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The German Democratic Republic (GDR) (German Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR)), informally known as East Germany, was a Marxist state which existed from 1949 to 1990 in Germany (at the same time as the Federal Republic of Germany). The GDR was proclaimed in the Soviet-occupied sector of Berlin on October 7, 1949, by native German Marxist-Leninist leaders (many of whom had lived in exile in Moscow during the Second World War) with Soviet backing. It was declared fully sovereign in 1954, but Soviet troops remained, as permitted by the four-power Potsdam agreement. The GDR was a member of the Warsaw Pact group of states.
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| National motto: none | |||||
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| Official language | German | ||||
| Capital | East Berlin official: "Berlin, Hauptstadt der DDR" (Berlin, Capital of the GDR) | ||||
| Area | 108,333 km2 | ||||
| Population
- Density | 17,000,000
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| Constitution | October 7, 1949 | ||||
| Currency | 1 Mark (Ostmark) = 100 Pfennig | ||||
| Time zone | UTC +1 | ||||
| National anthem | Auferstanden aus Ruinen (Risen from ruins) | ||||
| Calling Code | +37 | ||||
| ISO 3166-1 | DD (obsolete) | ||||
| ISO 3166-3 | DDDE | ||||
History[edit]
Main articles: History of East Germany, History of Germany
During World War II, at the Potsdam Conference in 1945, the victorious countries France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union decided to divide Germany into four parts. Each country controlled a part of the former German Reich.
Eastern Germany was initially settled by Germans in the early Middle Ages, replacing the Slavic Wends. The newly aquired land was organised in Markts, German feudal states. Consequent waves of German settlements, later also Jewish and French Hugenots, gradually changed the ethnic composition of the land to a Germanic one, except the small community of Sorbs in Lusatia. Most of the later GDR first became part of the Kingdom of Prussia.
In Imperial Germany and the Weimar Republic the area that would later become the GDR was situated in the center of the territory of the German state. The place was known as "Mitteldeutschland" (Middle Germany), while the term East Germany was reserved to provinces such as eastern Pomerania, eastern Brandenburg, Silesia and East and West Prussia. After World War II, the victors decided at the Yalta Conference that the post-war borders of Poland would be moved westwards to the Oder-Neisse line, just as Soviet borders were also moved westward into former Polish territory. Middle Germany thus became the new East Germany.
When in 1949 the three sectors controlled by the United States, the United Kingdom and France united and formed the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, or "West Germany") the Soviet part was made its own country, the German Democratic Republic, called "East Germany". The GDR, under Soviet influence, adopted a Marxist-Leninist official ideology and became part of the Warsaw Pact, while the FRG, influenced by the USA, became a liberal parliamentary republic and part of NATO. The first leader of the new GDR was Walter Ulbricht. The GDR Constitution defined the country as "a Republic of Workers and Peasants".
On June 17, 1953, following a decree by the state that all production quotas were to be raised by 10%, German workers demonstrated in East Berlin and other industrial centers demanding free elections. Later that day, Soviet troops and tanks suppressed the demonstrations with the loss of a few hundred lives. ("In Eastern Germany, 1953 Uprising Is Remembered", New York Times.) The June 17th uprising is commemorated in the name of a Berlin street, the Straße des 17. Juni.
Just as Germany was divided after the war, Berlin, the former capital of Germany was divided into four sectors. Since Berlin was entirely enclosed in the Soviet part of Germany, the areas of Berlin being held under the control of the three western countries soon became known as West Berlin. Conflict over the status of West Berlin and supply routes connecting it to the zones occupied by France, the United Kingdom, and the United States led to the Berlin Airlift.
The increasing prosperity of the FRG and growing political oppression in the GDR led large numbers of East Germans to flee to the West. The increasing depopulation in the GDR caused the political leadership to order the borders closed, with fences, turrets, dogs, and most of all huge walls which included the Berlin Wall, in 1961. The Stasi spied extensively on citizens to suppress dissenters.
Competition with the West was carried also on the sport level. GDR athletes were sure winners in several Olympic disciplines. Of special interest was the only football match ever between West and East Germany, a first round match during the 1974 World Cup. Though West Germany was the host and the eventual champion, East beat West 1-0.
