progressive liver cirrhosis and existing ascites. A detailed medical report composed before the second stroke mentioned mild paralysis on the right, a slight drooping of the corner of the mouth, breathing wheezing or snoring, slowed down pulse, tone of the limb musculature lowered ...". In August 1960 he moved to a new summer residence, the converted former mansion of the Hermann Göring Leibförsters near "Karinhall". Pieck lived at Majakowskiring 29, Pankow, East Berlin. Personal life He was married to Christine Häfker, a garments worker whom he met in a large dance hall in Bremen. At first, her parents did not want her to go out with a "red", but once she was pregnant, she was allowed to marry Wilhelm on 28 May 1898, on the condition that a traditional wedding in a church would still take place. On the wedding day Christine waited impatiently for Pieck to arrive at the church. At the last minute, he finally did, still carrying communist leaflets. In November 1936, his wife contracted pneumonia for the third time, dying on 1 December of the same year. The Piecks' daughter, Elly Winter (1898–1987), held various posts in the SED and East German government. Their son Arthur Pieck (1899–1970) served as head of the East German national airline Interflug from 1955 to 1965, after having held various administrative posts in East Germany, for instance at the German Economic Commission. The youngest child, Eleonore Staimer, (1906–1998), worked as a party official and, for a time, as a diplomat. Photo gallery References 1876 births 1960 deaths People from Gubin, Poland People from Guben People from the Province of Brandenburg People of the Cold War Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians Communist Party of Germany politicians Communist rulers Members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany Members of the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic Members of the Provisional Volkskammer Members of the Landtag of Brandenburg Anti-revisionists German atheists German anti–World War I activists Refugees from Nazi Germany in the Soviet Union Executive Committee of the Communist International National Committee for a Free Germany members People from Pankow