MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former first lady of East Germany, nicknamed the Purple Witch, dies in Chile

Honecker was a prominent member of the East German communist party and served as education minister under her husband

A small funeral was held in Chile Saturday for Margot Honecker, the widow of former East German leader Erich Honecker. A steely politician in her own right, the 89-year-old died of cancer in the capital Santiago on Friday.

 On Saturday morning, about 30 people of her innermost circle accompanied Honecker's coffin into a Santiago cemetery, where her remains were to be cremated. A wake, similarly discreet in reflection of her life in Chile, was held Friday in an exclusive neighborhood in the capital.

Honecker was a prominent member of the East German communist party and served as education minister under her husband, who ruled the country with an iron fist from 1971 until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989.

Nicknamed “The Purple Witch” for her brightly dyed hair -- which she allowed to go a more natural white later in life -- she was a feared hardliner who overhauled the high school curriculum to include communist doctrine and military training.

The Honeckers took refuge at the Chilean embassy in Moscow after the fall of the communist regime to escape trial on charges of human rights violations and ordering the killing of fugitives fleeing to the West.

After lengthy negotiations, they were allowed to travel to Santiago because of Erich Honecker's poor health. He died in Chile in 1994 of liver cancer.

Margot Honecker, who kept a low profile in Chile, where she lived with her grandson, defended her husband's rule to the end.