Nothing embodies the GDR as much as the mask-like face of Erich Honecker and the communist model biography tailored for him by the party apparatus. Martin Sabrow, based on numerous unknown sources, reveals the surprising breaks and detours that shaped the life of the young communist from Saarland. Erich Honecker (1912 - 1994) was deeply rooted in the communist milieu of Saarland from early childhood, yet as a teenager, he was also open to new orientations. He traveled to Pomerania to become a farmer, returned home for a roofing apprenticeship, studied at the party academy in Moscow, and went into resistance in 1933. For the first time, these stages are traced in detail, offering surprising insights, such as Honecker's close relationship with Herbert Wehner or his involvement in a terrorist attack.