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
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
was a part of the
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
in the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
. Commonly described as a
communist state
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Comint ...
, it described itself as a
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
"workers' and peasants' state".
[Patrick Major, Jonathan Osmond, ''The Workers' and Peasants' State: Communism and Society in East Germany Under Ulbricht 1945–71'', ]Manchester University Press
Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with th ...
, 2002, Its territory was administered and occupied by
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
forces following the end of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
—the
Soviet occupation zone
The Soviet Occupation Zone ( or german: Ostzone, label=none, "East Zone"; , ''Sovetskaya okkupatsionnaya zona Germanii'', "Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany") was an area of Germany in Central Europe that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a c ...
of the
Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement (german: Potsdamer Abkommen) was the agreement between three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union on 1 August 1945. A product of the Potsdam Conference, it concerned th ...
, bounded on the east by the
Oder–Neisse line
The Oder–Neisse line (german: Oder-Neiße-Grenze, pl, granica na Odrze i Nysie Łużyckiej) is the basis of most of the international border between Germany and Poland from 1990. It runs mainly along the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers an ...
. The Soviet zone surrounded
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
but did not include it and West Berlin remained outside the jurisdiction of the GDR. Most scholars and academics describe the GDR as a
totalitarian
Totalitarianism is a form of government and a political system that prohibits all opposition parties, outlaws individual and group opposition to the state and its claims, and exercises an extremely high if not complete degree of control and regul ...
dictatorship
A dictatorship is a form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, which holds governmental powers with few to no limitations on them. The leader of a dictatorship is called a dictator. Politics in a dictatorship are ...
.
The GDR was established in the Soviet occupied zone, while the
Federal Republic of Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...
, commonly referred to as West Germany, was established in the three western/US-UK-French occupied zones of Berlin (de facto) and Germany. A
satellite state
A satellite state or dependent state is a country that is formally independent in the world, but under heavy political, economic, and military influence or control from another country. The term was coined by analogy to planetary objects orbiting ...
of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
, Soviet occupation authorities began transferring administrative responsibility to German communist leaders in 1948 and the GDR began to function as a state on 7 October 1949, although
Soviet forces
The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...
remained in the country throughout the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
. Until 1989, the GDR was governed by the
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...
(SED), although other parties nominally participated in its alliance organization, the
National Front of the German Democratic Republic
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 ...
.
The SED made the teaching of
Marxism–Leninism
Marxism–Leninism is a communist ideology which was the main communist movement throughout the 20th century. Developed by the Bolsheviks, it was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, its satellite states in the Eastern Bloc, and various co ...
and the
Russian language
Russian (russian: русский язык, russkij jazyk, link=no, ) is an East Slavic languages, East Slavic language mainly spoken in Russia. It is the First language, native language of the Russians, and belongs to the Indo-European langua ...
compulsory in schools.
The
economy
An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...
was
centrally planned and
state-owned
State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownersh ...
. Prices of housing, basic goods and services were heavily subsidized and set by central government planners rather than rising and falling through supply and demand. Although the GDR had to pay substantial war reparations to the Soviets, it became the most successful economy in the
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
. Emigration to the
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...
was a significant problem as many of the emigrants were well-educated young people; such emigration
weakened the state economically. In response, the government fortified its
inner German border
The inner German border (german: Innerdeutsche Grenze or ; initially also ) was the border between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990. Not including the ...
and built the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
in 1961. Many people
attempting to flee were killed by border guards or
booby trap
A booby trap is a device or setup that is intended to kill, harm or surprise a human or another animal. It is triggered by the presence or actions of the victim and sometimes has some form of bait designed to lure the victim towards it. The trap m ...
s such as
landmine
A land mine is an explosive device concealed under or on the ground and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets, ranging from combatants to vehicles and tanks, as they pass over or near it. Such a device is typically detonated automati ...
s. Those captured spent long periods of time imprisoned for attempting to escape. In 1951, a referendum in East Germany regarding the remilitarization of Germany was held, with 95% of the population voting in favour.
In 1989, numerous social, economic and political forces in the GDR and abroad, one of the most notable being peaceful protests starting in the city of
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, led to the
fall of the Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of eve ...
and the establishment of a government committed to liberalization. The following year,
a free and fair election was held and international negotiations led to the signing of the
Final Settlement treaty on the status and borders of Germany. The GDR ceased to exist when its states ("Länder") joined the Federal Republic of Germany under Article 23 of the
Basic Law on 3 October 1990. Several of the GDR's leaders, notably its last communist leader
Egon Krenz
Egon Rudi Ernst Krenz (; born 19 March 1937) is a German former politician who was the last Communist leader of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) during the Revolutions of 1989. He succeeded Erich Honecker as the General Secretary ...
, were later prosecuted for offenses committed during the GDR times.
Geographically, the GDR bordered the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...
to the north,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
to the east,
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
to the southeast and
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
to the southwest and west. Internally, the GDR also bordered the Soviet sector of
Allied-occupied Berlin, known as
East Berlin
East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
, which was also administered as the state's ''de facto'' capital. It also bordered the three sectors occupied by the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
known collectively as West Berlin. The three sectors occupied by the Western nations were sealed off from the GDR by the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
from its construction in 1961 until it was brought down in 1989.
Naming conventions
The official name was ''Deutsche Demokratische Republik'' (German Democratic Republic), usually abbreviated to ''DDR'' (GDR). Both terms were used in East Germany, with increasing usage of the abbreviated form, especially since East Germany considered West Germans and West Berliners to be foreigners following the promulgation of its
second constitution in 1968. West Germans, the western media and statesmen initially avoided the official name and its abbreviation, instead using terms like ''Ostzone'' (Eastern Zone),
''Sowjetische Besatzungszone'' (Soviet Occupation Zone; often abbreviated to ''SBZ'') and ''sogenannte DDR'' or "so-called GDR".
The centre of political power in East Berlin was – in the West – referred to as ''
Pankow
Pankow () is the most populous and the second-largest borough by area of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow. P ...
'' (the seat of command of the Soviet forces in Germany was in
Karlshorst
Karlshorst (, ; ; literally meaning ''Karl's nest'') is a locality in the borough of Lichtenberg in Berlin. Located there are a harness racing track and the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin (''HTW''), the largest University of Appli ...
, a district in the East of Berlin.).
Over time, however, the abbreviation "DDR" was also increasingly used colloquially by West Germans and West German media.
When used by West Germans, (
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
) was a term almost always in reference to the geographic region of
Western Germany
The old states of Germany (german: die alten Länder) is a jargon referring to the ten of the sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) that were part of West Germany and that unified with the eastern German Democratic Republic' ...
and not to the area within the boundaries of the Federal Republic of Germany. However, this use was not always consistent and West Berliners frequently used the term ''Westdeutschland'' to denote the Federal Republic. Before World War II, (eastern Germany) was used to describe all the territories east of the
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Repu ...
(
East Elbia
East Elbia (german: Ostelbien) was an informal denotation for those parts of the German Reich until World War II that lay east of the river Elbe.
The region comprised the Prussian provinces of Brandenburg, the eastern parts of Saxony (Jerichower ...
), as reflected in the works of sociologist
Max Weber
Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas profo ...
and political theorist
Carl Schmitt
Carl Schmitt (; 11 July 1888 – 7 April 1985) was a German jurist, political theorist, and prominent member of the Nazi Party. Schmitt wrote extensively about the effective wielding of political power. A conservative theorist, he is noted as a ...
.
History
![Soviet Sector Germany](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Soviet_Sector_Germany.png)
Explaining the internal impact of the GDR government from the perspective of German history in the long term, historian
Gerhard A. Ritter
Gerhard Albert Ritter (29 March 1929 – 20 June 2015) was a German historian.
Biography
Ritter was born in and grew up in Berlin and studied from 1947 at the University of Tübingen and at the Free University of Berlin. He died in Berlin in 2 ...
(2002) has argued that the East German state was defined by two dominant forces
Soviet communism
The ideology of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was Bolshevist Marxism–Leninism, an ideology of a centralised command economy with a vanguardist one-party state to realise the dictatorship of the proletariat. The Soviet Union's ...
on the one hand, and German traditions filtered through the interwar experiences of German communists on the other. The GDR always was constrained by the example of the richer West, to which East Germans compared their nation. The changes implemented by the communists were most apparent in ending capitalism and in transforming industry and agriculture, in the militarization of society, and in the political thrust of the
educational system
The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...
and of the media. On the other hand, the new regime made relatively few changes in the historically independent domains of the sciences, the engineering professions,
the Protestant churches,
and in many bourgeois lifestyles.
Social policy, says Ritter, became a critical legitimization tool in the last decades and mixed socialist and traditional elements about equally.
Origins
At the
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...
during World War II, the
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
, i.e. the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and the Soviet Union (USSR), agreed on dividing a defeated
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
into
occupation zones
Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France ...
, and on dividing Berlin, the German capital, among the Allied powers as well. Initially, this meant the formation of three zones of occupation, i.e., American, British, and Soviet. Later, a French zone was carved out of the US and British zones.
1949 establishment
The ruling communist party, known as the
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...
(SED), formed in April 1946 from
the merger between the
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...
(KPD) and the
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been the ...
(SPD). The two former parties were notorious rivals when they were active before the Nazis consolidated all power and criminalized them, and official East German and Soviet histories portrayed this merger as a voluntary pooling of efforts by the socialist parties and symbolic of the new friendship of German socialists after defeating their common enemy; however, there is much evidence that the merger was more troubled than commonly portrayed, and that the Soviet occupation authorities applied great pressure on the SPD's eastern branch to merge with the KPD, and the communists, who held a majority, had virtually total control over policy. The SED remained the ruling party for the entire duration of the East German state. It had close ties with the Soviets, which maintained
military forces in East Germany until the dissolution of the Soviet regime in 1991 (
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
continued to maintain forces in the territory of the former East Germany until 1994), with the purpose of countering
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
bases in West Germany.
As West Germany was reorganized and gained independence from its occupiers (1945–1949), the GDR was established in East Germany in October 1949. The emergence of the two sovereign states solidified the 1945 division of Germany. On 10 March 1952, (in what would become known as the "
Stalin Note
The Stalin Note, also known as the March Note, was a document delivered to the representatives of the Western Allies (the United Kingdom, French Fourth Republic, France, and the United States) from the Soviet Union in separated Germany including ...
") the
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...
,
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
, issued a proposal to reunify Germany with a policy of neutrality, with no conditions on economic policies and with guarantees for "the rights of man and basic freedoms, including freedom of speech, press, religious persuasion, political conviction, and assembly" and free activity of democratic parties and organizations. The West demurred; reunification was not then a priority for the
leadership
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...
of West Germany, and the NATO powers declined the proposal, asserting that Germany should be able to join
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
and that such a negotiation with the Soviet Union would be seen as a capitulation. There have been several debates about whether Germany missed a chance for reunification in 1952.
In 1949 the Soviets turned control of East Germany over to the
SED
sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs,
and is available today for most operating systems.
sed wa ...
, headed by
Wilhelm Pieck
Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold Pieck (; 3 January 1876 – 7 September 1960) was a German communist politician who served as the chairman of the Socialist Unity Party from 1946 to 1950 and as president of the German Democratic Republic from 1949 to ...
(1876–1960), who became
President of the GDR and held the office until his death, while the
SED general secretary Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later (after spending the years of Nazi rule in ...
assumed most executive authority. Socialist leader
Otto Grotewohl
Otto Emil Franz Grotewohl (; 11 March 1894 – 21 September 1964) was a German politician who served as the first prime minister of the German Democratic Republic (GDR/East Germany) from its foundation in October 1949 until his death in Septembe ...
(1894–1964) became
prime minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
until his death.
The government of East Germany denounced West German failures in accomplishing
denazification
Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remov ...
and renounced ties to the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
past, imprisoning many former Nazis and preventing them from holding government positions. The SED set a primary goal of ridding East Germany of all traces of
Nazism
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
. It is estimated that between 180,000 and 250,000 people were sentenced to imprisonment on political grounds.
Zones of occupation
In the Yalta and
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
conferences of 1945, the Allies established their joint military occupation and administration of Germany via the
Allied Control Council
The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority (german: Alliierter Kontrollrat) and also referred to as the Four Powers (), was the governing body of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany and Allied-occupied Austria after the end of Wo ...
(ACC), a four-power (US, UK, USSR, France)
military government
A military government is generally any form of government that is administered by military forces, whether or not this government is legal under the laws of the jurisdiction at issue, and whether this government is formed by natives or by an occup ...
effective until the restoration of German sovereignty. In eastern Germany, the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ''Sowjetische Besatzungszone'') comprised the five states (''Länder'') of
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...
,
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...
,
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
,
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...
, and
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
. Disagreements over the policies to be followed in the occupied zones quickly led to a breakdown in cooperation between the four powers, and the Soviets administered their zone without regard to the policies implemented in the other zones. The Soviets withdrew from the ACC in 1948; subsequently, as the other three zones were increasingly unified and granted self-government, the Soviet administration instituted a separate socialist government in its zone.
![Deutschland Bundeslaender 1949](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/34/Deutschland_Bundeslaender_1949.png)
Seven years after the Allies' 1945
Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement (german: Potsdamer Abkommen) was the agreement between three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union on 1 August 1945. A product of the Potsdam Conference, it concerned th ...
on common German policies, the USSR via the
Stalin Note
The Stalin Note, also known as the March Note, was a document delivered to the representatives of the Western Allies (the United Kingdom, French Fourth Republic, France, and the United States) from the Soviet Union in separated Germany including ...
(10 March 1952) proposed
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 ...
and
superpower disengagement from Central Europe, which the three Western Allies (the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
) rejected. Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
, a Communist proponent of reunification, died in early March 1953. Similarly,
Lavrenty Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria (; rus, Лавре́нтий Па́влович Бе́рия, Lavréntiy Pávlovich Bériya, p=ˈbʲerʲiə; ka, ლავრენტი ბერია, tr, ; – 23 December 1953) was a Georgian Bolsheviks ...
, the First Deputy Prime Minister of the USSR, pursued German reunification, but he was removed from power that same year before he could act on the matter. His successor,
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...
, rejected reunification as equivalent to returning East Germany for annexation to the West; hence reunification was off the table until the
fall of the Berlin wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall (german: Mauerfall) on 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, was a pivotal event in world history which marked the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain and one of the series of eve ...
in 1989.
![West and East Berlin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/West_and_East_Berlin.svg)
East Germany regarded East Berlin as its capital, and the Soviet Union and the rest of the
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
diplomatically recognized East Berlin as the capital. However, the Western Allies disputed this recognition, considering the entire city of Berlin to be
occupied territory
Military occupation, also known as belligerent occupation or simply occupation, is the effective military control by a ruling power over a territory that is outside of that power's sovereign territory.Eyāl Benveniśtî. The international law ...
governed by the
Allied Control Council
The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority (german: Alliierter Kontrollrat) and also referred to as the Four Powers (), was the governing body of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany and Allied-occupied Austria after the end of Wo ...
