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 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 ...

. While it was a relatively minor party, it took part in the first democratically elected government in East Germany in 1990, and is especially known because 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 started her political career within the party. It was founded on 29 October 1989, based on existing politically active church groups. Founding members included

Wolfgang Schnur Wolfgang Schnur (8 June 1944 – 16 January 2016) was an East German civil rights lawyer and a longtime informer of the dreaded East German secret service Stasi. He was closely involved with the Association of Evangelical Churches (''"Bund der ...

Friedrich Schorlemmer Friedrich Schorlemmer (born 16 May 1944) is a German Protestant theologian. He was a prominent member of the civil rights movement in the German Democratic Republic and has continued to take part in politics after German reunification in 1990. E ...

, Rainer Eppelmann, Günter Nooke and Thomas Welz. The organisation became a political party on December 16/17, 1989 in Leipzig. The party convention adopted a more conservative program than some of the founding members, like Schorlemmer, were willing to bear, so they left the party. Others, like Nooke, who left some time later, resented the growing cooperation with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) of East Germany, which had been a member of the Communist-dominated National Front of parties and mass organisations that had supported the Communist regime. Democratic Beginning now supported rapid

and joined the Alliance for Germany (''Allianz für Deutschland'') along with the CDU and German Social Union (DSU) for the 1990 Volkskammer elections on March 18. Only a few days prior to the elections, party chairman Schnur had to confess to having been an informer for the Ministry for State Security (Stasi), and resigned. Although Alliance for Germany won the elections, Democratic Beginning only collected 0.9% of votes, amounting to four seats in the Volkskammer. Eppelmann became minister for disarmament and defense in the new government and new party chairman. On 4 August 1990, Democratic Beginning ceased to exist after merging into the East German CDU, which in turn on 3 October 1990 merged into its West German counterpart, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). From February 1990, Angela Merkel served as the party's spokeswoman. After the mergers, Merkel was elected in the post-unification election as a member of the all-German Bundestag for the CDU, was immediately appointed a minister in Helmut Kohl's government as a form of East German representation, became party chairwoman in 2000 and eventually

in 2005.

References

{{Authority control Peaceful Revolution Organizations of the Revolutions of 1989 Political parties in East Germany Dissent Political parties established in 1989 Political parties disestablished in 1990 Defunct political parties in Germany 1989 establishments in East Germany 1990 disestablishments in East Germany