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Günter Stempel
Günter Stempel (17 November 1908 – 22 October 1981) was a German politician (Liberal Democratic Party of Germany, LDPD). He was involved in the formation of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), despite which he was a victim of political repression in both the GDR and the USSR. Life Stempel was born in Breslau (now Wrocław, Poland). His father was a medical doctor. He studied law, passing his first level national law exams in 1933. He was unable to progress to the next stage academically by studying for a doctorate in law because he did not wish to become a member of the country's ruling NSDAP, NSDAP (Nazi party). He was nevertheless able to work in a Berlin law firm between 1933 and 1939. During World War II Stempel became the legal counsel to businesses critical to the war effort, and he was not conscripted for military service. At the end of the war, Stempel joined the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany, Liberal Democratic Party (LDPD (''Liberal-Demokratische Partei De ... [...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 east German branches of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) merged to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) on 21 April 1946. Although nominally a merger of equals, the merged party quickly fell under Communist domination and developed along lines similar to other Communist Parties in what became the Eastern Bloc. The SED would be the One-party system, ruling party of the German Democratic Republic until the end of the republic in Revolutions of 1989, December 1989. In the course of the merger, about 5,000 Social Democrats who opposed it were detained and sent to labour camps and jails. Background Among circles of the workers' parties Communist Party of Germany, KPD and SPD there were different interpretations of the reasons for the rise of the Nazis and their electoral success. A portion of the Social Democrats blamed the Communists for the devastation of the final phase of the Weimar Republic. The Communist Party, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Constitution Of East Germany
The original Constitution of East Germany (the German Democratic Republic; ) was promulgated on 7 October 1949. It was heavily based on the Weimar Constitution () and nominally established the GDR as a liberal democratic republic. In 1968, the East German government adopted a new, fully Communist constitution that was based on Marxism–Leninism, political unitarism, and collective leadership. There were further amendments to the 1968 constitution in 1974. With the political events of 1989, there were attempts to draft a new constitution for East Germany, but these efforts never materialized due to the dissolution of East Germany and the accession of its states into the neighboring Federal Republic. Background In 1947 the German People's Congress met in Berlin. The People's Congress was meant to be an alternative to the Western London Conference of Foreign Ministers taking place at the same time. The People's Congress' aim was to establish an assembly which would represent t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbert Täschner
Herbert Täschner (7 July 1916 – 10 May 1984) was a politician in the German Democratic Republic who later in his career became a publisher. Between 1950 and 1954 he served as General Secretary of the country's Liberal Democratic Party. Life Early years Täschner was born in Dresden, in the southern part of what was then central Germany, during the middle of the war. His father was an administrative worker. He attended school locally. His secondary school was a , intended to prepare pupils for careers in commerce and administration. On leaving school Täschner took administrative internships in Dresden, Pirna and Heidenau. 1937 was the year of his 21st birthday, and he was called up for National Labour Service. The next year he was conscripted into the army. By the time the war ended, in May 1945, he was a junior Non-commissioned officer and a prisoner of war. In 1946 Herbert Täschner returned home to what was now the Soviet occupation zone in what remaine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states since the lengthy conquest of Siberia, which began with the fall of the Khanate of Sibir in 1582 and concluded with the annexation of Chukotka in 1778. Siberia is vast and sparsely populated, covering an area of over , but home to roughly a quarter of Russia's population. Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Omsk are the largest cities in the area. Because Siberia is a geographic and historic concept and not a political entity, there is no single precise definition of its territorial borders. Traditionally, Siberia spans the entire expanse of land from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, with the Ural River usually forming the southernmost portion of its western boundary, and includes most of the drainage basin of the Arctic Ocean. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stasi
The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive police organisations in the world, infiltrating almost every aspect of life in East Germany, using torture, intimidation and a vast network of informants to crush dissent. The function of the Stasi in East Germany (the GDR) resembled that of the KGB in the Soviet Union, in that it served to maintain state authority and the position of the ruling party, in this case the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). This was accomplished primarily through the use of a network of civilian informants (called Unofficial collaborator, unofficial collaborators) who contributed to the arrest of approximately 250,000 people in East Germany. It also had a large elite paramilitary force, the Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment, that served as its armed wing. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1990 East German General Election
Elections in Germany#German Democratic Republic, General elections were held in East Germany on 18 March 1990. They were the first free elections in the region since November 1932 German federal election, 1932, and were the first and only free elections held in the state as the parliament worked towards German reunification with success. The Alliance for Germany, led by the new East German branch of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (East Germany), Christian Democratic Union (CDU), won 192 seats and emerged as the largest bloc in the 400-seat Volkskammer, having run on a platform of speedy reunification with West Germany. The East German branch of the Social Democratic Party in the GDR, Social Democratic Party (SPD), which had been forced to merge with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in 1946 and refounded only six months before the elections, finished second with 88 seats despite being widely expected to win. The former Socialist Unity Party of Germany, restyled as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Der Spiegel
(, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner, a British army officer, and Rudolf Augstein, a former ''Wehrmacht'' radio operator who was recognized in 2000 by the International Press Institute as one of the fifty World Press Freedom Heroes. is known in German-speaking countries mostly for its investigative journalism. It has played a key role in uncovering many political scandals such as the ''Spiegel'' affair in 1962 and the Flick affair in the 1980s. The news website by the same name was launched in 1994 under the name '' Spiegel Online'' with an independent editorial staff. Today, the content is created by a shared editorial team and the website uses the same media brand as the printed magazine. History The first edition of was published in Hanover on Saturday, 4 Januar ... [...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 |
German People's Congress
The German People's Congress () were a series of Congress, congresses held in Allied-occupied Germany by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, Socialist Unity Party (SED) and the Democratic Bloc (East Germany), Democratic Bloc from 1947 to 1949. Delegates from all over Germany gathered to establish a German government, and the German People's Council served as a Constituent assembly, constitutional convention. The People's Congresses were dominated by members of the SED, and the success of the London Six-Power Conference limited their influence to the Soviet Occupation Zone. They resulted in the founding of the German Democratic Republic in October 1949. Background After the World War II, Second World War, the cooperation of the four victorious Allies of World War II, Allied powers in Allied-occupied Germany, occupied Germany was soon superseded by the start of the Cold War. The growing East-West conflict between the Western world, Western powers (the United States, the United Kin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
