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{{Short description|German lawyer, political activist, and diplomat (1914–1979)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Gottfried Lessing
| birth_name = Gottfried Anton Nicolai Lessing
| image =
| caption =
| imagesize =
| birth_date = 14 December 1914
| birth_place = [[Petrograd]], [[Russian Empire|Russia]]
| death_date = 11 April 1979 (aged 64)
| death_place = [[Kampala]], [[Uganda]]
| occupation = [[Lawyer]]<br>[[Diplomat]]
|party = [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany|SED]]
|spouse = {{marriage|[[Doris Lessing|Doris Tayler]]|1943|1949|end=divorced}}<br/>Ilse
|children = 1
|parents =
|alma_mater =
| nationality = German
}}

'''Gottfried Anton Nicolai Lessing''' (14 December 1914 – 11 April 1979) was a German lawyer, political activist, and diplomat.

==Life and career==
Lessing was born in [[Saint Petersburg]], Russia to Gottfried Lessing (1877 - 1950) and Tatjana Lessing (née von Schwanebach) (1878 - 1960). He fled Germany in 1938 (one of his grandfathers was Jewish, and therefore he was considered a [[mischling]] under the [[Nuremberg Laws]]).<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/15/world/upheaval-in-the-east-east-german-asks-help-of-us-in-keeping-his-country-separate.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm UPHEAVAL IN THE EAST; East German Asks Help of U.S. In Keeping His Country Separate - New York Times]</ref> First he sought refuge in the UK, and later he moved to [[Harare|Salisbury]], [[Southern Rhodesia]] (now [[Harare]], [[Zimbabwe]]). He worked as a lawyer in Salisbury from 1941 to 1946 and took part in the founding of the small [[Southern Rhodesia Communist Party]], becoming a leading member.<ref name="hoff">Hoff, Henning. ''Grossbritannien und die DDR 1955–1973 : Diplomatie auf Umwegen''. [[Munich]]: Oldenbourg, 2003. p. 65</ref><ref name="sci">{{cite web|url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/dlessing.htm |title=Doris Lessing |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi) |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080608133357/http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/dlessing.htm |archive-date=8 June 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> There he became involved with [[Doris Lessing]] (winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007).<ref name="sued">[http://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/artikel/594/137318/ Portrait: Doris Lessing Feministin wider Willen – Kultur – sueddeutsche.de]</ref> They were married from 1943 to 1949 and had one son.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Gottfried Anton Nicolai Lessing|url=https://www.geni.com/people/Gottfried-Anton-Lessing/6000000014782072978|access-date=2021-02-28|website=geni_family_tree|date=14 December 1914 |language=en-US}}</ref> Doris Lessing's memoir, ''[[Under My Skin (autobiography)|Under My Skin]]'', includes a short biography of Gottfried Lessing and a detailed description of their life together in Harare.

In 1949 he returned to the UK, where he worked for the [[Communist Party of Great Britain]]. In 1950 he settled in [[East Berlin]], and in 1951 he became a member of the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]].<ref name="hoff"/>

From 1952 to 1957 he was the president of the Chamber of Foreign Trade. Then, in 1959–1960, he led East Germany's trade representation in Indonesia. In 1961 he was sent to [[Mali]]. From 1962 to 1965 he was back in East Germany, working as the head of the Africa section at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Between 1965 and 1969, Lessing served as East Germany's Consul General in Tanzania. He again returned to East Germany, and worked in the Planning Section of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<ref name="hoff"/>

Lessing went on to serve as the East German Ambassador to Uganda. He and his third wife were killed during the [[Fall of Kampala]] in 1979, as [[Tanzania]] and its Ugandan rebel allies occupied Uganda's capital and overthrew dictator [[Idi Amin]].<ref name="sci"/><ref>[http://oe1.orf.at/highlights/109901.html oe1.ORF.at / Literaturnobelpreis an Doris Lessing]</ref><ref>[http://www.stern.de/unterhaltung/buecher/:Doris-Lessing-Doris-Lessing-/599965.html Doris Lessing: 'Ich mag keine Utopien' – Unterhaltung – stern.de]</ref> Lessing and his wife attempted to escape the city amid the fighting at 04:00 on 11 April, but as they drove by a golf course [[Uganda National Liberation Front|UNLF]] insurgents fired two rocket-propelled grenades at Lessing's and a following car, destroying both and killing the four occupants.{{sfn|Avirgan|Honey|1983|p=144}}

Lessing was the maternal uncle of politician [[Gregor Gysi]].<ref name="sued"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

=== Works cited ===
* {{cite book| last1 = Avirgan| first1 = Tony| last2 = Honey| first2 = Martha| title = War in Uganda: The Legacy of Idi Amin| location= Dar es Salaam|publisher = Tanzania Publishing House| date = 1983| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=OM9AAAAAYAAJ| isbn = 978-9976-1-0056-3}}
* {{cite book | last=Lessing | first=Doris May | title=Under my skin : Volume One of my Autobiography, to 1949 | publisher=Flamingo | publication-place=London | date=1995 | isbn=0-00-654825-3 | oclc=34466346}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lessing, Gottfried}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:1979 deaths]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of East Germany to Uganda]]
[[Category:Assassinated German diplomats]]
[[Category:German people of Russian descent]]
[[Category:German people of Russian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Members of the Southern Rhodesia Communist Party]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit]]
[[Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Germany]]
[[Category:Socialist Unity Party of Germany politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century German diplomats]]
[[Category:People assassinated in the 20th century]]
[[Category:European politicians assassinated in the 1970s]]
[[Category:Politicians assassinated in 1979]]
[[Category:Assassinated ambassadors]]

Gottfried Lessing - Revision history

imported>Tassedethe: v2.05 - Repaired 1 link to disambiguation page - (You can help) - Under My Skin (book)