. According to Margarete Feinstein, East Berlin's status as the capital was largely unrecognized by the West and by most Third World countries.
["State symbols: the quest for legitimacy in the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, 1949–1959", by Margarete Myers Feinstein, page 78: " ... claims of East Berlin as the capital of the GDR, ... East Berlin was not recognized by the West and most Third World countries"] In practice, the ACC's authority was rendered moot by the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
, and East Berlin's status as occupied territory largely became a
legal fiction
A legal fiction is a fact assumed or created by courts, which is then used in order to help reach a decision or to apply a legal rule. The concept is used almost exclusively in common law jurisdictions, particularly in England and Wales.
Deve ...
, the Soviet sector of Berlin became fully integrated into the GDR.
The deepening Cold War conflict between the Western Powers and the Soviet Union over the unresolved status of West Berlin led to the
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road ...
(24 June 194812 May 1949). The Soviet army initiated the blockade by halting all Allied rail, road, and water traffic to and from West Berlin. The Allies countered the Soviets with the
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road ...
(1948–49) of food, fuel, and supplies to West Berlin.
Partition
On 21 April 1946 the
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...
(KPD) and the part of the
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been the ...
(SPD) in the Soviet zone merged to form the
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...
(SED), which then won the
elections of October 1946. The SED government
nationalised
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
infrastructure and industrial plants.
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-19000-3301, Berlin, DDR-Gründung, Wahl Pieck, Grotewohl](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-19000-3301%2C_Berlin%2C_DDR-Gr%C3%BCndung%2C_Wahl_Pieck%2C_Grotewohl.jpg)
In March 1948 the
German Economic Commission
The German Economic Commission (german: Deutsche Wirtschaftskommission; DWK) was the top administrative body in the Soviet Occupation Zone of Germany prior to the creation of the German Democratic Republic (german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik). ...
(—DWK) under its chairman
Heinrich Rau
Heinrich Gottlob "Heiner" Rau (2 April 1899 – 23 March 1961) was a German communist politician during the time of the Weimar Republic; subsequently, during the Spanish Civil War, he was a leading member of the International Brigades and afte ...
assumed administrative authority in the Soviet occupation zone, thus becoming the predecessor of an East German government.
On 7 October 1949 the SED established the (German Democratic RepublicGDR), based on a socialist political constitution establishing its control of the
Anti-Fascist
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...
National Front of the German Democratic Republic
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 ...
(NF, ), an omnibus alliance of every party and mass organisation in East Germany. The NF was established to stand for election to the (
People's Chamber
__NOTOC__
The Volkskammer (, ''People's Chamber'') was the unicameral legislature of the German Democratic Republic (colloquially known as East Germany).
The Volkskammer was initially the lower house of a bicameral legislature. The upper house ...
), the East German parliament. The first and only president of the German Democratic Republic was
Wilhelm Pieck
Friedrich Wilhelm Reinhold Pieck (; 3 January 1876 – 7 September 1960) was a German communist politician who served as the chairman of the Socialist Unity Party from 1946 to 1950 and as president of the German Democratic Republic from 1949 to ...
. However, after 1950, political power in East Germany was held by the First Secretary of the SED,
Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later (after spending the years of Nazi rule in ...
.
On 16 June 1953, workers constructing the new boulevard in
East Berlin
East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
according to the GDR's officially promulgated
Sixteen Principles of Urban Design, rioted against a 10% production-quota increase. Initially a labour protest, the action soon included the general populace, and on 17 June similar protests occurred throughout the GDR, with more than a million people
striking in some 700 cities and towns. Fearing anti-communist
counter-revolution
A counter-revolutionary or an anti-revolutionary is anyone who opposes or resists a revolution, particularly one who acts after a revolution in order to try to overturn it or reverse its course, in full or in part. The adjective "counter-revoluti ...
, on 18 June 1953 the government of the GDR enlisted the
Soviet Occupation Forces to aid the police in ending the riot; some fifty people were killed and 10,000 were jailed. (See
Uprising of 1953 in East Germany
The East German uprising of 1953 (german: Volksaufstand vom 17. Juni 1953 ) was an uprising that occurred in East Germany from 16 to 17 June 1953. It began with a strike action by construction workers in East Berlin on 16 June against w ...
.)
The German
war reparations
War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war.
History
Making one party pay a war indemnity is a common practice with a long history.
R ...
owed to the Soviets impoverished the Soviet Zone of Occupation and severely weakened the East German economy. In the 1945–46 period the Soviets confiscated and transported to the USSR approximately 33% of the industrial plant and by the early 1950s had extracted some US$10 billion in reparations in agricultural and industrial products.
[Norman M. Naimark. ''The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949.'' Harvard University Press, 1995. pp. 167–9.] The poverty of East Germany, induced or deepened by reparations, provoked the ("desertion from the republic") to West Germany, further weakening the GDR's economy. Western economic opportunities induced a
brain drain. In response, the GDR closed the
inner German border
The inner German border (german: Innerdeutsche Grenze or ; initially also ) was the border between the German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West Germany) from 1949 to 1990. Not including the ...
, and on the night of 12 August 1961, East German soldiers began erecting the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (german: Berliner Mauer, ) was a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany (GDR). Construction of the Berlin Wall was commenced by the government ...
.
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R1220-401, Erich Honecker (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-R1220-401%2C_Erich_Honecker_%28cropped%29.jpg)
In 1971, Ulbricht was removed from leadership after Soviet leader
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gener ...
supported his ouster;
Erich Honecker
Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts ...
replaced him. While the Ulbricht government had experimented with liberal reforms, the Honecker government reversed them. The new government introduced a new
East German Constitution
The Constitution of East Germany refers to the constitution of the German Democratic Republic (), commonly known as East Germany. Its original constitution was promulgated on 7 October 1949. It was heavily based on the "Weimarer Reichsverfassung" ...
which defined the German Democratic Republic as a "republic of workers and peasants".
Initially, East Germany claimed an
exclusive mandate for all of Germany, a claim supported by most of the Communist bloc. It claimed that West Germany was an illegally-constituted
puppet state
A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its o ...
of NATO. However, from the 1960s onward, East Germany began recognizing itself as a separate country from West Germany and shared the legacy of the
united German state of 1871–1945. This was formalized in 1974 when the reunification clause was removed from the revised East German constitution. West Germany, in contrast, maintained that it was the only legitimate government of Germany. From 1949 to the early 1970s, West Germany maintained that East Germany was an illegally constituted state. It argued that the GDR was a Soviet puppet-state, and frequently referred to it as the "Soviet occupation zone". West Germany's allies shared this position until 1973. East Germany was recognized primarily by socialist countries and by the
Arab bloc
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western As ...
, along with some "scattered sympathizers".
According to the
Hallstein Doctrine
The Hallstein Doctrine (), named after Walter Hallstein, was a key principle in the foreign policy of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) from 1955 to 1970. As usually presented, it prescribed that the Federal Republic would not esta ...
(1955), West Germany did not establish (formal) diplomatic ties with any country—except the Soviets—that recognized East German sovereignty.
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-P0801-026, Helsinki, KSZE-Konferenz, Schlussakte](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-P0801-026%2C_Helsinki%2C_KSZE-Konferenz%2C_Schlussakte.jpg)
In the early 1970s, the ("Eastern Policy") of "Change Through Rapprochement" of the pragmatic government of
FRG FRG may refer to:
* Family Readiness Group in the United States Army
* Federal Republic of Germany
** West Germany
* FMN reductase (NAD(P)H)
* Friendship Radiosport Games
* Functional renormalization group
* Guatemalan Republican Front
The Insti ...
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 ...
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and served as the chancellor of West Ge ...
, established normal diplomatic relations with the
East Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
states. This policy saw the
Treaty of Moscow (August 1970), the
Treaty of Warsaw (December 1970), the
Four Power Agreement on Berlin
The Four Power Agreement on Berlin, also known as the Berlin Agreement or the Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin, was agreed on 3 September 1971 by the four wartime Allied powers, represented by their ambassadors. The four foreign ministers, Ale ...
(September 1971), the
Transit Agreement (May 1972), and the
Basic Treaty (December 1972), which relinquished any separate claims to an
exclusive mandate over Germany as a whole and established normal relations between the two Germanies. Both countries were admitted into the United Nations on 18 September 1973. This also increased the number of countries recognizing East Germany to 55, including the US, UK and France, though these three still refused to recognize East Berlin as the capital, and insisted on a specific provision in the UN resolution accepting the two Germanies into the UN to that effect.
Following the Ostpolitik, the West German view was that East Germany was a ''de facto'' government within a single German nation and a ''de jure'' state organisation of parts of Germany outside the Federal Republic. The Federal Republic continued to maintain that it could not within its own structures recognize the GDR ''de jure'' as a sovereign state under international law; but it fully acknowledged that, within the structures of international law, the GDR was an independent sovereign state. By distinction, West Germany then viewed itself as being within its own boundaries, not only the ''de facto'' and ''de jure'' government, but also the sole ''de jure'' legitimate representative of a dormant "Germany as whole". The two Germanies each relinquished any claim to represent the other internationally; which they acknowledged as necessarily implying a mutual recognition of each other as both capable of representing their own populations ''de jure'' in participating in international bodies and agreements, such as the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
and the
Helsinki Final Act
The Helsinki Final Act, also known as Helsinki Accords or Helsinki Declaration was the document signed at the closing meeting of the third phase of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland, between ...
.
This assessment of the Basic Treaty was confirmed in a decision of the
Federal Constitutional Court
The Federal Constitutional Court (german: link=no, Bundesverfassungsgericht ; abbreviated: ) is the supreme constitutional court for the Federal Republic of Germany, established by the constitution or Basic Law () of Germany. Since its inc ...
in 1973;
Travel between the GDR and Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary became visa-free from 1972.
GDR identity
![Karl Marx memorial](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Karl_Marx_memorial.jpg)
From the beginning, the newly formed GDR tried to establish its own separate identity. Because of the imperial and military legacy of
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
, the SED repudiated continuity between Prussia and the GDR. The SED destroyed a number of symbolic relics of the former
Prussian aristocracy
The Junkers ( ; ) were members of the landed nobility in Kingdom of Prussia, Prussia. They owned great estates that were maintained and worked by peasants with few rights. These estates often lay in the countryside outside of major cities or towns ...
:
Junker
Junker ( da, Junker, german: Junker, nl, Jonkheer, en, Yunker, no, Junker, sv, Junker ka, იუნკერი (Iunkeri)) is a noble honorific, derived from Middle High German ''Juncherre'', meaning "young nobleman"Duden; Meaning of Junke ...
manor-houses were torn down, the
Berliner Stadtschloß
The Berlin Palace (german: Berliner Schloss), formally the Royal Palace (german: Königliches Schloss), on the Museum Island in the Mitte (Berlin), Mitte area of Berlin, was the main Official residence, residence of the House of Hohenzollern fro ...
was razed, and the
equestrian statue of Frederick the Great
The Equestrian statue of Frederick the Great on Unter den Linden avenue in Berlin's Mitte district commemorates King Frederick II. of Prussia. Created from 1839 to 1851 by Christian Daniel Rauch, it is a masterpiece of the Berlin school of scu ...
was removed from East Berlin. Instead, the SED focused on the progressive heritage of German history, including
Thomas Müntzer
Thomas Müntzer ( – 27 May 1525) was a German preacher and theologian of the early Reformation whose opposition to both Martin Luther and the Roman Catholic Church led to his open defiance of late-feudal authority in central Germany. Müntzer w ...
's role in the
German Peasants' War
The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositio ...
of 1524–1525 and the role played by the heroes of the class struggle during Prussia's industrialization.
Especially after the Ninth Party Congress in 1976, East Germany upheld historical reformers such as
Karl Freiherr vom Stein (1757–1831),
Karl August von Hardenberg
Karl August Fürst von Hardenberg (31 May 1750, in Essenrode-Lehre – 26 November 1822, in Genoa) was a Prussian statesman and Prime Minister of Prussia. While during his late career he acquiesced to reactionary policies, earlier in his career ...
(1750–1822),
Wilhelm von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (, also , ; ; 22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a Prussian philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin, which was named after ...
(1767–1835), and
Gerhard von Scharnhorst
Gerhard Johann David von Scharnhorst (12 November 1755 – 28 June 1813) was a Hanoverian-born general in Prussian service from 1801. As the first Chief of the Prussian General Staff, he was noted for his military theories, his reforms of the Pru ...
(1755–1813) as examples and role models.
East Germany was elected as a member of the
UN Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, and ...
1980–81.
In the
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...
in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, partly thanks to the
U.S.-led boycott, East Germany won over a total of 126 Olympic medals, finishing second place behind the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
.
Remembrance of the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
The communist regime of the GDR based its legitimacy on the struggle of anti-fascist militants. A form of
resistance "cult" was established in the Buchenwald camp memorial site, with the creation of a museum in 1958, and the annual celebration of the Buchenwald oath taken on 19 April 1945 by the prisoners who pledged to fight for peace and freedom. In the 1990s, the 'state anti-fascism' of the GDR gave way to the 'state anti-communism' of the FRG. From then on, the dominant interpretation of GDR history, based on the concept of totalitarianism, led to the equivalence of communism and Nazism. The historian Anne-Kathleen Tillack-Graf shows, with the help of the newspaper ''
Neues Deutschland
''Neues Deutschland'' (''nd''; en, New Germany, sometimes stylized in lowercase letters) is a left-wing German daily newspaper, headquartered in Berlin.
For 43 years it was the official party newspaper of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany ...
'', how the national memorials of
Buchenwald
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
,
Sachsenhausen
Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...
and
Ravensbrück were politically instrumentalised in the GDR, particularly during the celebrations of the liberation of the concentration camps.
Although officially built in opposition to the 'fascist world' in West Germany, in 1954, 32.2 per cent of public administration employees were former members of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
. However, in 1961, the share of former NSDAP members among the senior administration staff was less than 10% in the GDR, compared to 67% in the FRG.
While in West Germany, a work of memory on the resurgence of Nazism was carried out, this was not the case in the East. Indeed, as Axel Dossmann, professor of history at the
University of Jena
The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany.
The un ...
, notes, 'this phenomenon was completely hidden. For the state-SED (the East German communist party), it was impossible to admit the existence of neo-Nazis, since the foundation of the GDR was to be an anti-fascist state. The Stasi kept an eye on them, but they were considered to be outsiders or thick-skinned bullies. These young people grew up hearing double talk. At school, it was forbidden to talk about the Third Reich and, at home, their grandparents told them how, thanks to Hitler, we had the first motorways. On 17 October 1987, thirty or so skinheads violently threw themselves into a crowd of 2,000 people at a rock concert in the Zionskirche without the police intervening. In 1990, the writer
Freya Klier
Freya Klier (born 4 February 1950) is a German author and film director. Before 1989/90 she was an East German civil rights activist.
Life Early years and confrontations with state authority
Freya Klier was born in Dresden, the child of wo ...
received a death threat for writing an essay on
antisemitism
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
and
xenophobia
Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
in the GDR. SPDA Vice President
Wolfgang Thierse
Wolfgang Thierse (; born 22 October 1943) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). He served as the 11th President of the Bundestag from 1998 to 2005.
