East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in
Central Europe
Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
from
its formation on 7 October 1949 until
its reunification with
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 Republi ...
(FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally viewed as a
communist state
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...
and described itself as a
socialist
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
"workers' and peasants' state".
The
economy of the country was
centrally planned and
state-owned. Although the GDR had to pay substantial war reparations to the Soviets, its economy became the most successful in the
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
.
Before its establishment, the country's territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces following the
Berlin Declaration abolishing German sovereignty in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. The
Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...
established the
Soviet-occupied zone, bounded on the east by the
Oder–Neiße line. The GDR was dominated by the
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 Mar ...
(SED), a
communist party, before being democratized and liberalized in 1989 as a result of the pressure against communist governments brought by the
revolutions of 1989
The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Communist state, Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts ...
. This paved the way for East Germany's reunification with West Germany. Unlike the government of West Germany, the SED did not see its state as the successor to the
German Reich
German ''Reich'' (, from ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty entirely from a continuing unitary German ''Volk'' ("na ...
(1871–1945). In
1974, it abolished the goal of unification in the constitution. The SED-ruled GDR was often described as a
Soviet satellite state
A satellite state or dependent state is a country that is formally independent but under heavy political, economic, and military influence or control from another country. The term was coined by analogy to planetary objects orbiting a larger ...
; historians described it as an
authoritarian
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...
regime.
Geographically, the GDR bordered the
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...
to the north,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
to the east,
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
to the southeast, and West Germany to the west. Internally, the GDR bordered
East Berlin
East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...
, the Soviet sector of
Allied-occupied Berlin, which was also administered as the country's ''de facto'' capital. It also bordered the three sectors occupied by the United States, United Kingdom, and France, known collectively as
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 ...
(''de facto'' part of the FRG). Emigration to the
West was a significant problem; as many emigrants were well-educated young people, this emigration economically
weakened the state. In response, the GDR government fortified its
inner German border
The inner German border ( or ''deutsch–deutsche Grenze''; initially also , zonal boundary) was the frontier between the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the West Germany, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West ...
and built the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...
in 1961. Many people
attempting to flee were killed by border guards or
booby traps such as
landmines.
In 1989, numerous social, economic, and political forces in the GDR and abroad – one of the most notable being peaceful protests starting in the city of
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
– led to the
fall of the Berlin Wall and the establishment of a government committed to liberalization. The following year,
a free and fair election was held in the country, and international negotiations between the four former Allied countries and the two German states commenced. The negotiations led to the signing of the
Final Settlement treaty, which replaced the Potsdam Agreement on the status and borders of a future, reunited Germany. The GDR ceased to exist when its five states ("Länder") joined the Federal Republic of Germany under Article 23 of the
Basic Law, and its capital East Berlin united with West Berlin on 3 October 1990. Several of the GDR's leaders, notably its last communist leader
Egon Krenz
Egon Rudi Ernst Krenz (; born 19 March 1937) is a German former politician who was the last Communist leader of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) during the Revolutions of 1989. He succeeded Erich Honecker as the Secretary (title), ...
, were later prosecuted for offenses committed during the GDR era.
Naming conventions
The official name was ('German Democratic Republic'), usually abbreviated to ''DDR'' (GDR). Both terms were used in East Germany, with increasing usage of the abbreviated form, especially since East Germany considered West Germans and West Berliners to be foreigners following the promulgation of its
second constitution in 1968. West Germans, the western media, and statesmen initially avoided the official name and its abbreviation, instead using terms like ''Ostzone'' ('Eastern Zone'),
('Soviet Occupation Zone'; often abbreviated to ''SBZ''), and ('so-called GDR').
In the West, the centre of political power in East Berlin was referred to as ''
Pankow'' (the seat of command of the Soviet forces in Germany was in
Karlshorst, a district in the East of Berlin).
Over time, however, the abbreviation DDR was also increasingly used colloquially by West Germans and West German media.