When the GDR closed the western borders, it also literally enclosed West Berlin within a huge wall, the Berlin Wall. Travel was greatly restricted into, and particularly out of, the GDR. Many who had come to the GDR as anti-fascists who were opposed to the quick reinstatement of Nazi functionaries and industry in the west found themselves captives of a dogmatic and economically weak state which, alone, was forced to pay reparations to the Soviet Union. In 1971, Erich Honecker overthrew Ulbricht in a technical coup. Despite the inefficiencies of the state-dominated economic system, the GDR was generally regarded as the most economically advanced of the Warsaw Pact countries.
Before the 1970s, the official position of the FRG was that of the Hallstein Doctrine which involved non-recognition of the GDR (and, by implication, the Oder-Neisse Line as the western border of Poland). In the early 1970s, Ostpolitik led by West German Chancellor Willy Brandt led to mutual recognition between the two Germanies.
In August 1989 Hungary removed its border restrictions and many people fled the GDR by crossing the "green" border into Hungary and then on to Austria and western Germany. Many others peacefully demonstrated against the ruling party. These demonstrations eventually forced the resignation of Honecker; in October he was replaced, albeit briefly, by Egon Krenz.
On November 9th, 1989 the Berlin Wall fell and with it the whole political and economic system of East Germany. Although there were some small attempts to create a non-socialist eastern Germany, these were soon overwhelmed by calls for reunification with western Germany. After some negotiations (the so-called "2+4 Talks", involving the two Germanies and the victory powers United States, France, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union), conditions for German reunification were agreed upon. Thus, on October 3, 1990 the eastern German population was the first from the Eastern Bloc to join the European Union as a part of the reunified Federal Republic of Germany. The GDR territory was divided into what is now the city of Berlin and five states or "Länder".
To this day, there remain many differences between the formerly "eastern" and "western" parts of Germany (e.g. in lifestyle, wealth, political beliefs and such) and thus it is still common to speak of eastern and western Germany distinctly; one would hesitate however to contend the difference is greater than say that between a southern Bavarian and a Hamburg resident. In this new Germany the economic chasm is greater than in the former West Germany, and much greater than in the former East Germany. Unemployment and long term poverty have led sometimes to an uncomfortable reawakening of nationalist and Neo-Nazi sentiments.
The costs of German reunification have greatly slowed the German economy.
Politics[edit]
Main article: Politics of East Germany
The equivalent of the Communist Party in the GDR was the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Socialist Unity Party of Germany, SED), which along with other parties, was part of the National Front of Democratic Germany. It was created in 1946 through the merger of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in the Soviet controlled zone, although the SPD remained a separate party in East Berlin. Following reunification, the SED was renamed the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS).
The other political parties ran under the joint slate of the National Front, controlled by the SED, for elections to the Volkskammer, the GDR Parliament:
- Christlich-Demokratische Union Deutschlands (Christian Democratic Union, CDU), merged with the West German CDU after reunification;
- Liberal-Demokratische Partei Deutschlands (Liberal Democratic Party of Germany, LDPD), merged with the Freie Demokratische Partei (West German Free Democratic Party, FDP) after reunification;
- Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands (National Democratic Party of Germany, NDPD);
- Demokratische Bauernpartei Deutschlands (Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany, DBD).
The Volkskammer also included representatives from the mass organisations like the Free German Youth (Freie Deutsche Jugend or FDJ), or the Free German Trade Union Federation.
Politicians of note in the GDR included:
- Egon Krenz
- Günter Schabowski
- Hans Modrow, last socialist head of government
- Lothar de Maiziere, first non-socialist and last head of government
- Gregor Gysi
Subdivisions[edit]
Main article: Subdivisions of East Germany
In 1952, the Länder of the GDR were abolished, and the GDR was divided into Bezirke (districts), each named after the largest city: Rostock; Schwerin; Neubrandenburg; Magdeburg; Potsdam; Berlin; Frankfurt (Oder); Cottbus; Halle; Erfurt; Leipzig; Dresden; Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz); Gera; and Suhl.
Economy[edit]
Main article: Economy of East Germany
Demographics[edit]
Main article: Demographics of East Germany
Culture[edit]
Main article: Culture of East Germany
| Date | English Name | Local Name | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1 | New Year's Day | Neujahr | |
| Moveable feast | Good Friday | Karfreitag | Easter |
| Moveable feast | Whitmonday | 51 days after Easter | |
| May 1 | May Day | Tag der Arbeit | |
| October 7 | Republic Day | Tag der Republik | National holiday |
| December 25 | Christmas Day | ||
| December 26 | Boxing Day |
Miscellaneous topics[edit]
- Highest point: Fichtelberg (1,214 m)