Early life and career
Thierse was born in Breslau (Wrocław in present ...
, for his part, complained in
Die Welt
''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE.
''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...
about the rise of the extreme right in the everyday life of the inhabitants of the former GDR, in particular the terrorist group NSU, with the German journalist Odile Benyahia-Kouider explaining that "it is no coincidence that the neo-Nazi party NPD has experienced a renaissance via the East ".
The historian Sonia Combe observes that until the 1990s, the majority of West German historians described the
Normandy landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...
in June 1944 as an "invasion", exonerated the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
of its responsibility for the genocide of the Jews and fabricated the myth of a diplomatic corps that "did not know". On the contrary,
Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
was never a taboo in the GDR. The Nazis' crimes were the subject of extensive film, theatre and literary productions. In 1991, 16% of the population in West Germany and 6% in East Germany had antisemitic prejudices. In 1994, 40 per cent of West Germans and 22 per cent of East Germans felt that too much emphasis was placed on the genocide of the Jews.
The historian
Ulrich Pfeil
Ulrich Pfeil (born 13 May 1966) is a German historian based in France.
Life
Born in Hamburg Pfeil grew up in Heide (Holstein) and took the Abitur at the in 1985. After his military service he studied Educational Science, French languag ...
nevertheless recalls the fact that anti-fascist commemoration in the GDR had "a hagiographic and indoctrination character".
As in the case of the memory of the protagonists of the German labour movement and the victims of the camps, it was "staged, censored, ordered" and, during the 40 years of the regime, was an instrument of legitimisation, repression and maintenance of power.
''Die Wende'' (German reunification)
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1989-1104-437, Berlin, Demonstration am 4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1989-1104-437%2C_Berlin%2C_Demonstration_am_4._November.jpg)
In May 1989, following widespread public anger over the faking of results of local government elections, many GDR citizens applied for exit visas or
left the country contrary to GDR laws. The impetus for this exodus of East Germans was the removal of the electrified fence along
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
's border with
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
on 2 May 1989. Although formally the Hungarian frontier was still closed, many East Germans took the opportunity to enter Hungary via
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
, and then make the illegal crossing from Hungary to Austria and to West Germany beyond.
By July, 25,000 East Germans had crossed into Hungary; most of them did not attempt the risky crossing into Austria but remained instead in Hungary or claimed asylum in West German embassies in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
or
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
.
The opening of a border gate between Austria and Hungary at the
Pan-European Picnic
The Pan-European Picnic (german: Paneuropäisches Picknick; hu, páneurópai piknik; sk, Paneurópsky piknik) was a peace demonstration held on the Austrian- Hungarian border near Sopron, Hungary on 19 August 1989. The opening of the border ...
on 19 August 1989 then set in motion a chain reaction leading to the end of the GDR and disintegration of the Eastern Bloc. It was the largest mass escape from East Germany since the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961. The idea of opening the border at a ceremony came from
Otto von Habsburg
Otto von Habsburg (german: Franz Joseph Otto Robert Maria Anton Karl Max Heinrich Sixtus Xaver Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignatius, hu, Ferenc József Ottó Róbert Mária Antal Károly Max Heinrich Sixtus Xaver Felix Renatus Lajos Gaetan ...
, who proposed it to
Miklós Németh
Miklós Németh (, born 24 January 1948) is a retired Hungarian economist and politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 24 November 1988 to 23 May 1990. He was one of the leaders of the Socialist Workers' Party, Hungary's Communi ...
, then Hungarian Prime Minister, who promoted the idea. The patrons of the picnic, Habsburg and Hungarian Minister of State
Imre Pozsgay
Imre András Pozsgay (''Pozsgay Imre'', ; 26 November 1933 – 25 March 2016) was a Hungarian Communist politician who played a key role in Hungary's transition to democracy after 1988. He served as Minister of Culture (1976–1980), Minister ...
, who did not attend the event, saw the planned event as an opportunity to test
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
's reaction to an opening of the border on the
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...
. In particular, it tested whether Moscow would give the Soviet troops stationed in Hungary the command to intervene. Extensive advertising for the planned picnic was made by the Paneuropean Union through posters and flyers among the GDR holidaymakers in Hungary. The Austrian branch of the
Paneuropean Union
The International Paneuropean Union, also referred to as the Pan-European Movement and the Pan-Europa Movement, is the oldest European unification movement.
It began with the publishing of Count Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi's manifesto ''P ...
, which was then headed by
Karl von Habsburg
Karl von Habsburg (given names: ''Karl Thomas Robert Maria Franziskus Georg Bahnam''; born 11 January 1961) is an Austrian politician and the head of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, therefore being a claimant to the defunct Austro-Hungarian t ...
, distributed thousands of brochures inviting GDR citizens to a picnic near the border at Sopron (near Hungary's border with Austria).
The local Sopron organizers knew nothing of possible GDR refugees, but envisaged a local party with Austrian and Hungarian participation. But with the mass exodus at the Pan-European Picnic, the subsequent hesitant behavior of the Socialist Unity Party of East Germany and the non-intervention of the Soviet Union broke the dams. Thus the barrier of the Eastern Bloc was broken. The reaction to this from Erich Honecker in the "Daily Mirror" of 19 August 1989 was too late and showed the present loss of power: "Habsburg distributed leaflets far into Poland, on which the East German holidaymakers were invited to a picnic. When they came to the picnic, they were given gifts, food and Deutsche Mark, and then they were persuaded to come to the West." Tens of thousands of East Germans, alerted by the media, made their way to Hungary, which was no longer ready to keep its borders completely closed or force its border troops to open fire on escapees. The GDR leadership in East Berlin did not dare to completely lock down their own country's borders.
The next major turning point in the exodus came on 10 September 1989, when Hungarian Foreign Minister
Gyula Horn
Gyula János Horn (5 July 1932 – 19 June 2013) was a Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 1994 to 1998.
Horn is remembered as the last Communist Minister of Foreign Affairs who played a major role in the demolishi ...
announced that his country would no longer restrict movement from Hungary into Austria. Within two days, 22,000 East Germans crossed into Austria; tens of thousands more did so in the following weeks.
Many other GDR citizens
demonstrated against the ruling party, especially in the city of
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
. The Leipzig demonstrations became a weekly occurrence, with a turnout of 10,000 people at the first demonstration on 2 October, peaking at an estimated 300,000 by the end of the month.
The protests were surpassed in East Berlin, where half a million demonstrators turned out against the regime on 4 November.
Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015) was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Or ...
, conductor of the
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...
, led local negotiations with the government and held town meetings in the concert hall. The demonstrations eventually led Erich Honecker to resign in October; he was replaced by a slightly more moderate communist,
Egon Krenz
Egon Rudi Ernst Krenz (; born 19 March 1937) is a German former politician who was the last Communist leader of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) during the Revolutions of 1989. He succeeded Erich Honecker as the General Secretary ...
.
[Mary Elise Sarotte, ''Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall'', New York: Basic Books, 2014]
The massive demonstration in East Berlin on 4 November coincided with Czechoslovakia formally opening its border to West Germany.
With the West more accessible than ever before, 30,000 East Germans made the crossing via Czechoslovakia in the first two days alone. To try to stem the outward flow of the population, the SED proposed a law loosening travel restrictions. When the ''Volkskammer'' rejected it on 5 November, the Cabinet and
Politburo
A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states.
Names
The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...
of the GDR resigned.
This left only one avenue open for Krenz and the SED: completely abolishing travel restrictions between East and West.
On 9 November 1989, a few sections of the Berlin Wall were opened, resulting in thousands of East Germans crossing freely into West Berlin and West Germany for the first time in nearly 30 years. Krenz resigned a month later, and the SED opened negotiations with the leaders of the incipient Democratic movement,
Neues Forum
New Forum (german: Neues Forum) was a political movement in East Germany formed in the months leading up to the collapse of the East German state. It was founded on 9 September 1989 and was the first independent (non- National Front) political ...
, to schedule free elections and begin the process of democratization. As part of this process, the SED eliminated the clause in the East German constitution guaranteeing the Communists leadership of the state. The change was approved in the ''Volkskammer'' on 1 December 1989 by a vote of 420 to 0.
East Germany held
its last election in March 1990. The winner was a coalition headed by the East German branch of West Germany's
Christian Democratic Union, which advocated speedy reunification. Negotiations (
2+4 Talks) were held involving the two German states and the former
Allies
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
, which led to agreement on the conditions for German unification. By a two-thirds vote in the
Volkskammer
__NOTOC__
The Volkskammer (, ''People's Chamber'') was the unicameral legislature of the German Democratic Republic (colloquially known as East Germany).
The Volkskammer was initially the lower house of a bicameral legislature. The upper house ...
on 23 August 1990, the German Democratic Republic declared its accession to the Federal Republic of Germany. The five original
East German states that had been abolished in the 1952 redistricting were restored.
On 3 October 1990, the five states officially joined the Federal Republic of Germany, while East and West Berlin united as a third city-state (in the same manner as
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...
and
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
). On 1 July, a currency union preceded the political union: the "Ostmark" was abolished, and the Western German "Deutsche Mark" became the common currency.
Although the Volkskammer's declaration of accession to the Federal Republic had initiated the process of reunification, the act of reunification itself (with its many specific terms, conditions and qualifications, some of which involved amendments to the West German Basic Law) was achieved constitutionally by the subsequent Unification Treaty of 31 August 1990 – that is, through a binding agreement between the former Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic, now recognising each other as separate sovereign states in international law. The treaty was then voted into effect prior to the agreed date for Unification by both the Volkskammer and the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
by the constitutionally required two-thirds majorities, effecting on the one hand the extinction of the GDR, and on the other the agreed amendments to the Basic Law of the Federal Republic.
The great economic and socio-political inequalities between the former Germanies required government subsidies for the full integration of the German Democratic Republic into the Federal Republic of Germany. Because of the resulting
deindustrialization
Deindustrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry.
There are different interpre ...
in the former East Germany, the causes of the failure of this integration continue to be debated. Some western commentators claim that the depressed eastern economy is a natural aftereffect of a demonstrably inefficient
command economy
A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, part ...
. But many East German critics contend that the
shock-therapy style of
privatization
Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...
, the artificially high
rate of exchange
In finance, an exchange rate is the rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another currency. Currencies are most commonly national currencies, but may be sub-national as in the case of Hong Kong or supra-national as in the case of ...
offered for the
Ostmark
Ostmark is a German term meaning either Eastern march when applied to territories or Eastern Mark when applied to currencies.
Ostmark may refer to:
*the medieval March of Austria and its predecessors ''Bavarian Eastern March'' and ''March of Pann ...
, and the speed with which the entire process was implemented did not leave room for East German enterprises to adapt.
Politics
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-M0925-406, New York, Fahnen vor dem UNO-Gebäude](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-M0925-406%2C_New_York%2C_Fahnen_vor_dem_UNO-Geb%C3%A4ude.jpg)
There were four periods in East German political history. These included: 1949–61, which saw the building of socialism; 1961–1970 after the Berlin Wall closed off escape was a period of stability and consolidation; 1971–85 was termed the
Honecker
Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts ...
Era, and saw closer ties with West Germany; and 1985–90 saw the decline and extinction of East Germany.
Organization
The ruling political party in East Germany was the ''Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands'' (
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...
, SED). It was created in 1946 through the Soviet-directed merger of the
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...
(KPD) and the
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been the ...
(SPD) in the Soviet-controlled zone. However, the SED quickly transformed into a full-fledged Communist party as the more independent-minded Social Democrats were pushed out.
The Potsdam Agreement committed the Soviets to support a democratic form of government in Germany, though the Soviets' understanding of democracy was radically different from that of the West. As in other Soviet-bloc countries,
non-communist political parties were allowed. Nevertheless, every political party in the GDR was forced to join the
National Front of Democratic 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 ...
, a broad coalition of parties and mass political organisations, including:
* ''Christlich-Demokratische Union Deutschlands'' (
Christian Democratic Union of Germany
The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (german: link=no, Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands ; CDU ) is a Christian democratic and liberal conservative political party in Germany. It is the major catch-all party of the centre-right ...
, CDU), which merged with the West German
CDU after reunification.
* ''Demokratische Bauernpartei Deutschlands'' (
Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany
The Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany (german: Demokratische Bauernpartei Deutschlands, DBD) was an East German political party. The DBD was founded in 1948. It had 52 representatives in the Volkskammer, as part of the National Front. The DBD ...
, DBD). The party merged with the West German
CDU after reunification.
* ''Liberal-Demokratische Partei Deutschlands'' (
Liberal Democratic Party of Germany
The Liberal Democratic Party of Germany (german: Liberal-Demokratische Partei Deutschlands, LDPD) was a political party in East Germany. Like the other allied bloc parties of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) in the National Front, it ...
, LDPD), merged with the West German
FDP after reunification.
* ''Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands'' (
National Democratic Party of Germany
The National Democratic Party of Germany (german: Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands or NPD) is a far-right Neo-Nazi and ultranationalist political party in Germany.
The party was founded in 1964 as successor to the German Reich Party ...
, NDPD), merged with the West German
FDP after reunification.
![Berlin DDR](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Berlin_DDR.jpg)
The member parties were almost completely subservient to the SED and had to accept its "
leading role
A leading actor, leading actress, or simply lead (), plays the role of the protagonist of a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person who typic ...
" as a condition of their existence. However, the parties did have representation in the Volkskammer and received some posts in the government.
The Volkskammer also included representatives from the ''
mass organisations'' like the
Free German Youth
The Free German Youth (german: Freie Deutsche Jugend; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth movement of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.
The organization was meant ...
(''Freie Deutsche Jugend'' or ''FDJ''), or the
Free German Trade Union Federation
The Free German Trade Union Federation (german: Freier Deutsche Gewerkschaftsbund or ''FDGB'') was the sole national trade union centre of the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) which existed from 1946 and 1990. As a mass organisat ...
. There was also a
Democratic Women's Federation of Germany
The Democratic Women's League of Germany (german: italic=no, Demokratischer Frauenbund Deutschlands, or ''DFD'') was the mass women's organisation in East Germany.
It was established in March 1947 and had the following official aims:
*Removal ...
, with seats in the Volkskammer.
Important non-parliamentary mass organisations in East German society included the German Gymnastics and Sports Association (''Deutscher Turn- und Sportbund'' or ''
DTSB
The Deutscher Turn- und Sportbund (DTSB; ''German Gymnastics and Sports Federation'') was a Communist party#Mass organizations, mass organization of the German Democratic Republic from 1957 until shortly after German reunification. Membership in ...
''), and
People's Solidarity
People's Solidarity (german: Volkssolidarität) is an organisation for elderly people in the new states of Germany, founded 1945. It was one of many important non-parliamentary mass organisations in the former socialist country, East Germany. The ...
(''Volkssolidarität''), an organisation for the elderly. Another society of note was the
Society for German-Soviet Friendship
A society is a Social group, group of individuals involved in persistent Social relation, social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same Politics, political authority an ...
