Walter Ulbricht (30 June 1893 – 1 August 1973) was a German Communist politician. He was an early leader of the German Communist Party during the Weimar Republic. The rise of the Nazi Party in 1933 forced Ulbricht into exile. He quickly made himself useful to the Soviet Union, where he resided from 1937 until the end of World War II. As First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party from 1950 to 1971, he served as the de facto leader the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). After President Wilhelm Pieck's death in 1960, Ulbricht was also the East German head of state until his own death in 1973.