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1946 Soviet Occupation Zone State Elections
State elections were held in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany on 20 October 1946 to elect the state legislatures of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. They were the only elections held in the future territory of East Germany before the establishment of the German Democratic Republic in 1949, and the only free and fair elections in that part of Germany between 1932 and the Peaceful Revolution. The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), which was formed by the forced merger of the Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party in the Soviet occupation zone, became the largest party but achieved an absolute majority in only one state. The SED was created in view of the holding of elections in the Soviet zone, as a first step for future political reforms. In addition to the SED, three other parties participated; the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Peasants Mutual Aid Association (VdgB). Two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 largest city. Other cities are Jena, Gera and Weimar. Thuringia is bordered by Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It has been known as "the green heart of Germany" () from the late 19th century due to its broad, dense forest. Most of Thuringia is in the Saale drainage basin, a left-bank tributary of the Elbe. Thuringia is home to the Rennsteig, Germany's best-known hiking trail. Its winter resort of Oberhof makes it a well-equipped winter sports destination – half of Germany's 136 Winter Olympic gold medals had been won by Thuringian athletes as of 2014. Thuringia was favoured by or was the birthplace of three key intellectuals and leaders in the arts: Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1946 Berlin State Election
The election to the Greater Berlin City Council on October 20, 1946 was the only overall Berlin election in the period between the end of the Second World War and the reunification of Germany. The clear winner of the election was the SPD under Otto Ostrowski, which with 48.7% and 63 of 130 seats fell just three seats short of holding an absolute majority. The CDU finished in second place under Ferdinand Friedensburg with a meager 22.2% of votes and 29 seats. The SED suffered a significant defeat, winning just 19.8% of the vote and 26 mandates. The remaining 9.3% of the votes went to the Free Democratic Party which received 12 mandates. Voter turnout was 92.3%. The result was a clear rejection of the Socialist Unity Party, which was the party favored by the Soviet occupying forces, and of the CDU, which came to dominate politics in West Germany. The city council chose Ernst Reuter Ernst Rudolf Johannes Reuter (29 July 1889 – 29 September 1953) was the mayor of West Berlin from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
States Of East Germany
The administrative divisions of the German Democratic Republic (commonly referred to as East Germany) were constituted in two different forms during the country's history. The GDR first retained the traditional German division into federated states called ''Länder'', but in 1952 they were replaced with districts called ''Bezirke''. Immediately before German reunification in 1990, the ''Länder'' were restored, but they were not effectively reconstituted until after reunification had completed. Division into ''Länder'' General background In May 1945, following its defeat in World War II, Germany was occupied by the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union. All four occupation powers reorganised the territories by recreating the ''Länder'' (states), the constituting parts of federal Germany. The state of Prussia, whose provinces extended to all four zones and covered two thirds of Germany, was abolished in 1947. Special conditions were assigned to Berlin, whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cultural Association Of The GDR
The Cultural Association of the GDR (german: Kulturbund der DDR, KB) was a federation of local clubs in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It formed part of the Socialist Unity Party-led National Front, and sent representatives to the Volkskammer. The association had numerous writers as its member, including Willi Bredel, Fritz Erpenbeck, Bernhard Kellermann, Victor Klemperer, Anna Seghers, Bodo Uhse, Arnold Zweig. Its first chairman was Johannes Robert Becher Johannes Robert Becher (, 22 May 1891 – 11 October 1958) was a German politician, novelist, and poet. He was affiliated with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) before World War II. At one time, he was part of the literary avant-garde, writi .... Wilfried Maaß was the Secretary of ''Kulturbund'' 1984–1990. As of 1987, membership stood at 273,000.Dirk Jurich, ''Staatssozialismus und gesellschaftliche Differenzierung: eine empirische Studie'', p.32. LIT Verlag Münster, 2006, Chairmen of the Cultural Assoc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1950 East German State Elections
State elections were held in East Germany on 15 October 1950. They were the last state elections in the country, as the states were dissolved in 1952. Voters were presented with a single list from the Socialist Unity Party of Germany-dominated National Front, which they could only approve or reject. The seat allocation in each of the state parliaments was agreed in advance between the constituent parties and mass organizations of the Front. Results Summary By state References Bibliography * Richard Schachtner, 1956: ''Die deutschen Nachkriegswahlen: Wahlergebnisse in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, in den deutschen Bundesländern, in West-Berlin, im Saarland und in der Sowjetzone (DDR) 1946–1956''. Munich: Isar-Verlag. pages 77–78. * Günter Braun, 1990: ''Wahlen und Abstimmungen''; en: Martin Broszat y Hermann Weber: SBZ-Handbuch. Oldenburg. pages 397, 396 and 418. * Herbert Gottwald, 1994: ''Der Thüringer Landtag 1946–1952''. Jena: Landtag of Thuringia in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1949 East German Constitutional Assembly Election