When used by West Germans, the term ('West Germany') almost always referred to the geographic region of
Western Germany and not to the area within the boundaries of the Federal Republic of Germany. However, this use was not always consistent and West Berliners frequently used the term to denote the Federal Republic. Before World War II, ('East Germany') was used to describe all the territories east of the
Elbe
The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...
(
East Elbia
East Elbia () was an informal denotation for those parts of the German Reich until World War II that lay east of the river Elbe.
The region comprised the Prussian provinces of Province of Brandenburg, Brandenburg, the eastern parts of Province o ...
), as reflected in the works of sociologist
Max Weber
Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German Sociology, sociologist, historian, jurist, and political economy, political economist who was one of the central figures in the development of sociology and the social sc ...
and political theorist
Carl Schmitt
Carl Schmitt (11 July 1888 – 7 April 1985) was a German jurist, author, and political theorist.
Schmitt wrote extensively about the effective wielding of political power. An authoritarian conservative theorist, he was noted as a critic of ...
.
History

Explaining the internal impact of the GDR government from the perspective of German history in the long term, historian
Gerhard A. Ritter (2002) has argued that two dominant forces defined the East German state:
Soviet communism on the one hand, and German traditions filtered through the interwar experiences of German communists on the other. Throughout its existence, the GDR consistently grappled with the influence of the more prosperous West, against which East Germans continually measured their own nation. The notable transformations instituted by the communist regime were particularly evident in the abolition of capitalism, the overhaul of industrial and agricultural sectors, the militarization of society, and the political orientation of both the
educational system
The educational system generally refers to the structure of all institutions and the opportunities for obtaining education within a country. It includes all pre-school institutions, starting from family education, and/or early childhood education ...
and the media.
On the other hand, the new regime made relatively few changes in the historically independent domains of the sciences, the engineering professions,
the Protestant churches,
and in many bourgeois lifestyles.
Social policy, says Ritter, became a critical legitimization tool in the last decades and mixed socialist and traditional elements about equally.
Origins
At the
Yalta Conference during World War II, the
Alliesthe United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), and the Soviet Union (USSR)agreed to divide defeated
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
into
occupation zones, as well as divide Berlin, the German capital, among the Allied powers. Initially, this meant the formation of three zones of occupation (i.e., American, British, and Soviet). Later, a French zone was carved out of the US and British zones.
1949 establishment
The ruling communist party, known as the
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 Mar ...
(SED), formed on 21 April 1946 from
the merger between the
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...
(KPD) and the
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a 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 w ...
(SPD). The two former parties had previously been notorious rivals before the Nazis consolidated all power and criminalized them. Official East German and Soviet histories portrayed this merger as a voluntary pooling of efforts by the socialist parties and as symbolic of the new friendship of German socialists after defeating their common enemy.
However, there is much evidence that the merger was more troubled than was commonly portrayed; that the Soviet occupation authorities applied great pressure on the SPD's eastern branch to merge with the KPD, and the communists, who held a majority, had virtually total control over policy.
The SED remained the ruling party for the entire duration of the East German state. It had close ties with the Soviets, which maintained
military forces in East Germany until the dissolution of the Soviet regime in 1991 (
Russia
Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
continued to maintain forces in the territory of the former East Germany until 1994), with the purpose of countering
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
bases in West Germany.
As West Germany was reorganized and gained independence from its occupiers (1945–1949), the GDR was established in East Germany in October 1949. The emergence of the two sovereign states solidified the 1945 division of Germany. On 10 March 1952, (in what would become known as the "
Stalin Note") the
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. was the Party leader, leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). From 1924 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union, country's dissoluti ...
,
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
, issued a proposal to reunify Germany with a policy of neutrality, with no conditions on economic policies and with guarantees for "the rights of man and basic freedoms, including freedom of speech, press, religious persuasion, political conviction, and assembly" and free activity of democratic parties and organizations. The West demurred; reunification was not then a priority for the
leadership
Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations.
"Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...
of West Germany, and the NATO powers declined the proposal, asserting that Germany should be able to join
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
and that such a negotiation with the Soviet Union would be seen as a capitulation.
