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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 of General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and National Defence Council of East Germany, Chairman of the National Defence Council; in 1976, he replaced Willi Stoph as State Council of East Germany, Chairman of the State Council, the official head of state. As the leader of East Germany, Honecker was viewed as a dictator. During his leadership, the country had close ties to the Soviet Union, which maintained Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, a large army in the country. Honecker's political career began in the 1930s when he became an official of the Communist Party of Germany, a position for which he was imprisoned by the Nazi Germany, Nazis. Following World War II, he was freed by the Soviet army and relaunched h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1971 East German General Election
Elections in Germany#German Democratic Republic, General elections were held in East Germany on 14 November 1971. 434 deputies were elected to the Volkskammer, with all of them being candidates of the single-list National Front (East Germany), National Front. 584 Front candidates were put forward, with 434 being elected. The allocation of seats between member parties of the Front remained unchanged from previous elections. Results References Inter-Parliamentary Union: HISTORICAL ARCHIVE OF PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION RESULTS - Germany {{East German elections 1971 in East Germany, General Elections in East Germany 1971 elections in Germany, East November 1971 in Europe, East Germany 1971 elections in Europe, East Germany ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Defence Council (East Germany)
The National Defense Council of the German Democratic Republic (German: ''Nationaler Verteidigungsrat der DDR'' - NVR) was created in 1960 as the supreme state body of the German Democratic Republic (also known as East Germany or the GDR) in charge of national defense matters, including mobilization planning. The NVR held the supreme command of the GDR's armed forces (including the internal security forces), and the NVR's chairman was considered the GDR's commander-in-chief. Background The predecessor of the NVR, the ''Security Commission'' of the Politbüro of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), met for the first time on 6 July 1954. With the enactment of the "Law on the Formation of the National Defense Council of the GDR" on 13 February 1960, the Security Commission was transformed into the NVR. When the State Council was created on 12 September 1960 to replace the office of President, the law creating the State Council (which amended the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fall Of The Berlin Wall
The fall of the Berlin Wall (, ) on 9 November in German history, 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain, as East Berlin transit restrictions were overwhelmed and discarded. Sections of the wall were breached, and planned deconstruction began the following June. It was one of the series of events that started the Revolutions of 1989, fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe. The fall of the inner German border took place shortly afterward. An end to the Cold War was declared at the Malta Summit in early December, and German reunification took place in October the following year. Background Opening of the Iron Curtain The opening of the Iron Curtain between Austria and Hungary at the Pan-European Picnic on 19 August 1989 set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, at the end of which there was no longer an East Germany and the Eastern Bloc had disintegrated. After the picnic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Germany
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lists Of Political Office-holders In East Germany
These are lists of political office-holders in East Germany. The political leadership of East Germany was distributed between several offices. However, until the Volkskammer removed a section in the GDR's constitution guaranteeing their monopoly on political power on 1 December 1989, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) held ultimate power and authority over state and government. Thus, the head of the SED's Politburo of the Central Committee was the de facto leader of the country. Overview The political leadership of East Germany was distributed between several offices. The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and its leader held ultimate power and authority over state and government. Prior to the proclamation of an East German state, the Soviets established the German Economic Commission (DWK) in 1948 as a de facto government in their occupation zone. Its chairman was Heinrich Rau. On 7 October 1949 an East German state, called the German Democratic Republic (GDR ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Departments Of The SED Central Committee
The approximately 40 departments of the Central Committee of the SED were the center of the policymaking of East Germany. The departments were assigned to around ten Socialist Unity Party of Germany#Secretariat of the Central Committee, Central Committee Secretaries. Each department was headed by a department head and his deputy. Each department was in turn divided into sectors with sector heads, (political) employees and instructors. While the departments had around 1,000 employees in 1970, by 1987 there were already 2,000 employees. The Central Committee Secretaries had the authority to issue legally binding orders to the respective Council of Ministers of East Germany#Ministries, Ministry, but in practice, the department and sector heads made the decisions. During the Peaceful Revolution, the Presidium of the Party Executive of the Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)#Fall of communism, SED-PDS dissolved the departments of the Central Committee of the SED, effective 31 Decem ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolfgang Rauchfuß
Wolfgang Rauchfuß (27 November 1931 in Grüna – 15 August 2005 in Berlin) was a member of the Politburo of East Germany's ruling SED (party). He was also a government minister and deputy chairman of the country's Ministerial Council. Life Rauchfuß was born into a working-class family in a western quarter of Chemnitz, part of the industrial belt in the southern part of what then counted as central Germany. He completed his secondary schooling in 1946 and embarked on a three-year traineeship as a mechanic. Also in 1946 he joined the newly formed Free German Youth (FDJ / ''Freie Deutsche Jugend'') in which he progressed so that by 1949/50 he had become a full-time FDJ instructor with the organisation's regional leadership in Berlin. After the war had ended in May 1945 Chemnitz had found itself in the Soviet occupation zone of what remained of Germany and in October 1949 the entire area under Soviet administration became a new stand-alone state, the German Democratic Rep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1950 East German General Election
General elections were held in East Germany on 15 October 1950. They were the first held since the founding of the country on 7 October 1949. There were 466 deputies in the Volkskammer, including 66 from East Berlin who were not directly elected. This election set the tone for all elections held in East Germany until the Peaceful Revolution. Voters were presented with a single list from the National Front of Democratic Germany, which in turn was controlled by the Socialist Unity Party. Only one candidate appeared on the ballot; voters simply took the ballot paper and dropped it into the ballot box. Those who wanted to vote against the candidate had to go to a special booth, without any secrecy. Seats were apportioned based on a set quota, not actual vote totals. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chemnitz
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, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Berlin, East) Berlin, Leipzig, and Dresden. The city lies in the middle of a string of cities sitting in the densely populated northern Ore Mountain Foreland, foreland of the Elster Mountains, Elster and Ore Mountains, stretching from Plauen in the southwest via Zwickau, Chemnitz and Freiberg to Dresden in the northeast, and is part of the Central German Metropolitan Region. Located in the Ore Mountain Basin, the city is surrounded by the Ore Mountains to the south and the Central Saxon Hills, Central Saxon Hill Country to the north. The city stands on the Chemnitz River, which is formed through the confluence of the rivers Zwönitz (river), Zwönitz and Würschnitz in the borough of Altchemnitz. The name of the city as well as the names o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karl Namokel
Karl Namokel (9 August 1927 – 25 July 1988) was a German politician. He was first Secretary of the Central Council of the Free German Youth (FDJ) and a member of the ''Volkskammer'' of the East Germany. Life Born in Demmin as son of a baker, Namokel attended elementary school and was then trained as a shipbuilder in Szczecin from 1942 to 1944. On February 12 1944, he applied for membership in the NSDAP and was accepted on April 20 of the same year (membership number 9,893,452). Namokel then served in the Reich Labor Service and from September 1944 to May 1945 was a Wehrmacht soldier with the final rank of sailor. On May 5 1945, he deserted and returned to Demmin. Namokel got by with odd jobs and joined the Communist Party of Germany in 1945, becoming a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and FDJ in 1946. From June 1948 to January 1949 he was 1st Secretary of the FDJ District Leadership in Demmin. After attending the Mecklenburg State Party School, Namokel went ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
