German reunification
German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
later that same year.
Party politics
The CDU was originally very similar to its West German counterpart. Like the West German CDU, its support came mostly from devout middle classChristians. However, it was a little more left-leaning than the West German CDU.
Its first chairman was Andreas Hermes, who had been a prominent member of the Centre Party during the Weimar Republic and a three-time minister. He fled to the West in 1946 and was replaced by Jakob Kaiser, another former Centre Party member and a leading member of the resistance movement during World War II. Kaiser had been a prominent member of the Centre's left wing, and favoured nationalisation of heavy industries and a land distribution programme suggested by the Communists. However, his criticism of the Communists resulted in him being pushed out in 1947 in favour of the more pliant
Otto Nuschke
Otto Nuschke (23 February 1883 – 27 December 1957) was a German politician.
Nuschke was born in Frohburg in the Kingdom of Saxony. In 1910 he was elected General Secretary of the liberal Progressive People's Party (''Fortschrittliche Volk ...
, a former member of the German Democratic Party (DDP).
Nuschke and his supporters gradually pushed out those CDU members who were not willing to do the Communists' bidding. This culminated at the Sixth Party Congress in 1952, at which it formally transformed itself into a loyal partner of the Communists. At this gathering, it declared itself "a Socialist party without any limitations" in accordance with the new line of "Christian realism".
In the 22 "Theses on Christian Realism", the CDU committed itself to the "Socialist reorganisation of Society" (1st edition, 1951). Emphasising the "exemplary realisation" of Karl Marx's "teaching on building a new, better social order" in the USSR, it was declared that Socialism offered at the time "the best opportunity for the realisation of Christ's demands and for exercising the practical Christianity". The programme also asserted the CDU's support for the working class' leading role in establishing socialism, a development which the party regarded from its 6th Congress onward as "historically necessary and consistent".
Its deputies, like all other East German parties, consistently voted for the government's proposals in the Volkskammer. The only exception was the vote on 9 March 1972 vote on the abortion law, when there were 14 'nays' and 8 absentees among the CDU deputies.
After Nuschke's death,
August Bach
August Bach (30 August 1897 – 23 March 1966) was an East German Christian Democratic politician.
August Bach was born in Rheydt. From 1915 to 1918 he served in German army. After the War he studied History at the University of Berlin. He ...
, another former DDP member, led the party for the remainder of the 1950s. In 1966 long-time general secretary
Gerald Götting
Gerald Götting (9 June 1923 – 19 May 2015) was a German politician and chairman of the East German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1966 until 1989.Erich Honecker was deposed in favour of Egon Krenz in October 1989. On 2 November 1989, Götting was deposed by inner party reformers. In December 1989 Lothar de Maizière, a lawyer and deputy chairman of the Evangelical Church Synod of East Germany, was elected chairman. From that point on the party deposed (and later expelled) its former top figures, and became the strongest proponent of speedy reunification with West Germany.
In March 1990, the CDU became the main element of the Alliance for Germany, a centre-right coalition. It won the first (and as it turned out, only) free general election and became the biggest party in the People's Chamber. In April de Maizière became Prime Minister of the GDR, heading a grand coalition that immediately set about reuniting the country with the West.
In August 1990, the
Democratic Awakening
Democratic Beginning (german: Demokratischer Aufbruch) was an East German political movement and political party that was active during the Revolutions of 1989 and in the period leading up to the German reunification. While it was a relatively ...
, a minor member of the governing coalition, merged into the East German CDU. The merger brought Democratic Awakening spokeswoman and future
Chancellor of Germany
The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany,; often shortened to ''Bundeskanzler''/''Bundeskanzlerin'', / is the head of the federal government of Germany and the commander in chief of the Ge ...
Angela Merkel into the party.
In October 1990, the East German CDU merged into the West German CDU.
Newspaper
The official newspaper of the party was ''Neue Zeit'', published by Union: Verlag.
International relations
The CDU maintained close relations with other Christian democratic parties in the Soviet bloc. Relations with the state-sponsored and -controlled Catholic
PAX Association
The PAX Association () was a pro-communist Catholic organization created in 1947 in the People's Republic of Poland at the onset of the Stalinist period. The association published the ''Słowo Powszechne'' daily for almost fifty years between 19 ...
Czechoslovak People's Party
Czechoslovak may refer to:
*A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93)
**First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38)
** Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39)
**Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60)
**Fourth Czechoslovak Repu ...
(CSL) were especially close. There were some contacts with individual members of the Italian
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism.
It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
party (DC), the BelgianChristian People's Party (CVP) and Christian Social Party (PSC) and the DutchChristian Democratic Appeal (CDA).
Although the East German CDU and its West German counterpart were often at odds with each other, they maintained official relations.
The East German Christian Democrats also had close relations with the Russian Orthodox Church.Peter Joachim Lapp ''Die "befreundeten Parteien" der SED'', 1988, p. 103
Chairmen
General secretaries
East German CDU politicians
*
Else Ackermann
Else Ackermann (6 November 1933 – 14 September 2019) was a German physician and pharmacologist who became an East German politician ( Christian Democratic Union of Germany). The report on the power relationships between the citizen and the stat ...
*
Sabine Bergmann-Pohl
Sabine Bergmann-Pohl (née Schulz; ; born 20 April 1946) is a German doctor and politician. A member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), she was president of the People's Chamber of East Germany from April to October 1990. Durin ...
(Last Head of State of the
GDR
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
Karl Grobbel Karl may refer to:
People
* Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name
* Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne
* Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer
* Karl of Austria, last Austrian ...
(co-founder of the Berlin Conference of European Catholics)
*
Hubertus Guske
Hubertus or Hubert ( 656 – 30 May 727 A.D.) was a Christian saint who became the first bishop of Liège in 708 A.D. He is the patron saint of hunters, mathematicians, opticians and metalworkers. Known as the "Apostle of the Ardennes", he w ...
(General Secretary of the Berlin Conference of European Catholics)
* Ernst Lemmer (co-chairman of the CDU in 1947)
* Angela Merkel (deputy spokesperson of Lothar de Maizière's government and the united Germany's first female
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
)
*
Herbert Schirmer
Herbert may refer to:
People Individuals
* Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert
Name
* Herbert (given name)
* Herbert (surname)
Places Antarctica
* Herbert Mountains, Coats Land
* Herbert Sound, Graham Land
Australia
* Herbert, ...
(Minister of Culture 1990)
*
Max Sefrin
Max Sefrin (21 November 1913 – 10 August 2000) was an East German politician who served as the minister of health and deputy premier. He was also one of the leaders of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in East Germany.
Early life and educa ...
(Deputy Prime Minister)
*
Luitpold Steidle
Luitpold Steidle (12 March 1898, in Ulm – 27 July 1984, in Weimar) was a German army officer and an East German politician. During his political career he belonged to the CDU.
He was described by Der Spiegel in 1947 as a "refreshingly open-m ...
GDR
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
Politics of East Germany
The German Democratic Republic (GDR; German: ''Deutsche Demokratische Republik'' (''DDR''), commonly known in English as East Germany) was created as a socialist republic on 7 October 1949 and began to institute a government based on the governme ...
*
National Front (East Germany)
The National Front of the German Democratic Republic (german: Nationale Front der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik) was an alliance of political parties ('' Blockpartei'') and mass organizations in the German Democratic Republic, controlled by ...