Elections for the Third German People's Congress were held in East Germany on 15 and 16 May 1949. Voters were presented with a "Unity List" from the " Bloc of the Anti-Fascist Democratic Parties," which was dominated by the Communist-leaning Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The ballot was worded "''I am for the unity of Germany and a just peace treaty. I therefore vote for the following list of candidates for the Third German People's Congress,''" with voters having the options of voting "yes" and "no". Direct Democracy In much of the country, the vote was not secret.Germany at |
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 had 52 representatives in the People's Chamber. Foundation The history of the party dates back to 16 June 1945, when a Berlin-based group led by Waldemar Koch and his father-in-law Eugen Schiffer took the initiative in refounding the Weimar-era ''German Democratic Party''. Koch was elected chair of the founding committee, with Wilhelm Külz as his deputy; the writer Franz Xaver Kappus joined the board as well. At first there were some conversations about forming a united centre-right democratic party with the Christian Democrats, but the idea was abandoned soon and the name was changed to Liberal Democratic Party ("Liberal-Demokratische Partei", LDP) before the party's official founding on 5 July 1946. It was first of all aimed at unitin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together with Lars Klingbeil, who joined her in December 2021. After Olaf Scholz was elected chancellor in 2021 the SPD became the leading party of the federal government, which the SPD formed with the Greens and the Free Democratic Party, after the 2021 federal election. The SPD is a member of 11 of the 16 German state governments and is a leading partner in seven of them. The SPD was established in 1863. It was one of the earliest Marxist-influenced parties in the world. From the 1890s through the early 20th century, the SPD was Europe's largest Marxist party, and the most popular political party in Germany. During the First World War, the party split between a pro-war main ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Germany in the postwar period until it was banned by the Federal Constitutional Court in 1956. Founded in the aftermath of the First World War by socialists who had opposed the war, the party joined the Spartacist uprising of January 1919, which sought to establish a soviet republic in Germany. After the defeat of the uprising, and the murder of KPD leaders Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and Leo Jogiches, the party temporarily steered a more moderate, parliamentarian course under the leadership of Paul Levi. During the Weimar Republic period, the KPD usually polled between 10 and 15 percent of the vote and was represented in the national and in state parliaments. Under the leadership of Ernst Thälmann from 1925 the party became thorou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Merger Of The KPD And SPD Into The Socialist Unity Party Of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) merged to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) on 21 April 1946 in the territory of the Soviet occupation zone. It is considered a forced merger. In the course of the merger, about 5,000 Social Democrats who opposed it were detained and sent to labour camps and jails. Although nominally a merger of equals, the merged party quickly fell under Communist domination. The SED became the ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1949; by then, it had become a full-fledged Communist Party–for all intents and purposes, the KPD under a new name. It developed along lines similar to other Communist Parties in what became the Soviet Bloc. The SED would be the only ruling party of the GDR until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in December 1989. Background Among circles of the workers' parties KPD and SPD there were different interpretations of the reasons for the r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peaceful Revolution
The Peaceful Revolution (german: Friedliche Revolution), as a part of the Revolutions of 1989, was the process of sociopolitical change that led to the opening of East Germany's borders with the West, the end of the ruling of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) (communist regime) in the German Democratic Republic (GDR or "East Germany") in 1989 and the transition to a parliamentary democracy, which later enabled the reunification of Germany in October 1990. This happened through non-violent initiatives and demonstrations. This period of change is referred to in German as ' (, "the turning point"). These events were closely linked to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's decision to abandon Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe as well as the reformist movements that spread through Eastern Bloc countries. In addition to the Soviet Union's shift in foreign policy, the GDR's lack of competitiveness in the global market, as well as its sharply rising national debt, hastened the dest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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