SED leader Erich Honecker was finally deposed by his own Politburo. After the Fall of the Berlin Wall, Gerlach was elected chairman of the Council of State and thus the first non-communist head of state of the GDR who was not a caretaker. He held this post until April 1990, when the State Council was abolished in a prelude to reunification with West Germany. In March 1990, Gerlach's party and two other liberal parties merged into the new Association of Free Democrats, which merged into the West German FDP after reunification. In November 1993, Gerlach resigned his FDP party membership. In politics, his views thereafter became close to those of the Party of Democratic Socialism (the former SED). Gerlach was a signatory of the Berliner Alternatives Geschichtsforum, which promoted more positive views on GDR history. Critics of the former communist regime have described these publications co-authored by former GDR high functionaries (e.g. Gerlach, Gerald Götting, Hans Modrow etc.) as whitewashing the SED dictatorship and working on the image of current Germany by using antifascist rhetoric. Gerlach had earned numerous state awards by the GDR, including the Patriotic Order of Merit and the Star of People's Friendship in 1964 and 1988 and the Order of Karl Marx in 1988. Death On 17 October 2011, Gerlach died, aged 83, in Berlin following a long illness. References Bibliography Manfred Gerlach: Wortmeldungen zur Zeitgeschiche. Buchverlag Der Morgen, Berlin 1980 Manfred Gerlach: Äußerungen über uns und unsere Zeit. Buchverlag Der Morgen, Berlin 1985 Manfred Gerlach: Standortbestimmung. Buchverlag Der Morgen, Berlin 1989 Manfred Gerlach: Mitverantwortlich: Als Liberaler im SED-Staat. Morgenbuch-Verlag, Berlin 1991, David Childs, The GDR: Moscow's German Ally, London: George Allen & Unwin 1984 External links Biography 1928 births 2011 deaths Politicians from Leipzig Liberal Democratic Party of Germany politicians Free Democratic Party (Germany) politicians Members of the State Council of East Germany Members of the Provisional Volkskammer Members of the 1st Volkskammer Members of the 2nd Volkskammer Members of the 3rd Volkskammer Members of the 4th Volkskammer Members of the 5th Volkskammer Members of the 6th Volkskammer Members of the 7th Volkskammer Members of the 8th Volkskammer Members of the 9th Volkskammer Free German Youth members German resistance members Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit (honor clasp)