.
After the fall of Socialism, the SED was renamed the "
Party of Democratic Socialism" (PDS) which continued for a decade after reunification before merging with the West German
WASG to form the
Left Party (''Die Linke''). The Left Party continues to be a political force in many parts of Germany, albeit drastically less powerful than the SED.
State symbols
The flag of the German Democratic Republic consisted of three horizontal stripes in the traditional german-democratic colors black-red-gold with the national coat of arms of the GDR in the middle, consisting of hammer and compass, surrounded by a wreath of corn as a symbol of the alliance of workers, peasants and intelligentsia. First drafts of Fritz Behrendt's coat of arms contained only a hammer and wreath of corn, as an expression of the workers' and peasants' state. The final version was mainly based on the work of Heinz Behling.
By law of 26 September 1955, the state coat of arms with hammer, compass and wreath of corn was determined, as the state flag continues black-red-gold. By law of 1 October 1959, the coat of arms was inserted into the state flag. Until the end of the 1960s, the public display of this flag in the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin was regarded as a violation of the constitution and public order and prevented by police measures (cf. the Declaration of the Interior Ministers of the Federation and the Länder, October 1959). It was not until 1969 that the Federal Government decreed "that the police should no longer intervene anywhere against the use of the flag and coat of arms of the GDR."
At the request of the DSU, the first freely elected People's Chamber of the GDR decided on 31 May 1990 that the GDR state coat of arms should be removed within a week in and on public buildings. Nevertheless, until the official end of the republic, it continued to be used in a variety of ways, for example on documents.
The text Resurrected from Ruins of the National Anthem of the GDR is by Johannes R. Becher, the melody by Hanns Eisler. From the beginning of the 1970s to the end of 1989, however, the text of the anthem was no longer sung due to the passage "Deutschland einig Vaterland".
Presidential Standard
Standard of the President of the German Democratic Republic
The first standard of the president had the shape of a rectangular flag in the colors black-red-gold with the inscription "President" in yellow in the red stripe, as well as "D.D.R." (contrary to the official abbreviation with dots) in the stripe below in black letters. The flag was surrounded by a stripe of yellow color. An original of the standard is in the German Historical Museum in Berlin.
War and Service Flags and Symbols
The flags of the military units of the GDR bore the national coat of arms with a wreath of two olive branches on a red background in the black-red-gold flag.
The flags of the People's Navy for combat ships and boats bore the coat of arms with olive branch wreath on red, for auxiliary ships and boats on blue flag cloth with a narrow and centrally arranged black-red-gold band. As Gösch, the state flag was used in a reduced form.
The ships and boats of the Border Brigade Coast on the Baltic Sea and the boats of the border troops of the GDR on the Elbe and Oder carried a green bar on the Liekjust like the service flag of the border troops.
East Germany Political and Social Emblems
After being a member of the
Thälmann Pioneers, which was for schoolchildren ages 6 to 14, East German youths would usually join the
FDJ.
Young Pioneer Programs
Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation
''Young Pioneers'' and the ''Thälmann Pioneers'', was a youth organisation of schoolchildren aged 6 to 14 in East Germany. They were named after
Ernst Thälmann
Ernst Johannes Fritz Thälmann (; 16 April 1886 – 18 August 1944) was a German communist politician, and leader of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) from 1925 to 1933.
A committed Marxist-Leninist and Stalinist, Thälmann played a major r ...
, the former leader of the
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany (german: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands, , KPD ) was a major political party in the Weimar Republic between 1918 and 1933, an underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and a minor party in West German ...
, who was executed at the
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald (; literally 'beech forest') was a Nazi concentration camp established on hill near Weimar, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within Germany's 1937 borders. Many actual or su ...
.
The group was a subdivision of the ''Freie Deutsche Jugend'' (FDJ,
Free German Youth
The Free German Youth (german: Freie Deutsche Jugend; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth movement of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.
The organization was meant ...
), East Germany's
youth movement
The following is a list of youth organizations. A youth organization is a type of organization with a focus upon providing activities and socialization for minors. In this list, most organizations are international unless noted otherwise.
0 ...
. It was founded on 13 December 1948 and broke apart in 1989 on
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 ...
.
In the 1960s and 1970s, nearly all schoolchildren between ages 6 and 14 were organised into Young Pioneer or Thälmann Pioneer groups, with the organisations having "nearly two million children" collectively by 1975.
The pioneer group was loosely based on
Scouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking ...
, but organised in such a way as to teach schoolchildren aged 6 – 14 socialist ideology and prepare them for the ''Freie Deutsche Jugend'', the FDJ.
The program was designed to follow the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
Pioneer program
Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization
The Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization ( rus, Всесоюзная пионерская организация имени В. И. Ленина, r=Vsesoyuznaya pionerskaya organizatsiya imeni V. I. Lenina, t=The All-Union Pioneer Organi ...
. The pioneers' slogan was ''Für Frieden und Sozialismus seid bereit – Immer bereit''" ("For peace and socialism be ready – always ready"). This was usually shortened to "Be ready – always ready". This was recited at the raising of the flag. One person said the first part, "Be ready!": this was usually the pioneer leader, the teacher or the head of the local pioneer group. The pioneers all answered "Always ready", stiffening their right hand and placing it against their forehead with the thumb closest and their little finger facing skywards.
![Fotothek df roe-neg 0006436 010 Demonstrationszug - Pioniere, Fanfarenbläser, Tr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Fotothek_df_roe-neg_0006436_010_Demonstrationszug_-_Pioniere%2C_Fanfarenbl%C3%A4ser%2C_Tr.jpg)
Both Pioneer groups would often have massive parades, honoring and celebrating the
Socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
success of their nations.
=Membership
=
Membership in the Young Pioneers and the Thälmann Pioneers was formally voluntary. On the other hand, it was taken for granted by the state and thus by the school as well as by many parents. In practice, the initiative for the admission of all students in a class came from the school. As the membership quota of up to 98 percent of the students (in the later years of the GDR) shows, the six- or ten-year-olds (or their parents) had to become active on their own in order not to become members. Nevertheless, there were also children who did not become members. Rarely, students were not admitted because of poor academic performance or bad behavior "as a punishment" or excluded from further membership.
=Uniform
=
![Uniform_of_the_East_German_Young_Pioneers](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Uniform_of_the_East_German_Young_Pioneers.jpg)
The pioneers' uniform consisted of white shirts and blouses bought by their parents, along with blue trousers or skirts until the 1970s and on special occasions. But often the only thing worn was the most important sign of the future socialist – the triangular
necktie
A necktie, or simply a tie, is a piece of cloth worn for decorative purposes around the neck, resting under the shirt collar and knotted at the throat, and often draped down the chest.
Variants include the ascot, bow, bolo, zipper tie, cra ...
. At first this was blue, but from 1973, the Thälmann pioneers wore a red necktie like the pioneers in the Soviet Union, while the Young Pioneers kept the blue one. Pioneers wore their uniforms at political events and state holidays such as the workers' demonstrations on
May Day
May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. T ...
, as well as at school festivals and pioneer events.
The pioneer clothing consisted of white blouses and shirts that could be purchased in sporting goods stores. On the left sleeve there was a patch with the embroidered emblem of the pioneer organization and, if necessary, a rank badge with stripes in the color of the scarf. These rank badges were three stripes for Friendship Council Chairmen, two stripes for Group Council Chairmen and Friendship Council members, one stripe for all other Group Council members. In some cases, symbols for special functions were also sewn on at this point, for example a red cross for a boy paramedic. Dark blue trousers or skirts were worn and a dark blue cap with the pioneer emblem served as a cockadeas a headgear. At the beginning of the 1970s, a windbreaker/blouson and a dark red leisure blouse were added.
However, the pioneer clothing was only worn completely on special occasions, such as flag appeals, commemoration days or festive school events, but it was usually not prescribed.
From the 1960s, the requirement of trousers/skirt was dispensed with in many places, and the dress code was also relaxed with regard to the cap. For pioneer afternoons or other activities, often only the triangular scarf was worn. In contrast to the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries, a blue scarf was common in the GDR. It was not until 1973, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the organization, that the red scarf was introduced for the Thälmann pioneers, while the young pioneers remained with the blue scarf. The change of color of the scarf was solemnly designed in the pioneer organization.
From 1988 there was an extended clothing range, consisting of a Nicki in the colors white, light yellow, turquoise or pink (with an imprint of the symbol of the pioneer organization), long and short trousers with a snap belt and, for the colder months, a lined windbreaker in red for girls and gray for boys.
Suitable pioneers were trained as paramedics; after their training, they wore the badge "Young Paramedic".
=Music
=
The Pioneer songs were sung at any opportunity, including the following titles:
* "Wir tragen die Blaue Fahne" – "We Carry the Blue Flag"
* "
Unser kleiner Trompeter" – "Our Little Trumpeter"
* "Thälmann-Lied" – "Thälmann Song"
* "Pioniermarsch" – "Pioneers' March"
* "Der Volkspolizist" – " The People's Policeman"
* "Jetzt bin ich Junger Pionier" – "Now I Am a Young Pioneer"
* "
Unsere Heimat
(Eng: Our Homeland) was a popular song in the German Democratic Republic, where it was sung by the Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation. The lyrics were written by Herbert Keller and the melody by Hans Naumilkat. The song demonstrates strong ...
" – "Our
Heimat
''Heimat'' () is a German word
translating to 'home' or 'homeland'.
The word has connotations specific to German culture, German society and specifically German Romanticism, German nationalism, German statehood and regionalism so that it ha ...
"
* "Die Heimat hat sich schön gemacht" – "Our Homeland Has Smartened Itself Up"
* "Auf zum Sozialismus" – "Onwards to Socialism"
* "Kleine weiße Friedenstaube" – "Little White Dove of Peace"
* "Lied der jungen Naturforscher" – "Song of the Young Nature Researchers"
* "Wenn Mutti früh zur Arbeit geht" – "When Mother Goes to Work in the Morning"
* "Gute Freunde" – "Good Friends"
* "Hab'n Se nicht noch Altpapier" – "Got Any Waste Paper?"
* "Pioniere voran!" – "Onwards, Pioneers!"
* "Laßt Euch grüßen, Pioniere" – "Greetings, Pioneers"
* "Immer lebe die Sonne" – "
May There Always Be Sunshine
"May There Always Be Sunshine" (russian: "Пусть всегда будет солнце!" or ) is a popular Soviet children's song created in 1962. The music was composed by Arkady Ostrovsky and the lyrics written by Lev Oshanin. Korney Chukovsk ...
"
* "Friede auf unserer Erde" – "Peace on Our Earth"
Free German Youth
![Freie Deutsche Jugend](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Freie_Deutsche_Jugend.svg)
Freie Deutsche Jugend, organization was meant for young people, both male and female, between the ages of 14 and 25 and comprised about 75% of the young population of former East Germany. In 1981–1982, this meant 2.3 million members. After being a member of the
Thälmann Pioneers, which was for schoolchildren ages 6 to 14, East German youths would usually join the FDJ.
![Friesack,_Tag_der_Republik,_Friesack_1969](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c0/Friesack%2C_Tag_der_Republik%2C_Friesack_1969.jpg)
The FDJ increasingly developed into an instrument of communist rule and became a member of the 'democratic bloc' in 1950.
However, the FDJ's focus of 'happy youth life', which had characterised the 1940s, was increasingly marginalised following
Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later (after spending the years of Nazi rule in ...
's emphasis of the 'accelerated construction of socialism' at the 4th Parliament and a radicalisation of SED policy in July 1952. In turn, a more severe anti-religious agenda, whose aim was to obstruct the Church youths' work, grew within the FDJ, ultimately reaching a high point in mid-April 1953 when the FDJ newspaper ''Junge Welt'' reported on details of the 'criminal' activities of the 'illegal' ''Junge Gemeinden''. FDJ gangs were sent to church meetings to heckle those inside and school tribunals interrogated or expelled students who refused to join the FDJ for religious reasons.
=Membership
=
Upon request, the young people were admitted to the FDJ from the age of 14. Membership was voluntary according to the statutes, but non-members had to fear considerable disadvantages in admission to secondary schools as well as in the choice of studies and careers and were also exposed to strong pressure from line-loyal teachers to join the organization. By the end of 1949, around one million young people had joined it, which corresponded to almost a third of the young people. Only in Berlin, where other youth organizations were also admitted due to the four-power status, the proportion of FDJ members in youth was limited to just under 5 percent in 1949.
In 1985, the organization had about 2.3 million members, corresponding to about 80 percent of all GDR youths between the ages of 14 and 25. Most young people tacitly ended their FDJ membership after completing their apprenticeship or studies when they entered the workforce. However, during the period of military service in the NVA, those responsible (political officer, FDJ secretary) attached great importance to reviving FDJ membership. The degree of organisation was much higher in urban areas than in rural areas.
![Fotothek df ps 000054 ^ Pionierhaus ^ Zwickau](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Fotothek_df_ps_000054_%5E_Pionierhaus_%5E_Zwickau.jpg)
The FDJ clothing was the blue FDJ shirt ("blue shirt")– for girls the blue FDJ blouse – with the FDJ emblem of the rising sun on the left sleeve. The greeting of the FDJers was "friendship". Until the end of the GDR, the income-dependent membership fee was between 0.30 and 5.00 marks per month.
=Music
=
The Festival of Political Songs (german: Festival des politischen Liedes) was one of the largest music events in East Germany, held between 1970 and 1990. It was hosted by the
Free German Youth
The Free German Youth (german: Freie Deutsche Jugend; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth movement of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.
The organization was meant ...
and featured international artists.
=Uniform
=
![Fotothek_df_n-06_0000347](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Fotothek_df_n-06_0000347.jpg)
The blue shirt (also: FDJ shirt or FDJ blouse) was since 1948 the official organizational clothing of the GDR youth organization Freie Deutsche Jugend (FDJ). On official occasions, FDJ members had to wear their blue shirts. The FDJ shirt – an FDJ blouse for girls – was a long-sleeved shirt of blue color with a folding collar, epaulettes and chest pockets. On the left sleeve was the FDJ symbol of the rising sun sewn up. Until the 1970s, the blue shirts were only made of cotton, later there was a cheaper variant made of polyester mixture.
The epaulettes of the blue shirt, in contrast to epaulettes on military uniforms, did not serve to make visible rank or unit membership, but were used at most to put a beret through. Official functions in the FDJ, for example FDJ secretary of a school or apprentice class, had no rank badges and could not be read on the FDJ shirt. However, the members of the FDJ order groups officially wore the FDJ shirt together with a red armband during their missions.
From the 1970s onwards, official patches and pins were issued for certain events, which could be worn on the FDJ shirt. There was no fixed wearing style. The orders and decorations that ordinary FDJ members received until the end of their membership at the age of 19 to 24 – usually the badge of good knowledge – were usually not worn. As a rule, only full-time FDJ members on the way to the nomenklatura at an older age achieved awards, which were also worn.
