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Coat Of Arms Of East Germany
The national emblem of East Germany was used to represent the German Democratic Republic from 1955 until German reunification. It featured a hammer and compass surrounded by a ring of wheat, an example of socialist heraldry. It was the only heraldic device of a European socialist state with a ring of grain which does not contain a red star. Description The emblem adopted in 1955 depicted a hammer and compass surrounded by ears of wheat wrapped in the colours of the German flag. The hammer represented the workers in the factories. The compass represented the intelligentsia, and the rings of wheat the farmers. The first designs included only the hammer and ring of wheat, as an expression of the GDR as a communist (German for "Workers' and Farmers' state"). When the federated states in East Germany were abolished and replaced by , making the GDR into a unitary state, the national emblem came to be used by the too. The East German government did not want regional symbols to be used ...
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German Democratic Republic
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally viewed as a communist state and described itself as a Socialist state, socialist "workers' and peasants' state". The Economy of East Germany, economy of the country was Central planning, centrally planned and government-owned corporation, state-owned. Although the GDR had to pay substantial war reparations to the Soviets, its economy became the most successful in the Eastern Bloc. Before its establishment, the country's territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces following the Berlin Declaration (1945), Berlin Declaration abolishing German sovereignty in World War II. The Potsdam Agreement established the Soviet occupation zone in Germany, Soviet-occupied zone, bounded on the east b ...
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State Emblem Of The Soviet Union
The State Emblem of the Soviet Union was the official symbol of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics adopted in 1923 and used until the Dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution of the state in 1991. Although it technically is an emblem rather than a coat of arms, since it does not follow traditional heraldry, heraldic rules, in Russian language, Russian it is called (), the word used for a traditional coat of arms. The coat of arms was recorded in Article 143 of the 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union, 1936 Constitution of the USSR. The emblem contains an image of a hammer and sickle on the background of the globe, terrestrial globe, in the rays of the Sun (heraldry), sun and surrounded by ears of grain (wheat), in a Red flag (politics), red ribbon with the inscription in the Languages of the Soviet Union, languages of the union republics "Proletarians of all countries, unite!" In the upper part of the coat of arms is a five-pointed red star with a yellow border. It ...
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Socialist Unity Party Of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (, ; SED, ) was the founding and ruling party of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from the country's foundation in 1949 until its dissolution after the Peaceful Revolution in 1989. It was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist communist party, established in 1946 as a Merger of the Communist Party of Germany and the Social Democratic Party of Germany, merger of the East German branches of the Communist Party of Germany and Social Democratic Party of Germany. The German Democratic Republic (GDR) was effectively a one-party state. Other institutional Popular front, popular front parties were permitted to exist in alliance with the SED; these parties included the Christian Democratic Union (East Germany), Christian Democratic Union, the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany, Liberal Democratic Party, the Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany, Democratic Farmers' Party, and the National Democratic Party of Germany (East Germany), Nat ...
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West Berlin
West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1990, the territory was claimed by the West Germany, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG or West Germany), despite being entirely surrounded by the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany). The legality of this claim was contested by the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries. However, West Berlin de facto aligned itself politically with the FRG from May 1949 and was thereafter treated as a ''de facto'' city-state of that country. After 1949, it was directly or indirectly represented in the institutions of the FRG, and most of its residents were citizens of the FRG. West Berlin was formally controlled by the Western Allies and entirely surrounded by East Berlin and East Germany. West Berlin had great symbolic signi ...
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West Germany
West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital city of Bonn, or as the Second German Republic. During the Cold War, the western portion of Germany and the associated territory of West Berlin were parts of the Western Bloc. West Germany was formed as a political entity during the Allied occupation of Germany after World War II, established from 12 States of Germany, states formed in the three Allied zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. At the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided between the Western and Eastern Bloc, Eastern blocs. Germany was divided into the two countries. Initially, West Germany claimed an exclusive mandate for all of Germany, representing itself as the sole democratically reorganised continuation of ...
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Flag Of East Germany
The first flag of East Germany, officially the East Germany, German Democratic Republic, was a tricolour of black, red and gold, identical to the flags of the Weimar Republic, West Germany, and Federal Republic of Germany, present-day Germany. From 1959 until the unification of Germany in 1990, it was charged with the National emblem of East Germany, national emblem, consisting of a hammer and compass inside a wreath of wheat, centered on a red background. The second flag's design and symbolism were derived from the flag of the Weimar Republic and communist symbolism. The flag was outlawed as an unconstitutional and criminal symbol in West Germany and West Berlin, where it was referred to as the ('secessionist flag') until the late 1960s. Symbolism and design With relations deteriorating between the Soviet Union and the United States, the three Western Allies met in March 1948 to merge their zones of occupation and allow the formation of what became the Federal Republic of Ger ...
