Fred Oelßner (27 February 1903 – 7 November 1977) was a German communist politician, ecomomist and a leading political figure in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). Oelßner became a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany's politburo in 1950. He fell out of favour over the so-called Schirdewan affair in 1958, however, and was excluded from the politburo. Tensions had arisen at the top of government over the extent which the country should be willing to respond positively to pressure from Moscow for a measure of De-Stalinization. Oelßner was able to argue from an economic and political perspective in favour of a cautious easing of restrictions. After a period of a year or so during which it might have been thought that the East German leader, Walter Ulbricht, was open to s