Population
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1984-0807-017, Leipzig, Familienszene](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1984-0807-017%2C_Leipzig%2C_Familienszene.jpg)
The East German population declined by three million people throughout its forty-one year history, from 19 million in 1948 to 16 million in 1990; of the 1948 population, some four million
were deported from the lands east of the
Oder-Neisse line, which made the home of millions of Germans part of Poland and the Soviet Union. This was a stark contrast from Poland, which increased during that time; from 24 million in 1950 (a little more than East Germany) to 38 million (more than twice of East Germany's population). This was primarily a result of emigration—about one quarter of East Germans left the country before the Berlin Wall was completed in 1961, and after that time, East Germany had very low birth rates, except for a recovery in the 1980s when the birth rate in East Germany was considerably higher than in West Germany.
Vital statistics
Major cities
(1988 populations)
*
East Berlin
East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
(1,200,000)
*
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
(556,000)
*
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
(520,000)
*
Karl-Marx-Stadt
Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 28th largest city of Germany as ...
(314,437) (Chemnitz until 1953, reverted to original name in 1990)
*
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...
(290,579)
*
Rostock
Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...
(253,990)
*
Halle (Saale)
Halle (Saale), or simply Halle (; from the 15th to the 17th century: ''Hall in Sachsen''; until the beginning of the 20th century: ''Halle an der Saale'' ; from 1965 to 1995: ''Halle/Saale'') is the largest city of the Germany, German States of ...
(236,044)
*
Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...
(220,016)
*
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
(142,862)
*
Gera
Gera is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of cit ...
(134,834)
*
Schwerin
Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch dialect, Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germany, second-largest city of the northeastern States of Germany, German ...
(130,685)
*
Cottbus
Cottbus (; Lower Sorbian: ''Chóśebuz'' ; Polish: Chociebuż) is a university city and the second-largest city in Brandenburg, Germany. Situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree, Cottbus is also a major railway junction with exten ...
(128,639)
*
Zwickau
Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ' ...
(121,749)
*
Jena
Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...
(108,010)
*
Dessau
Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...
(103,867)
Administrative districts
![DDR Verwaltungsbezirke farbig](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/DDR_Verwaltungsbezirke_farbig.svg)
Until 1952, East Germany comprised the capital,
East Berlin
East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
(though legally it was not fully part of the GDR's territory), and the five
German states of
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; nds, Mäkelborg-Vörpommern), also known by its anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ranks 14th in po ...
(in 1947 renamed Mecklenburg),
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...
,
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...
,
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
, and
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
, their post-war territorial demarcations approximating the pre-war German demarcations of the
Middle German ''Länder'' (states) and ''Provinzen'' (
provinces of Prussia
The Provinces of Prussia (german: Provinzen Preußens) were the main administrative divisions of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. Prussia's province system was introduced in the Stein-Hardenberg Reforms in 1815, and were mostly organized from duchies a ...
). The western parts of two provinces,
Pomerania
Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...
and
Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...
, the remainder of which were annexed by Poland, remained in the GDR and were attached to Mecklenburg and Saxony, respectively.
The
East German Administrative Reform of 1952 established 14 ''Bezirke'' (districts) and ''de facto'' disestablished the five ''Länder''. The new ''Bezirke'', named after their district centres, were as follows: (i)
Rostock
Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...
, (ii)
Neubrandenburg
Neubrandenburg (lit. ''New Brandenburg'', ) is a city in the southeast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located on the shore of a lake called Tollensesee and forms the urban centre of the Mecklenburg Lakeland.
The city is famous for its ...
, and (iii)
Schwerin
Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch dialect, Mecklenburgian Low German: ''Swerin''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germany, second-largest city of the northeastern States of Germany, German ...
created from the ''Land'' (state) of Mecklenburg; (iv)
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
, (v)
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...
, and (vii)
Cottbus
Cottbus (; Lower Sorbian: ''Chóśebuz'' ; Polish: Chociebuż) is a university city and the second-largest city in Brandenburg, Germany. Situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree, Cottbus is also a major railway junction with exten ...
from Brandenburg; (vi)
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...
and (viii)
Halle from Saxony-Anhalt; (ix)
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, (xi)
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
, and (xii)
Karl-Marx-Stadt
Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 28th largest city of Germany as ...
(Chemnitz until 1953 and again from 1990) from Saxony; and (x)
Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...
, (xiii)
Gera
Gera is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of cit ...
, and (xiv)
Suhl
Suhl () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located SW of Erfurt, NE of Würzburg and N of Nuremberg. With its 37,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest of the six urban districts within Thuringia. Together with its northern neighbour-town Zella- ...
from Thuringia.
East Berlin was made the country's 15th ''Bezirk'' in 1961 but retained special legal status until 1968, when the residents approved the new (draft) constitution. Despite the city as a whole being legally under the control of the
Allied Control Council
The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority (german: Alliierter Kontrollrat) and also referred to as the Four Powers (), was the governing body of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany and Allied-occupied Austria after the end of Wo ...
, and diplomatic objections of the Allied governments, the GDR administered the ''Bezirk'' of Berlin as part of its territory.
Military
![Nva-ehrenwache](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b1/Nva-ehrenwache.jpg)
The government of East Germany had control over a large number of military and paramilitary organisations through various ministries. Chief among these was the Ministry of National Defence. Because of East Germany's proximity to the West during the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
(1945–92), its military forces were among the most advanced of the
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...
. Defining what was a military force and what was not is a matter of some dispute.
National People's Army
The Nationale Volksarmee (NVA) was the largest military organisation in East Germany. It was formed in 1956 from the
Kasernierte Volkspolizei
The Kasernierte Volkspolizei ( en, Barracked People's Police) was the precursor to the National People's Army (NVA) in East Germany. Their original headquarters was in Adlershof locality in Berlin, and from 1954 in Strausberg in modern-day Bran ...
(Barracked People's Police), the military units of the regular police (
Volkspolizei
The ''Deutsche Volkspolizei'' (DVP, German for "German People's Police"), commonly known as the ''Volkspolizei'' or VoPo, was the national police force of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1945 to 1990. The Volkspolizei was a h ...
), when East Germany joined the Warsaw Pact. From its creation, it was controlled by the
Ministry of National Defence (East Germany)
The Ministry of National Defense (German: ''Ministerium für Nationale Verteidigung - MfNV'') was the chief administrative arm of the East German National People's Army. The MND was modeled on the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union. The hea ...
. It was an all-volunteer force until an eighteen-month
conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
period was introduced in 1962. It was regarded by NATO officers as the best military in the Warsaw Pact.
The NVA consisted of the following branches:
*
Land Forces of the National People's Army
The Land Forces of the National People's Army (german: Landstreitkräfte der Nationalen Volksarmee – LaSK), was the ground-based military branch of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) National People's Army (NPA). The Land Forces Command, loca ...
* ''
Volksmarine
The ''Volksmarine'' (VM, ; en, People's Navy) was the naval force of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The ''Volksmarine'' was one of the service branches of the National People's Army and primarily performed a coastal d ...
''People's Navy
*
Air Forces of the National People's Army
The Air Forces of the National People's Army (german: Luftstreitkräfte der Nationalen Volksarmee; LSK) was the Air Force of East Germany. As with the , the , and the Border Troops, it was a military branch of the National People's Army (NVA). ...
Border troops
The border troops of the Eastern sector were originally organised as a police force, the Deutsche Grenzpolizei, similar to the
Bundesgrenzschutz
Bundesgrenzschutz (BGS; en, Federal Border Guard) is the former name of the German ''Bundespolizei'' (Federal Police). Established on 16 March 1951 as a subordinate agency of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the BGS originally was primari ...
in West Germany. It was controlled by the Ministry of the Interior. Following the remilitarisation of East Germany in 1956, the Deutsche Grenzpolizei was transformed into a military force in 1961, modeled after the
Soviet Border Troops
The Soviet Border Troops (russian: Пограничные войска СССР, Pogranichnyye voyska SSSR) were the border guard of the Soviet Union, subordinated to the Soviet state security agency: first to the ''Cheka''/State Political Di ...
, and transferred to the Ministry of National Defense, as part of the National People's Army. In 1973, it was separated from the NVA, but it remained under the same ministry. At its peak, it numbered approximately 47,000 men.
Volkspolizei-Bereitschaft
After the NVA was separated from the
Volkspolizei
The ''Deutsche Volkspolizei'' (DVP, German for "German People's Police"), commonly known as the ''Volkspolizei'' or VoPo, was the national police force of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1945 to 1990. The Volkspolizei was a h ...
in 1956, the Ministry of the Interior maintained its own public order barracked reserve, known as the
Volkspolizei-Bereitschaften (VPB). These units were, like the Kasernierte Volkspolizei, equipped as motorised infantry, and they numbered between 12,000 and 15,000 men.
Stasi
The Ministry of State Security (Stasi) included the
Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment
The Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment (German: ''Wachregiment "Feliks E. Dzierzynski"'') was the paramilitary wing of the Ministry for State Security (''Stasi''), the security service of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
The Felix Dzerzhi ...
, which was mainly involved with facilities security and plain clothes events security. They were the only part of the feared Stasi that was visible to the public, and so were very unpopular within the population. The Stasi numbered around 90,000 men, the Guards Regiment around 11,000–12,000 men.
Combat groups of the working class
The ''
Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse
The Combat Groups of the Working Class (german: Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse, KdA) was a paramilitary organization in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1953 to 1989.
The KdA served as the ''de facto'' militia of the ruling Socialist Un ...
'' (combat groups of the working class) numbered around 400,000 for much of their existence, and were organised around factories. The KdA was the political-military instrument of the SED; it was essentially a "party Army". All KdA directives and decisions were made by the ZK's ''
Politbüro
A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states.
Names
The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...
''. They received their training from the Volkspolizei and the Ministry of the Interior. Membership was voluntary, but SED members were required to join as part of their membership obligation.
Conscientious objection
Every man was required to serve eighteen months of
compulsory military service
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...
; for the medically unqualified and
conscientious objector
A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...
, there were the ''
Baueinheiten'' (construction units) or the Volkshygienedienst (people's sanitation service) both established in 1964, two years after the introduction of conscription, in response to political pressure by the national
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
Protestant Church upon the GDR's government. In the 1970s, East German leaders acknowledged that former
construction soldier
A construction soldier (german: Bausoldat, BS) was a non-combat role of the National People's Army, the armed forces of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), from 1964 to 1990. ''Bausoldaten'' were conscientious objectors who accepted co ...
s and sanitation service soldiers were at a disadvantage when they rejoined the civilian sphere.
Foreign policy
Support of Third World socialist countries
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-Z1014-018, Berlin, Staatsoberhaupt Angolas an der Grenze](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-Z1014-018%2C_Berlin%2C_Staatsoberhaupt_Angolas_an_der_Grenze.jpg)
After receiving wider international diplomatic recognition in 1972–73, the GDR began active cooperation with Third World socialist governments and
national liberation movements
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, ce ...
. While the USSR was in control of the overall strategy and Cuban armed forces were involved in the actual combat (mostly in the
People's Republic of Angola
The People's Republic of Angola () was the self-declared socialist state which governed Angola from its independence in 1975 until 25 August 1992, during the Angolan Civil War.
History
The regime was established in 1975, after Portuguese An ...
and socialist
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
), the GDR provided experts for military hardware maintenance and personnel training, and oversaw creation of secret security agencies based on its own Stasi model.
Already in the 1960s, contacts were established with Angola's
MPLA
The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola ( pt, Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola, abbr. MPLA), for some years called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan left-wing, social d ...
, Mozambique's
FRELIMO
FRELIMO (; from the Portuguese , ) is a democratic socialist political party in Mozambique. It is the dominant party in Mozambique and has won a majority of the seats in the Assembly of the Republic in every election since the country's first ...
and the
PAIGC
The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde ( pt, Partido Africano para a Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde, PAIGC) is a political party in Guinea-Bissau. Originally formed to peacefully campaign for independence from ...
in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde. In the 1970s official cooperation was established with other self-proclaimed socialist governments and people's republics:
People's Republic of the Congo
The People's Republic of the Congo (french: République populaire du Congo) was a Marxist–Leninist socialist state that existed in the Republic of the Congo from 1969 to 1992.
The People's Republic of the Congo was founded in December 1969 ...
,
People's Democratic Republic of Yemen
South Yemen ( ar, اليمن الجنوبي, al-Yaman al-Janubiyy), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (, ), also referred to as Democratic Yemen (, ) or Yemen (Aden) (, ), was a communist state that existed from 1967 to 19 ...
,
Somali Democratic Republic
The Somali Democratic Republic ( so, Jamhuuriyadda Dimuqraadiya Soomaaliyeed; ar, الجمهورية الديمقراطية الصومالية, ; it, Repubblica Democratica Somala) was the name that the socialist military government gave to Som ...
,
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...
, and the
People's Republic of Benin
The People's Republic of Benin (french: République populaire du Bénin; sometimes translated as Benin Popular Republic or Popular Republic of Benin) was a socialist state located in the Gulf of Guinea on the African continent, which would becom ...
.
The first military agreement was signed in 1973 with the People's Republic of the Congo. In 1979 friendship treaties were signed with Angola, Mozambique and Ethiopia.
It was estimated that altogether, 2,000–4,000 DDR military and security experts were dispatched to Africa. In addition, representatives from African and Arab countries and liberation movements underwent military training in the GDR.
East Germany and the Middle East conflict
East Germany pursued an
anti-Zionist
Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestine ...
policy;
Jeffrey Herf
Jeffrey C. Herf (born April 24, 1947) is an American historian of Modern European, in particular, modern German history. He is Distinguished University Professor of modern European at the University of Maryland, College Park.
Biography
He was born ...
argues that East Germany was waging an undeclared war on
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
.
According to Herf, "the Middle East was one of the crucial battlefields of the global Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West; it was also a region in which East Germany played a salient role in the Soviet bloc's antagonism toward Israel." While East Germany saw itself as an "anti-fascist state", it regarded
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
as a "fascist state" and East Germany strongly supported the
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establ ...
(PLO) in its armed struggle against Israel. In 1974, the GDR government recognized the PLO as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people". The PLO declared the
Palestinian state
Palestine ( ar, فلسطين, Filasṭīn), officially the State of Palestine ( ar, دولة فلسطين, Dawlat Filasṭīn, label=none), is a state located in Western Asia. Officially governed by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PL ...
on 15 November 1988 during the First Intifada, and the GDR recognized the state prior to reunification. After becoming a member of the UN, East Germany "made excellent use of the UN to wage political warfare against Israel [and was] an enthusiastic, high-profile, and vigorous member" of the anti-Israeli majority of the General Assembly.
Soviet military occupation
Economy
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-P0619-306, Trabant 601](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-P0619-306%2C_Trabant_601.jpg)
The East German economy began poorly because of the devastation caused by the Second World War; the loss of so many young soldiers, the disruption of business and transportation, the allied bombing campaigns that decimated cities, and reparations owed to the USSR. The Red Army dismantled and transported to Russia the infrastructure and industrial plants of the Soviet Zone of Occupation. By the early 1950s, the reparations were paid in agricultural and industrial products; and
Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...
