party congress of 1967, he was elected as chairman of the LDPD. He remained chairman until 10 February 1990. From 1949 to 1990, Gerlach was a member of the People's Chamber. He was also one of the deputy chairmen of the Council of State (de facto Vice-President) from 1960 until 1990. He initially supported the Socialist Unity Party line of Gleichschaltung of the East German non-communist parties. However, he began to move away from total submissiveness towards the SED in the late 1970s. Under his leadership, the LDPD developed some small scale contacts with its West German counterparts, the Free Democrats (FDP). However, as a state functionary, he defended the nationalisation of the last substantive private enterprises. Gerlach reportedly welcomed the liberalisation in the USSR started by Mikhail Gorbachev. His support for more liberalisation and pluralism in East Germany earned him remarkable popularity; popularity which he, however, lost due to his hesitant attitude during the overthrow of the SED in 1989. On 13 October 1989, Gerlach was the first important East German politician to publicly question the monopolistic role of the SED. A few days later, on 18 October,