In October 7th, 1949 the Germany Democratic Republic was
formally established and the Soviets Military Administration turned control of East Germany over to the SED, headed by
Wilhelm Pieck (1876–1960), who became
President of the GDR and held the office until his death, while the
SED general secretary Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; ; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar republic, Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later in the early development ...
assumed most executive authority. Socialist leader
Otto Grotewohl (1894–1964) became
prime minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
until his death.
The government of East Germany denounced West German failures in accomplishing
denazification and renounced ties to the
Nazi
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
past, imprisoning many former Nazis and preventing them from holding government positions. The SED set a primary goal of ridding East Germany of all traces of Nazism. It is estimated that between 180,000 and 250,000 people were sentenced to imprisonment on political grounds.
Zones of occupation
In the Yalta and
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
conferences of 1945, the Allies established their joint military occupation and administration of Germany via the
Allied Control Council
The Allied Control Council (ACC) or Allied Control Authority (), also referred to as the Four Powers (), was the governing body of the Allies of World War II, Allied Allied-occupied Germany, occupation zones in Germany (1945–1949/1991) and Al ...
(ACC), a four-power (US, UK, USSR, France)
military government effective until the restoration of German sovereignty. In eastern Germany, the Soviet Occupation Zone (''Sowjetische Besatzungszone'', SBZ) comprised the five states (''Länder'') of
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...
,
Brandenburg
Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
,
Saxony
Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
,
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...
, and
Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
. Disagreements over the policies to be followed in the occupied zones quickly led to a breakdown in cooperation between the four powers, and the Soviets administered their zone without regard to the policies implemented in the other zones. The Soviets withdrew from the ACC in 1948; subsequently, as the other three zones were increasingly unified and granted self-government, the Soviet administration instituted a separate socialist government in its zone.

Seven years after the Allies' 1945
Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...
on common German policies, the USSR via the
Stalin Note (10 March 1952) proposed
German reunification
German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...
and
superpower disengagement from Central Europe, which the three Western Allies (US, UK, France) rejected. Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
, a Communist proponent of reunification, died in early March 1953. Similarly,
Lavrenty Beria, the First Deputy Prime Minister of the USSR, pursued German reunification but was removed from power that same year before he could act on the matter. His successor,
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...
, rejected reunification as equivalent to returning East Germany for annexation to the West; hence reunification was off the table until the
fall of the Berlin wall in 1989.

East Germany regarded East Berlin as its capital, and the Soviet Union and the rest of the Eastern Bloc diplomatically recognized East Berlin as the capital. However, the Western Allies disputed this recognition, and considered the entire city of Berlin to be
occupied territory governed by the ACC. According to Margarete Feinstein, the West and most
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...
countries largely unrecognized East Berlin's status as the capital.
In practice, the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
nullified the ACC's authority, East Berlin's status as occupied territory largely became a
legal fiction
A legal fiction is a construct used in the law where a thing is taken to be true, which is not in fact true, in order to achieve an outcome. Legal fictions can be employed by the courts or found in legislation.
Legal fictions are different from ...
, and the Soviet sector of Berlin fully integrated into the GDR.
The deepening Cold War conflict between the Western Powers and the Soviet Union over the unresolved status of West Berlin led to the
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, roa ...
(24 June 194812 May 1949). The Soviet army initiated the blockade by halting all Allied rail, road, and water traffic to and from West Berlin. The Allies countered the Soviets with the
Berlin Airlift (1948–49) of food, fuel, and supplies to West Berlin.
Partition
On 21 April 1946 the
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...
(; KPD) and the part of the
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a 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 w ...
(; SPD) in the Soviet zone merged to form the
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 Mar ...
(; SED), which then won the
elections of October 1946. The SED government
nationalised
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English)
is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with ...
infrastructure and industrial plants.
In March 1948 the
German Economic Commission (; DWK) under its chairman
Heinrich Rau assumed administrative authority in the Soviet occupation zone, thus becoming the predecessor of the East German government.