, with its coal mines and Szczecin, an important natural port, were given to Poland by the decision of Stalin and in accordance with the
Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement (german: Potsdamer Abkommen) was the agreement between three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union on 1 August 1945. A product of the Potsdam Conference, it concerned th ...
.
The socialist centrally planned economy of the German Democratic Republic was like that of the USSR. In 1950, the GDR joined the COMECON trade bloc. In 1985, collective (state) enterprises earned 96.7% of the net national income. To ensure stable prices for goods and services, the state paid 80% of basic supply costs. The estimated 1984 per capita income was $9,800 ($22,600 in 2015 dollars) (this is based on an unreal official exchange rate). In 1976, the average annual growth of the GDP was approximately five percent. This made the East German economy the richest in all of the Soviet Bloc until reunification in 1990.
Notable East German exports were camera, photographic cameras, under the Praktica brand; automobiles under the Trabant, Wartburg (marque), Wartburg, and the Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau, IFA brands; hunting rifles, sextants, typewriters and watch, wristwatches.
Until the 1960s, East Germans endured shortages of basic foodstuffs such as sugar and coffee. East Germans with friends or relatives in the West (or with any access to a hard currency) and the necessary Staatsbank foreign currency account could afford Western products and export-quality East German products via Intershop. Consumer goods also were available, by post, from the Danish Jauerfood, and Genex companies.
The government used money and prices as political devices, providing highly subsidised prices for a wide range of basic goods and services, in what was known as "the second pay packet". At the production level, artificial prices made for a system of semi-barter and resource hoarding. For the consumer, it led to the substitution of GDR money with time, barter, and hard currencies. The socialist economy became steadily more dependent on financial infusions from hard-currency loans from West Germany. East Germans, meanwhile, came to see their soft currency as worthless relative to the Deutsche Mark (DM).
Economic issues would also persist in the east of Germany after the reunification of the west and the east. According to the federal office of political education (23 June 2009) 'In 1991 alone, 153 billion Deutschmarks had to be transferred to eastern Germany to secure incomes, support businesses and improve infrastructure... by 1999 the total had amounted to 1.634 trillion Marks net... The sums were so large that public debt in Germany more than doubled.'
Consumption and jobs
Many western commentators have maintained that loyalty to the SED was a primary criterion for getting a good job, and that professionalism was secondary to political criteria in personnel recruitment and development.
Beginning in 1963 with a series of secret international agreements, East Germany recruited workers from
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
,
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
, Cuba, Albanian People's Republic, Albania, Mozambican People's Republic, Mozambique, Angolan People's Republic, Angola and North Vietnam. They numbered more than 100,000 by 1989. Many, such as future politician Zeca Schall (who emigrated from Angola in 1988 as a contract worker) stayed in Germany after the Wende.
Religion
Religion became contested ground in the GDR, with the governing Communists promoting state atheism, although some people remained loyal to Christian communities. In 1957 the State authorities established a State Secretary for Church Affairs, State Secretariat for Church Affairs to handle the government's contact with churches and with religious groups; the SED remained officially atheist.
In 1950, 85% of the GDR citizens were Protestants, while 10% were Catholic Church, Catholics. In 1961, the renowned philosophical theologian Paul Tillich claimed that the Protestant population in East Germany had the most admirable Church in Protestantism, because the Communists there had not been able to win a spiritual victory over them. By 1989, membership in the Christian churches had dropped significantly. Protestants constituted 25% of the population, Catholics 5%. The share of people who considered themselves non-religious rose from 5% in 1950 to 70% in 1989.
State atheism
When it first came to power, the Communist party asserted the compatibility of Christianity and Marxism-Leninism and sought Christian participation in the building of socialism. At first, the promotion of Marxist-Leninist atheism received little official attention. In the mid-1950s, as the Cold War heated up, atheism became a topic of major interest for the state, in both domestic and foreign contexts. University chairs and departments devoted to the study of scientific atheism were founded and much literature (scholarly and popular) on the subject was produced. This activity subsided in the late 1960s amid perceptions that it had started to become counterproductive. Official and scholarly attention to atheism renewed beginning in 1973, though this time with more emphasis on scholarship and on the training of cadres than on propaganda. Throughout, the attention paid to atheism in East Germany was never intended to jeopardise the cooperation that was desired from those East Germans who were religious.
Protestantism
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-W0613-039, Sitzung des Martin-Luther-Komitees](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-W0613-039%2C_Sitzung_des_Martin-Luther-Komitees.jpg)
East Germany, historically, was majority Protestant (primarily Lutheran) from the early stages of the Protestant Reformation onwards. In 1948, freed from the influence of the Nazism, Nazi-oriented German Christians (movement), German Christians, Lutheran, Calvinism, Reformed and united and uniting churches, United churches from most parts of Germany came together as the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) at the Conference of Eisenach (''Kirchenversammlung von Eisenach'').
In 1969 the regional Protestant churches in East Germany and
East Berlin
East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
broke away from the EKD and formed the ' (german: link=no, Bund der Evangelischen Kirchen in der DDR, BEK), in 1970 also joined by the Moravian Church, Moravian ''Herrnhuter Brüdergemeinde''. In June 1991, following 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 ...
, the BEK churches again merged with the EKD ones.
Between 1956 and 1971 the
leadership
Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...
of the East German Lutheran churches gradually changed its relations with the state from hostility to cooperation. From the founding of the GDR in 1949, the Socialist Unity Party sought to weaken the influence of the church on the rising generation. The church adopted an attitude of confrontation and distance toward the state. Around 1956 this began to develop into a more neutral stance accommodating conditional loyalty. The government was no longer regarded as illegitimate; instead, the church leaders started viewing the authorities as installed by God and, therefore, deserving of obedience by Christians. But on matters where the state demanded something which the churches felt was not in accordance with the will of God, the churches reserved their right to say no. There were both structural and intentional causes behind this development. Structural causes included the hardening of Cold War tensions in Europe in the mid-1950s, which made it clear that the East German state was not temporary. The loss of church members also made it clear to the leaders of the church that they had to come into some kind of dialogue with the state. The intentions behind the change of attitude varied from a traditional liberal Lutheran acceptance of secular power to a positive attitude toward socialist ideas.
[Stephen R. Bowers, "Private Institutions in Service to the State: The German Democratic Republic's Church in Socialism," ''East European Quarterly,'' Spring 1982, Vol. 16 Issue 1, pp. 73–86.]
Manfred Stolpe became a lawyer for the Brandenburg Protestant Church in 1959 before taking up a position at church headquarters in Berlin. In 1969 he helped found the ''Bund der Evangelischen Kirchen in der DDR'' (BEK), where he negotiated with the government while at the same time working within the institutions of this Protestant body. He won the regional elections for the Brandenburg state assembly at the head of the SPD list in 1990. Stolpe remained in the Brandenburg government until he joined the federal government in 2002.
Apart from the Protestant state churches (german: link=no, Landeskirchen) united in the EKD/BEK and the Catholic Church there was a number of smaller Protestant bodies, including Protestant Free Churches (german: link=no, Evangelische Freikirchen) united in the and the , as well as the Evangelical Lutheran Free Church (Germany), Free Lutheran Church, the Old Lutherans, Old Lutheran Church and Federation of the Reformed Churches in the German Democratic Republic. The Moravian Church also had its presence as the ''Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine''. There were also other Protestants such as Methodism, Methodists, Adventists, Mennonites and Quakers.
Catholicism
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1987-0710-035, Dresden, Katholikentreffen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1987-0710-035%2C_Dresden%2C_Katholikentreffen.jpg)
The smaller Catholic Church in eastern Germany had a fully functioning episcopal hierarchy in full accord with the Vatican. During the early postwar years, tensions were high. The Catholic Church as a whole (and particularly the bishops) resisted both the East German state and Marxist-Leninist ideology. The state allowed the bishops to lodge protests, which they did on issues such as abortion.
After 1945, the Church did fairly well in integrating Catholic exiles from lands to the east (which mostly became part of Poland) and in adjusting its institutional structures to meet the needs of a church within an officially atheist society. This meant an increasingly hierarchical church structure, whereas in the area of religious education, press, and youth organisations, a system of temporary staff was developed, one that took into account the special situation of Caritas International, Caritas, a Catholic charity organisation. By 1950, therefore, there existed a Catholic subsociety that was well adjusted to prevailing specific conditions and capable of maintaining Catholic identity.
With a generational change in the episcopacy taking place in the early 1980s, the state hoped for better relations with the new bishops, but the new bishops instead began holding unauthorised mass meetings, promoting international ties in discussions with theologians abroad, and hosting ecumenical conferences. The new bishops became less politically oriented and more involved in pastoral care and attention to spiritual concerns. The government responded by limiting international contacts for bishops.
List of apostolic administrators:
* Roman Catholic Diocese of Erfurt, Erfurt-Meiningen
* Roman Catholic Diocese of Görlitz, Görlitz
* Roman Catholic Diocese of Magdeburg, Magdeburg
* Apostolic administration of Schwerin, Schwerin
Culture
East Germany's culture was strongly influenced by communist thought and was marked by an attempt to define itself in opposition to the west, particularly West Germany and the United States. Critics of the East German state have claimed that the state's commitment to Communism was a hollow and cynical tool, Machiavellian in nature, but this assertion has been challenged by studies that have found that the East German leadership was genuinely committed to the advance of scientific knowledge, economic development, and social progress. However, Pence and Betts argue, the majority of East Germans over time increasingly regarded the state's ideals to be hollow, though there was also a substantial number of East Germans who regarded their culture as having a healthier, more authentic mentality than that of West Germany.
GDR culture and politics were limited by the harsh Censorship in East Germany, censorship.
Compared to the music of the FRG, the freedom of art was less restricted by private-sector guidelines, but by guidelines from the state and the SED. Nevertheless, many musicians strove to explore the existing boundaries. Despite the state's support for music education, there were politically motivated conflicts with the state, especially among rock, blues and folk musicians and songwriters, as well as composers of so-called serious music.
Music
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-W0115-047, Berlin, Frank Schöbel bei Autogrammstunde](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-W0115-047%2C_Berlin%2C_Frank_Sch%C3%B6bel_bei_Autogrammstunde.jpg)
A special feature of GDR culture is the broad spectrum of German rock bands. The Puhdys and Karat (band), Karat were some of the most popular mainstream bands in East Germany. Like most mainstream acts, they were members of the SED, appeared in state-run popular youth magazines such as ''Neues Leben'' and ''Magazin''. Other popular rock bands were , City (band), City, Silly (band), Silly and Pankow (German band), Pankow. Most of these artists recorded on the state-owned AMIGA (label), AMIGA label. All were required to open live performances and albums with the East German national anthem.
Schlager music, Schlager, which was very popular in the west, also gained a foothold early on in East Germany, and numerous musicians, such as , , and gained national fame. From 1962 to 1976, an international schlager festival was held in
Rostock
Rostock (), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (german: link=no, Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, c ...
, garnering participants from between 18 and 22 countries each year. The city of
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
held a similar international festival for schlager musicians from 1971 until shortly before reunification. There was a national schlager contest hosted yearly in Magdeburg from 1966 to 1971 as well.
Bands and singers from other socialist countries were popular, e.g. Czerwone Gitary from Poland known as the ''Rote Gitarren''.
Czech Karel Gott, the Golden Voice from Prague, was beloved in both German states.
Hungarian band Omega (band), Omega performed in both German states, and Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavian band Korni Grupa toured East Germany in the 1970s.
West German television and radio could be received in many parts of the East. The Western influence led to the formation of more "underground" groups with a decisively western-oriented sound. A few of these bands – the so-called Die anderen Bands ("the other bands") – were Die Skeptiker, and Feeling B. Additionally, hip hop culture reached the ears of the East German youth. With videos such as ''Beat Street'' and ''Wild Style'', young East Germans were able to develop a hip hop culture of their own. East Germans accepted hip hop as more than just a music form. The entire street culture surrounding rap entered the region and became an outlet for oppressed youth.
The government of the GDR was invested in both promoting the tradition of German classical music, and in supporting composers to write new works in that tradition. Notable East German composers include Hanns Eisler, Paul Dessau, Ernst Hermann Meyer, Rudolf Wagner-Régeny, and Kurt Schwaen.
The birthplace of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750), Eisenach, was rendered as a museum about him, featuring more than three hundred instruments, which, in 1980, received some 70,000 visitors. In Leipzig, the Bach archive contains his compositions and correspondence and recordings of his music.
Governmental support of classical music maintained some 168 publicly funded concert, opera, chamber, and radio orchestras, such as Gewandhausorchester and Thomanerchor in Leipzig; Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, Sächsische Staatskapelle in Dresden; and Berliner Sinfonie Orchester and Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin.
Kurt Masur
Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015) was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Or ...
was their prominent conductor.
Censorship in the music sector
All productions were subject to Censorship in East Germany, censorship. Texts had to be submitted and shows approved in advance, performances were watched. No one was exempt from this, not even famous artists with connections to the highest circles of the SED government. Under this pressure, strategies were developed to bring critical texts to the audience despite censorship. For example, Heinz Quermann always deliberately built an extreme gag into his entertainment programme so that the censors would have something to cut and the other gags would be less critically scrutinised. Tamara Danz of Silly, who pursued a similar strategy with political lyrics, founded the term "green elephant" (''grüner Elefant'') for such passages. In light music, messages were smuggled past the censors between the lines, wrapped in images and metaphors, such as in the song ''Am Fenster'' by City. Occasionally, lyrics were censored that were not meant critically at all, such as in the song ''Tritt ein in den Dom'' by the Electra combo, which reached first places in rating programmes but was then largely banned because it allegedly called for people to enter the church.
At the beginning of the 1960s, the youth of the GDR were also under the influence of the The Beatles, Beatles and their music. In the beginning, this music was still tolerated and supported by the GDR leadership, especially with the help of the FDJ. The high point of this era was 1965, when GDR bands not only got radio and television appearances, but were even allowed to make recordings. In addition, Amiga released an LP by the Beatles. However, the SED realised that it could not control this movement, which was basically rebellious and oriented towards the West, and steer it in a direction it liked. Most of the bands were therefore simply banned, the others were strictly controlled. For example, Thomas Natschinski's band had to change its English name "Team 4" to the German name "Thomas Natschinski and his group". Other bands were not so conformist. Renft in particular was repeatedly banned from performing and later also the blues rock band Freygang, whose members went into hiding and then played under pseudonyms.
Even convinced socialists like the singer-songwriter Wolf Biermann were banned from performing because they had different ideas of socialism than the SED realised. In 1976, Wolf Biermann was allowed to tour in the West and this was immediately taken as an opportunity to denaturalise him and refuse him permission to return. Numerous artists protested against this and were forced to leave the country - some after serving prison sentences - including members of Klaus Renft Combo, Renft, as well as Manfred Krug and Nina Hagen. Other artists left voluntarily. Veronika Fischer, for example, did not return from a performance in West Berlin in 1981, whereupon her songs were no longer allowed to be played by GDR radio stations.