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Volkshammer
The Volkskammer (, "People's Chamber") was the supreme power organ of East Germany. It was the only branch of government in the state, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs were subservient to it. The Volkskammer was initially the lower house of a bicameral legislature. The upper house was the Chamber of States, or ''Länderkammer'', but in 1952 the states of East Germany were dissolved, and the Chamber of States was abolished in 1958. Constitutionally, the Volkskammer was the highest organ of state power in the GDR, and both constitutions vested it with great lawmaking powers. All other branches of government, including the judiciary, were responsible to it. By 1960, the chamber appointed the State Council (the GDR's collective head of state), the Council of Ministers (the GDR's government), and the National Defence Council (the GDR's collective military leadership). In practice, however, it was a rubber stamp parliament that did little more than ratify de ...
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Mitteldeutsche Zeitung
The ''Mitteldeutsche Zeitung'' (; ) is a regional daily newspaper for southern Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Published in Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle with several local versions, the paper is owned by M. DuMont Schauberg, Cologne. History and profile The ''MZ'' forerunner, ''Die Freiheit'' (''Freedom''), was first published on 16 April 1946 as an organ of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany, SED in East Germany. On 17 March 1990, the ''Mitteldeutsche Zeitung'' was first published in the year of German reunification. The newspaper's publishing company, Mitteldeutschen Druck- und Verlagshaus GmbH und Co. KG, is also divided into several subsidiary companies, including the call center MZ-Dialog and the printing/publishing house Aroprint in Bernburg (Saale), Bernburg. The ''Mitteldeutsche Zeitung'' is usually the only regional newspaper available where it is sold. In its area of circulation, mainly concentrated in the southern part of Saxony-Anhalt, the ''MZ'' has no competition f ...
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DDR Museum
The DDR Museum is a museum in the centre of Berlin. The museum is located in the former governmental district of East Germany, right on the river Spree, opposite the Berlin Cathedral. The museum is the 11th most visited museum in Berlin. Its exhibition depicts life in the former East Germany (known in German as the ' or ''DDR'') in a direct "hands-on" way. For example, a covert listening device ("bug") gives visitors the sense of being "under surveillance". One can also try DDR clothes on in the recreated tower block apartment, change TV channels or use an original typewriter. The exhibition has three themed areas: “Public Life”; “State and Ideology” and “Life in a Tower Block”. Each of them is presented under a critical light: the positives as well as the negative sides of the DDR are explored in this exhibition. A total of 35 modules illustrate these three themes: Media, literature, music, culture, family, private niche, health, equality, diet, childhood, youth ...
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Volkskammer
The Volkskammer (, "People's Chamber") was the supreme power organ of East Germany. It was the only branch of government in the state, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs were subservient to it. The Volkskammer was initially the lower house of a bicameral legislature. The upper house was the Chamber of States, or ''Länderkammer'', but in 1952 the states of East Germany were dissolved, and the Chamber of States was abolished in 1958. Constitutionally, the Volkskammer was the highest organ of state power in the GDR, and both constitutions vested it with great lawmaking powers. All other branches of government, including the judiciary, were responsible to it. By 1960, the chamber appointed the State Council (the GDR's collective head of state), the Council of Ministers (the GDR's government), and the National Defence Council (the GDR's collective military leadership). In practice, however, it was a rubber stamp parliament that did little more than r ...
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East German Passport
The East German passport was issued to citizens of the former German Democratic Republic (commonly known as East Germany) for international travel. Since the reunification of Germany in October 1990, all once-citizens of the former East have been issued all-German passports. Overview According to a ''Washington Post'' report in 1989, only 25% of East Germans were passport holders. This is a comparable statistic to the proportion of U.S. citizens in possession of a passport in 2007. According to an East German passport law in 1957, East German citizens needed an exit visa from the GDR to travel abroad, including West Germany and West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 .... The penalty for making an unauthorized journey outside East Germany was imprisonment. ...
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Bundesarchiv Bild 183-08553-0004, Berlin, 1
The German Federal Archives or Bundesarchiv (BArch) (, lit. "Federal Archive") are the national archives of Germany. They were established at the current location in Koblenz in 1952. They are subordinated to the Federal Commissioner for Culture and the Media (Claudia Roth since 2021) under the German Chancellery, and before 1998, to the Federal Ministry of the Interior. On 6 December 2008, the Archives donated 100,000 photos to the public, by making them accessible via Wikimedia Commons. History The federal archive for institutions and authorities in Germany, the first precursor to the present-day Federal Archives, was established in Potsdam, Brandenburg in 1919, a later date than in other European countries. This national archive documented German government dating from the founding of the North German Confederation in 1867. It also included material from the older German Confederation and the Imperial Chamber Court. The oldest documents in this collection dated back to the y ...
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