Werner Lamberz

Werner Lamberz (14 April 1929 – 6 March 1978) was a senior politician in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

In a system under which political advancement was generally achieved only slowly and the men who reached the higher levels of government generally did so after decades of patient progression, Lamberz was unusual because of the speed of his promotion. Despite having spent three years during the 1940s attending an Adolf Hitler Leadership School, during 1967 he became a member of the important Central Committee of the ruling party, aged around 38, and after only four years on the candidate list. During the 1970s he was sometimes seen as a possible successor to his political ally, the country's leader Erich Honecker.

Werner Lamberz was killed in a helicopter accident in Libya shortly after take-off, following a meeting in a large desert encampment with the Libyan head of government, Muammar Gaddafi. The cause of the accident in which Lamberz and his three fellow travelers lost their lives has been a subject for media speculation ever since it happened. Provided by Wikipedia