But West German productions were also subject to censorship. For example, the song by Udo Jürgens Es war einmal ein Luftballon (Once Upon a Time There Was a Balloon) was put on the Index because of the line "They know no borders, the balloons of the world". It was not until 1987 that Udo Jürgens was allowed to perform again in the GDR. Udo Lindenberg, for example, had similar problems. Despite all his efforts (such as his song Sonderzug nach Pankow (Special Train to Pankow)), he was only allowed to perform once before the fall of the Wall, at the Palace of the Republic, Berlin, Palast der Republik on the occasion of the event "Rock für den Frieden" (Rock for Peace) on 25 October 1983.
In the 1980s, censorship seemed to loosen up. Lyrics about the longing for freedom (including Albatros by Karat) became possible. But it was only in the course of the peaceful revolution that songs by Veronika Fischer were heard on the radio again in October 1989.
Theatre
![Bertolt-Brecht](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Bertolt-Brecht.jpg)
East German theatre was originally dominated by Bertolt Brecht, who brought back many artists out of exile and reopened the ''Theater am Schiffbauerdamm'' with his Berliner Ensemble.
Alternatively, other influences tried to establish a "Working Class Theatre", played for the working class by the working class.
After Brecht's death, conflicts began to arise between his family (around Helene Weigel) and other artists about Brecht's legacy, including Slatan Dudow, Erwin Geschonneck, Erwin Strittmatter, Peter Hacks, Benno Besson, Peter Palitzsch and Ekkehard Schall.
In the 1950s, the Swiss director Benno Besson with the Deutsches Theater (Berlin), Deutsches Theater successfully toured Europe and Asia including Japan with ''The Dragon'' by Evgeny Schwartz. In the 1960s, he became the Intendant of the Volksbühne often working with Heiner Müller.
In the 1970s, a parallel theatre scene sprung up, creating theatre "outside of Berlin" in which artists played at provincial theatres. For example, Peter Sodann founded the Neues Theater in Halle/Saale and Frank Castorf at the theater Anklam.
Theatre and cabaret had high status in the GDR, which allowed it to be very proactive. This often brought it into confrontation with the state. Benno Besson once said, "In contrast to artists in the west, they took us seriously, we had a bearing."
The Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin is the last major building erected by the GDR, making it an exceptional architectural testimony to how Germany overcame its former division. Here, Berlin's great revue tradition lives on, today bringing viewers state-of-the-art shows.
![VolksbühBerlJan08](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Volksb%C3%BChBerlJan08.JPG)
Important theatres include the Berliner Ensemble, the Deutsches Theater (Berlin), Deutsches Theater, the Maxim-Gorki-Theater, Maxim Gorki Theater, and the Volksbühne.
Cinema
The prolific cinema of East Germany was headed by the DEFA, ''Deutsche Film AG'', which was subdivided in different local groups, for example ''Gruppe Berlin'', ''Gruppe Babelsberg'' or ''Gruppe Johannisthal (Berlin), Johannisthal'', where the local teams shot and produced films. The East German industry became known worldwide for its productions, especially children's movies (''Das kalte Herz'', film versions of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales and modern productions such as ''Das Schulgespenst'').
Frank Beyer's ''Jacob the Liar (1975 film), Jakob der Lügner'' (Jacob the Liar), about the Holocaust, and ''Fünf Patronenhülsen'' (Five Cartridges), about resistance against fascism, became internationally famous.
Films about daily life, such as ''The Legend of Paul and Paula, Die Legende von Paul und Paula'', by Heiner Carow, and ''Solo Sunny'', directed by Konrad Wolf and Wolfgang Kohlhaase, were very popular.
The film industry was remarkable for its production of ''Ostern'', or Western-like movies. Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Amerindians in these films often took the role of displaced people who fight for their rights, in contrast to the Western (genre), North American westerns of the time, where they were often either not mentioned at all or are portrayed as the villains. Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavs were often cast as Native Americans because of the small number of Native Americans in Europe. Gojko Mitić was well known in these roles, often playing the righteous, kindhearted and charming Tribal chief, chief (''The Sons of Great Bear, Die Söhne der großen Bärin'' directed by Josef Mach). He became an honorary Sioux chief when he visited the United States in the 1990s, and the television crew accompanying him showed the tribe one of his movies. American actor and singer Dean Reed, an expatriate who lived in East Germany, also starred in several films. These films were part of the phenomenon of Europe producing alternative films about the colonization of the Americas.
Cinemas in the GDR also showed foreign films. Czechoslovak and Polish productions were more common, but certain western movies were shown, though the numbers of these were limited because it cost foreign exchange to buy the licences. Further, films representing or glorifying what the state viewed as capitalist ideology were not bought. Comedies enjoyed great popularity, such as the Danish ''Olsen-banden, Olsen Gang'' or movies with the French comedian Louis de Funès.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, several films depicting life in the GDR have been critically acclaimed. Some of the most notable were ''Good Bye Lenin!'' by Wolfgang Becker (director, born 1954), Wolfgang Becker, ''The Lives of Others, Das Leben der Anderen'' (The Lives of Others) by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (won the Academy Award for best Film in a Foreign Language) in 2006,
[2006 Academy Award for "The Lives of Others"](_blank)
, and ''Alles auf Zucker!'' (Go for Zucker) by Dani Levi. Each film is heavily infused with cultural nuances unique to life in the GDR.
Sport
East Germany was very successful in the sports of cycle sport, cycling, Olympic weightlifting, weight-lifting, swimming, gymnastics, track and field, boxing, ice skating, and winter sports. The success is largely attributed to doping in East Germany, doping under the direction of Manfred Höppner, a sports doctor, described as the architect of East Germany's state-sponsored drug program.
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-N0615-0011, X](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-N0615-0011%2C_X._Fu%C3%9Fball-WM%2C_DDR-Nationalmannschaft.jpg)
Anabolic steroids were the most detected doping substances in IOC-accredited laboratories for many years. The development and implementation of a state-supported sports doping program helped East Germany, with its small population, to become a world leader in sport during the 1970s and 1980s, winning a large number of Olympic and world gold medals and records. Another factor for success was the furtherance system for young people in the GDR. Sports teachers at school were encouraged to look for certain talents in children of ages 6 to 10. For older pupils it was possible to attend grammar schools with a focus on sports (for example sailing, football and swimming).
Sports clubs were highly subsidized, especially sports in which it was possible to get international fame. For example, the major leagues for ice hockey and basketball just included 2 teams each. Association football, Football was the most popular sport. Club football teams such as Dynamo Dresden, 1. FC Magdeburg, FC Carl Zeiss Jena, 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig and BFC Dynamo had successes in European competition. Many East German players such as Matthias Sammer and Ulf Kirsten became integral parts of the reunified national football team.
The East and the West also competed via sport; GDR athletes dominated several Olympic sports; the SV Dynamo club of the security agencies won more than 200 Olympic medals. Of special interest was the only football match between the West Germany national football team, Federal Republic of Germany and the East Germany national football team, German Democratic Republic, a first-round match during the 1974 FIFA World Cup, which the East won 1–0; but West Germany, the host, went on to win the World Cup.
Television and radio
![Bundesarchiv Bild 183-U1109-022, Berlin, Sandmännchen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-U1109-022%2C_Berlin%2C_Sandm%C3%A4nnchen.jpg)
Television and radio in East Germany were state-run industries; the ''Rundfunk der DDR'' was the official radio broadcasting organisation from 1952 until unification. The organization was based in the ''Funkhaus Nalepastraße'' in East Berlin. ''Deutscher Fernsehfunk'' (DFF), from 1972 to 1990 known as ''Fernsehen der DDR'' or DDR-FS, was the state television broadcaster from 1952. Reception of Western broadcasts was widespread.
Motorsport
East Germany had a revolutionary technology for two-stroke engines called expansion chamber allowing them to win motorcycle races with little competition. Alas, the main actor in this story, racer Ernst Degner, defected to Japan, taking the technology secret with him over to Suzuki. After the defection, East German motorcycle racing effectively ended.
Industry
Telecommunications
By the mid-1980s, East Germany possessed a well-developed communications system. There were approximately 3.6 million telephones in usage (21.8 for every 100 inhabitants), and 16,476 Teletypewriter message, Telex stations. Both of these networks were run by the Deutsche Post der DDR (East German Post Office). East Germany was assigned telephone country code +37; in 1991, several months after reunification, East German telephone exchanges were incorporated into country code +49.
An unusual feature of the telephone network was that, in most cases, direct distance dialing for long-distance calls was not possible. Although area codes were assigned to all major towns and cities, they were only used for switching international calls. Instead, each location had its own list of dialing codes with shorter codes for local calls and longer codes for long-distance calls. After unification, the existing network was largely replaced, and area codes and dialing became standardised.
In 1976 East Germany inaugurated the operation of a ground-based radio station at Fürstenwalde for the purpose of relaying and receiving communications from Soviet satellites and to serve as a participant in the international telecommunications organization established by the Soviet government, Intersputnik.
Totalitarianism and repression
There is general consensus among academics that the GDR fulfilled most of the criteria to be considered a totalitarian state. There is, however, ongoing debate as to whether the more positive aspects of the regime can sufficiently dilute the harsher aspects so as to make the totalitarian tag seem excessive. According to the historian Mary Fulbrook:
The state security service (SSD) was commonly known as the Stasi, and it was fundamental to the socialist leadership's attempts to reach their historical goal. It was an open secret in the GDR that the Stasi read people's mail and tapped phone calls. They also employed a vast network of unofficial informers who would spy on people more directly and report to their Stasi handlers. These collaborators were hired in all walks of life and had access to nearly every organisation in the country. At the end of the GDR in 1990 there were approximately 109,000 still active informants at every grade.
Repressive measures carried out by the Stasi can be roughly divided into two main chronological groupings: pre and post 1971, when Honecker came to power. According to the historian Nessim Ghouas, "There was a change in how the Stasi operated under Honecker in 1971. The more brutal aspects of repression seen in the Stalinist era (torture, executions, and physical repression descending from the GDR's earlier days) was changed with a more selective use of power."
The more direct forms of repression such as arrest and torture could mean significant international condemnation for the GDR. However, the Stasi still needed to paralyse and disrupt what it considered to be 'hostile-negative' forces (internal domestic enemies) if the socialist goal was to be properly realised. A person could be targeted by the Stasi for expressing politically, culturally, or religiously incorrect views; for performing hostile acts; or for being a member of a group which was considered sufficiently counter-productive to the socialist state to warrant intervention. As such, writers, artists, youth sub-cultures, and members of the church were often targeted.
If after preliminary research the Stasi found an individual warranted action against them then they would open an 'operational case'
in regard to them. There were two desirable outcomes for each case: that the person was either arrested, tried, and imprisoned for an ostensibly justified reason, or if this could not be achieved that they were debilitated through the application of Zersetzung (transl. decomposition) methods. In the Honecker era, Zersetzung became the primary method of Stasi repression, due in large part to an ambition to avoid political fallout from wrongful arrest.
Zersetzung methods varied and were tailored depending on the individual being targeted. They are known to have included sending offensive mail to a person's house, the spreading of malicious rumours about them, banning them from traveling, sabotaging their career, breaking into their house and moving objects around etc. These acts could be intensely intimidating and confusing for the person targeted. They frequently led to unemployment, social isolation, and poor mental health. Many people had various forms of mental or nervous breakdown. Similarly to physical imprisonment, Zersetzung methods had the effect of paralysing a person's ability to operate but with the advantage of the source being unknown or at least unprovable. There is ongoing debate as to whether weaponised directed-energy weapon, directed energy devices, such as X-ray transmitters, were used in combination with the psychological warfare methods of Zersetzung. The historian Mike Dennis states that "Between 1985–1988, the Stasi conducted about 4,500 to 5,000 OVs (operational cases) per year." The International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims considers that there are between 300,000 and 500,000 victims of direct physical torture, Zersetzung, and gross human rights violations due to the Stasi. In the modern day, victims of historical Zersetzung can draw a special pension from the German state.
Official and public holidays
Legacy
Decrepit infrastructure
Almost all East German highways, railroads, sewage systems and public buildings were in a state of disrepair at the time of reunification, as little was done to maintain infrastructure in the GDR's last decades. Unified German public spending has had to pour more than $2 trillion into the former East Germany, to make up for the region's neglect and malaise and bring it up to a minimal standard.
The Greifswald Nuclear Power Plant closely avoided a Chernobyl disaster, Chernobyl-scale meltdown in 1976. All East German nuclear power plants had to be shut down after reunification, because they did not meet Western safety standards.
Authoritarianism
German historian Jürgen Kocka in 2010 summarized the consensus of most recent scholarship:
Ostalgie
![Karte btw linke17z endg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Karte_btw_linke17z_endg.svg)
Many East Germans initially regarded the dissolution of the GDR positively, but this reaction partly turned sour. West Germans often acted as if they had "won" and East Germans had "lost" in unification, leading many East Germans (''Ossis'') to resent West Germans (''Wessis''). In 2004, Ascher Barnstone wrote, "East Germans resent the wealth possessed by West Germans; West Germans see the East Germans as lazy opportunists who want something for nothing. East Germans find 'Wessis' arrogant and pushy, West Germans think the 'Ossis' are lazy good-for-nothings."
In addition, many East German women found the west more appealing, and left the region never to return, leaving behind an underclass of poorly educated and jobless men.
For the people who stayed in East Germany, a majority of them (57%) defend the GDR,
with 49% of those polled saying that "The GDR had more good sides than bad sides. There were some problems, but life was good there", while 8% oppose all criticism of East Germany and say that "The GDR had, for the most part, good sides. Life there was happier and better than in reunified Germany today".
As of 2014, the vast majority of residents in the former GDR prefer to live in a unified Germany. However, a feeling of nostalgia persists among some, termed "Ostalgie" (a Blend word, blend of "east" and "nostalgia"). This was depicted in the Wolfgang Becker (director, born 1954), Wolfgang Becker film ''Goodbye Lenin!''. According to Klaus Schroeder, a historian and political scientist at the Free University of Berlin, some of the original residents of the GDR "still feel they don't belong or that they're strangers in unified Germany" as life in the GDR was "just more manageable". He warns German society should watch out in case Ostalgie results in a distortion and romanticization of the past.
Electoral consequences
The divide between the East and the West can be seen in contemporary German elections. The left-wing The Left (Germany), Die Linke party (which has roots in the SED) continues to have a stronghold and often wins a plurality in the East, such as in the German State of
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
where it remains the most popular party. This is in stark distinction from the West where the more centrist parties such as the CDU/CSU and Social Democratic Party of Germany, SPD dominate.
Religion
Another way the divide between the West and the East can be seen in modern Germany is religion. As of 2009, more Germans are non-believers in New states of Germany, Eastern Germany than Old states of Germany, Western Germany.
Eastern Germany, which was historically protestant,
is perhaps the least religious region in the world.
An explanation for this, popular in other regions, is the aggressive state atheist policies of the German Democratic Republic's
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...
. However, the enforcement of atheism existed only for the first few years. After that, the state allowed churches to have a relatively high level of autonomy.
Atheism is embraced by Germans of all ages, though irreligion is particularly common among younger Germans.
One study in September 2012 was unable to find a single person under 28 who believes in God.
See also
;Germany
: History of Germany (1945–1990)
: Leadership of East Germany
: Inner German relations
;Armed forces
*
![Warsaw_Pact_Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Warsaw_Pact_Logo.svg)
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist republic ...
/
![GSSD-LOGO](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/GSSD-LOGO.svg)
Group of Soviet Forces in Germany
**
Ministry of National Defence (East Germany)
The Ministry of National Defense (German: ''Ministerium für Nationale Verteidigung - MfNV'') was the chief administrative arm of the East German National People's Army. The MND was modeled on the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet Union. The hea ...
***
![Coat of arms of NVA (East Germany)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Coat_of_arms_of_NVA_%28East_Germany%29.svg)
National People's Army
****Kommando Landstreitkräfte
*****
![Emblem of the Ground Forces of NVA (East Germany)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Emblem_of_the_Ground_Forces_of_NVA_%28East_Germany%29.svg)
Land Forces of the National People's Army, Landstreitkräfte
******
![Ärmelband NVA (1)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/%C3%84rmelband_NVA_%281%29.jpg)
Friedrich Engels Guard Regiment
****Kommando Volksmarine
*****
![Flag_of_warships_of_VM_(East_Germany)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Flag_of_warships_of_VM_%28East_Germany%29.svg)
Volksmarine
The ''Volksmarine'' (VM, ; en, People's Navy) was the naval force of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1956 to 1990. The ''Volksmarine'' was one of the service branches of the National People's Army and primarily performed a coastal d ...
****Kommando LSK/LV
*****
![Emblem of aircraft of NVA (East Germany)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Emblem_of_aircraft_of_NVA_%28East_Germany%29.svg)
Air Forces of the National People's Army, Luftstreitkräfte
***
![Bestenabzeichen DDR Grenztruppen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Bestenabzeichen_DDR_Grenztruppen.png)
Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic, Grenztruppen
****
![Vehicle roundel of Border Troops of GDR](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Vehicle_roundel_of_Border_Troops_of_GDR.svg)
Border Troops
****
![Flag_of_border_brigade_coast_(East_Germany)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Flag_of_border_brigade_coast_%28East_Germany%29.svg)
:de: 6. Grenzbrigade Küste, Naval Border Troops
***Guard Regiment Hugo Eberlein
*
![Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Sozialistische_Einheitspartei_Deutschlands_Logo.svg)
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...
**
![VollWappen Volkpolizei DDR](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/VollWappen_Volkpolizei_DDR.svg)
Volkspolizei
The ''Deutsche Volkspolizei'' (DVP, German for "German People's Police"), commonly known as the ''Volkspolizei'' or VoPo, was the national police force of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1945 to 1990. The Volkspolizei was a h ...
***
![Wappen Kampfgruppen der Arbeiterklasse](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Wappen_Kampfgruppen_der_Arbeiterklasse.svg)
Combat Groups of the Working Class SED's de-facto paramilitary militia
: Conscientious objection in East Germany
;Police
*
![VollWappen Volkpolizei DDR](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ca/VollWappen_Volkpolizei_DDR.svg)
Volkspolizei
The ''Deutsche Volkspolizei'' (DVP, German for "German People's Police"), commonly known as the ''Volkspolizei'' or VoPo, was the national police force of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1945 to 1990. The Volkspolizei was a h ...
**
![Volkspolizei_Bereitschaft_roundel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Volkspolizei_Bereitschaft_roundel.svg)
Volkspolizei-Bereitschaft
** Local Civilian Police
*** Criminal Investigation Department (''Hauptabteilung Kriminalpolizei'')
*** Railway Police Department (''Hauptabteilung Transportpolizei'')
*** Registration Department (''Hauptabteilung Pass- und Meldewesen'')
*** Traffic Police Department (''Hauptabteilung Autobahnpolizei, Verkehrspolizei'')
*** Uniformed Police Department (''Hauptabteilung Schutzpolizei'')
*** Fire Department (''Hauptabteilung Feuerwehr'')
**
![DDR - helfer der volkspolizei](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/DDR_-_helfer_der_volkspolizei.jpg)
Freiwilliger Helfer der Volkspolizei
**Main Administration Sea Police
***:de: Volkspolizei See, People's Sea Police
*
![Emblem_of_the_Stasi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Emblem_of_the_Stasi.svg)
Stasi, Ministry for State Security (Secret police)
**
![Emblem_of_the_Stasi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Emblem_of_the_Stasi.svg)
Main Directorate for Reconnaissance, Hauptverwaltung Aufklärung HVA (Foreign Intelligence Service)
***
![RAF-Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/RAF-Logo.svg)
Red Army Faction
**
Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment
The Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment (German: ''Wachregiment "Feliks E. Dzierzynski"'') was the paramilitary wing of the Ministry for State Security (''Stasi''), the security service of the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
The Felix Dzerzhi ...
(Guard Unit of the Stasi)
;Organizations
*
![State_arms_of_German_Democratic_Republic](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/State_arms_of_German_Democratic_Republic.svg)
National Front of the German Democratic Republic
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 ...
**
![Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Sozialistische_Einheitspartei_Deutschlands_Logo.svg)
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (german: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands, ; SED, ), often known in English as the East German Communist Party, was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR; East German ...
***
![Freie_Deutsche_Jugend](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Freie_Deutsche_Jugend.svg)
Free German Youth
The Free German Youth (german: Freie Deutsche Jugend; FDJ) is a youth movement in Germany. Formerly, it was the official youth movement of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.
The organization was meant ...
***
![Pionierorganisation_Ernst_Thaelmann-Emblem](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Pionierorganisation_Ernst_Thaelmann-Emblem.svg)
Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation
;Media
: ''Aktuelle Kamera'', GDR's main TV news show
: East German Cold War Propaganda
: Radio Berlin International
: Sandmännchen
;Transport
* Barkas (van manufacturer), Barkas
* Deutsche Reichsbahn (East Germany), Deutsche ReichsbahnThe railway company of the GDR
* InterflugThe airline of the GDR
* Transport in the German Democratic Republic
;Other
:
![Interkosmos_patch_for_GDR_Cosmonauts](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Interkosmos_patch_for_GDR_Cosmonauts.svg)
Sigmund Jähn
:
![Flag_of_Cuba](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Flag_of_Cuba.svg)
Ernst Thälmann Island
: Chemnitz#GDR, Karl-Marx-Stadt
: Captive Nations
: Dean Reed
: East German jokes
: Index of East Germany–related articles
: Palace of the Republic, Berlin
: Tourism in East Germany
: ''Good Bye, Lenin!'', tragicomedy film about 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 ...
: ''The Tunnel (2001 film), The Tunnel'', film about a mass evacuation to West Berlin through a tunnel
: Deutschland 83
: Deutschland 86
: Deutschland 89
Explanatory notes
References
Citations
General sources
*
*
*
Further reading
* Allinson, Mark. ''Politics and Popular Opinion in East Germany 1945–68'' (2000)
*
* Augustine, Dolores. ''Red Prometheus: Engineering and Dictatorship in East Germany, 1945–1990'' (2007) 411pp
* Baylis, Thomas A., David H Childs, Erwin L. Collier, and Marilyn Rueschemeyer, eds. ''East Germany in Comparative Perspective'' (Routledge, 1989)
* Berger, Stefan, and Norman LaPorte, eds. ''The Other Germany: Perceptions and Influences in British-East German Relations, 1945–1990'' (Augsburg, 2005).
* Berger, Stefan, and Norman LaPorte, eds. ''Friendly Enemies: Britain and the GDR, 1949–1990'' (2010
online review* Berghoff, Hartmut, and Uta Andrea Balbier, eds. ''The East German Economy, 1945–2010: Falling Behind Or Catching Up?'' (Cambridge University Press, 2013).
* Betts, Paul. ''Within Walls: Private Life in the German Democratic Republic'', Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013
* David H Childs, Childs, David H. ''The Fall of the GDR'', Longma
Personed.co.uk 2001. ,
* David H Childs, Childs, David H. & Richard Popplewell. ''The Stasi: East German Intelligence and Security Service'', Palgrave Macmilla
Palgrave.comAmazon.co.uk1996.
* David H Childs, Childs, David H. ''The GDR: Moscow's German Ally'', George Allen & Unwin, 1983. , .
* David H Childs, Childs, David H. ''The Two Red Flags: European Social Democracy & Soviet Communism Since 1945,'' Routledge, 2000.
* De La Motte and John Green, "Stasi State or Socialist Paradise? The German Democratic Republic and What became of it", Artery Publications. 2015
* Mary Fulbrook, Fulbrook, Mary. ''The People's State: East German Society from Hitler to Honecker'' (Yale University Press, 2005). 352 pp. .
* Mary Fulbrook, Fulbrook; Mary. ''Anatomy of a Dictatorship: Inside the GDR, 1949–1989'' (Oxford University Press, 1995).
* Fulbrook, Mary and Andrew I. Port, eds., ''Becoming East German: Socialist Structures and Sensibilities after Hitler'' (New York and Oxford: Berghahn, 2013).
*Funke, Mark (2021)."Hall of Mirrors: The Antiquarian Book Trade in Communist Germany." ''The Book Collector'' 70 no.4 (winter): 603–617.
* Gray, William Glenn. ''Germany's Cold War: The Global Campaign to Isolate East Germany, 1949–1969'' (University of North Carolina Press, 2003)
online* Grieder, Peter. ''The German Democratic Republic'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), scholarly history.
* Grix, Jonathan. ''The Role of the Masses in the Collapse of the GDR'' Macmillan, 2000
*
* Jarausch, Konrad H., and Eve Duffy; ''Dictatorship as Experience: Towards a Socio-Cultural History of the GDR'' (Berghahn Books, 1999).
* Kupferberg, Feiwel. ''The Rise and Fall of the German Democratic Republic'' (2002) 228pp
online review* McAdams, A. James. "East Germany and Détente" (Cambridge University Press, 1985).
* McAdams, A. James. "Germany Divided: From the Wall to Reunification" (Princeton University Press, 1992 and 1993).
* McLellan, Josie. ''Love in the Time of Communism: Intimacy and Sexuality in the GDR''. (Cambridge University Press, 2011).
* Major, Patrick, and Jonathan Osmond, eds. ''The Workers' and Peasants' State: Communism and Society in East Germany under Ulbricht 1945–71'' (
Manchester University Press
Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with th ...
, 2002), 272 pp.
* Naimark, Norman M. ''The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949'' (1997
excerpt and text search* Pence, Katherine and Paul Betts. ''Socialist Modern: East German Everyday Culture and Politics'', Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2008
* Port, Andrew I. ''Conflict and Stability in the German Democratic Republic''. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
*
* Ritter, Gerhard A. "Die DDR in der Deutschen Geschichte", [The GDR in German history] ''Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte'', April 2002, Vol. 50, Issue 2, pp. 171–200.
* Pritchard, Gareth, ''The Making of the GDR 1945–53: From Antifascism to Stalinism'' (2000)
* Pucci, M. (2020). ''Security Empire: The Secret Police in Communist Eastern Europe'' (Yale-Hoover Series on Authoritarian Regimes). New Haven: Yale University Press.
* Steiner, André. ''The Plans That Failed: An Economic History of East Germany, 1945–1989'' (2010)
* Sarotte, Mary Elise. ''Collapse: The Accidental Opening of the Berlin Wall'', New York: Basic Books, 2014
* Spilker, Dirk. ''The East German Leadership and the Division of Germany: Patriotism and Propaganda 1945–1953.'' (2006)
online review* Stokes, Raymond G. ''Constructing Socialism: Technology and Change in East Germany, 1945–1990'' (2000)
* Zatlin, Jonathan R. ''The Currency of Socialism: Money and Political Culture in East Germany'' (2007). 377 pp
online review
Historiography and memory
* Bridge, Helen. ''Women's Writing and Historiography in the GDR'' (Oxford University Press, 2002).
* Hodgin, Nick, and Caroline Pearce, eds. ''The GDR remembered: representations of the East German state since 1989'' (Camden House, 2011)
excerpt* Kwiet, Konrad. "Historians of the German Democratic Republic on Antisemitism and Persecution." ''The Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook'' 21.1 (1976): 173–198.
*
*
* Ritter, Gerhard A. "Die DDR in der Deutschen Geschichte", [The GDR in German history] ''Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte'', April 2002, Vol. 50 Issue 2, pp. 171–200.
* Ross, Corey. ''The East German Dictatorship: Problems and Perspectives in the Interpretation of the GDR'' (Oxford University Press, 2002).
* Saunders, Anna, and Debbie Pinfold, eds. ''Remembering and rethinking the GDR: multiple perspectives and plural authenticities'' (Springer, 2012).
* Steding, Elizabeth Priester. "Losing Literature: The Reduction of the GDR to History". ''German Politics & Society'' 32.4 (2014): 39–55. Argues the history of East Germany is taught in 21st-century German schools, but not its literature.
In German
* Daniela Dahn, Dahn, Daniela. ''Wenn und Aber: Anstiftungen zem Widerspruch'', Berlin: Rowohlt Verlag, 1997
* Dahn, Daniela. ''Westwärts und nicht vergessen: Vom Unbehagen in der Einheit'', Rowohlt Verlag, 1997
* Dahn, Daniela. ''Vertreibung ins Paradies: Unzeitgemäße Texte zur Zeit'', Berlin: Rowohlt Verlag, 1998
* Rauhut, Michael: ''Rock in der DDR 1964 bis 1989 (Zeitbilder).'' Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Bonn 2002.
* Rauhut, Michael: ''Schalmei und Lederjacke. Udo Lindenberg, BAP, Underground – Rock und Politik in den achtziger Jahren.'' Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 1996.
* Tillack-Graf, Anne-Kathleen: ''Erinnerungspolitik der DDR. Dargestellt an der Berichterstattung der Tageszeitung „Neues Deutschland" über die Nationalen Mahn- und Gedenkstätten Buchenwald, Ravensbrück und Sachsenhausen.'' Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main 2012.
External links
Border Museum at SchifflersgrundDDR Museum BerlinCulture of GDRAHFNationale Volksarmee : NVA*
*
Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.
Geschichte des ostdeutschen Designshistory of east German design
*
RFE/RL East German Subject Files Blinken Open Society Archives, Budapest
*
East German anthem with English and German lyricsMap – Europe 1949: NATO and the Two Germanys (omniatlas.com)Mauerkarte – Detailed interactive map of the border between East and West Germany
{{Authority control
East Germany,
1949 establishments in Germany
1990 disestablishments in Germany
Atheist states
Communism in Germany
Communist states
Eastern Bloc
Former countries in Europe
Former member states of the United Nations
Former socialist republics, Germany, East
Ostalgie
Soviet satellite states
States and territories disestablished in 1990, Germany, East
States and territories established in 1949, East Germany