On 7 October 1949 the SED established the German Democratic Republic (; GDR), based on a socialist political constitution establishing its control of the
Anti-Fascist
Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were op ...
National Front of the German Democratic Republic (; NF), an omnibus alliance of every party and mass organisation in East Germany. The NF was established to stand for election to the
People's Chamber (), the East German parliament. The first and only president of the German Democratic Republic was
Wilhelm Pieck. However, after 1950, political power in East Germany was held by the First Secretary of the SED,
Walter Ulbricht
Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht (; ; 30 June 18931 August 1973) was a German communist politician. Ulbricht played a leading role in the creation of the Weimar republic, Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and later in the early development ...
.
On 16 June 1953, workers constructing the new boulevard in East Berlin, according to the GDR's officially promulgated
Sixteen Principles of Urban Design, rioted against a 10% production-quota increase. Initially a labour protest, the action soon included the general populace, and on 17 June similar protests occurred throughout the GDR, with more than a million people
striking in some 700 cities and towns. Fearing anti-communist
counter-revolution, on 18 June 1953 the government of the GDR enlisted the
Soviet Occupation Forces to aid the police in ending the riot; some fifty people were killed and 10,000 were jailed (see
Uprising of 1953 in East Germany
The East German uprising of 1953 ( ) was an uprising that occurred over the course of two days in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 16 to 17 June 1953. It began with strike action by construction workers in East Berlin on 16 June ...
).
The German
war reparations owed to the Soviets impoverished the Soviet Zone of Occupation and severely weakened the East German economy. During 1945–46 the Soviets confiscated and transported to the USSR approximately 33% of the industrial plants, and by the early 1950s had extracted some US$10 billion in reparations in agricultural and industrial products.
[ Norman M. Naimark. ''The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949.'' Harvard University Press, 1995. pp. 167–169.] The poverty of East Germany, induced or deepened by reparations, provoked the ("desertion from the republic") to West Germany, further weakening the GDR's economy. Western economic opportunities induced a
brain drain. In response, the GDR closed the
inner German border
The inner German border ( or ''deutsch–deutsche Grenze''; initially also , zonal boundary) was the frontier between the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR, East Germany) and the West Germany, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG, West ...
, and on the night of 12 August 1961, East German soldiers began erecting the
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...
.
In 1971, Ulbricht was removed from leadership after Soviet leader
Leonid Brezhnev
Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev (19 December 190610 November 1982) was a Soviet politician who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1964 until Death and state funeral of Leonid Brezhnev, his death in 1982 as w ...
supported his ouster;
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 post ...
replaced him. While the Ulbricht government had experimented with liberal reforms, the Honecker government reversed them. The new government introduced a new
East German Constitution which defined the German Democratic Republic as a "republic of workers and peasants".
Initially, East Germany claimed an
exclusive mandate for all of Germany, a claim supported by most of the Communist Bloc. It claimed that West Germany was an illegally constituted
puppet state
A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government is a State (polity), state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside Power (international relations), power and subject to its ord ...
of NATO. However, from the 1960s onward, East Germany began recognizing itself as a separate country from West Germany and shared the legacy of the
united German state of 1871–1945. This was formalized in 1974 when the reunification clause was removed from the revised East German constitution. West Germany, in contrast, maintained that it was the only legitimate government of Germany. From 1949 to the early 1970s, West Germany maintained that East Germany was an illegally constituted state. It argued that the GDR was a Soviet puppet-state and frequently referred to it as the "Soviet occupation zone". West Germany's allies shared this position until 1973. East Germany was recognized primarily by socialist countries and the
Arab Bloc, along with some "scattered sympathizers".
According to the
Hallstein Doctrine (1955), West Germany did not establish (formal) diplomatic ties with any countryexcept the Sovietsthat recognized East German sovereignty.
In the early 1970s, the ('Eastern Policy') of "Change Through Rapprochement" of the pragmatic government of
FRG Chancellor
Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...
Willy Brandt
Willy Brandt (; born Herbert Ernst Karl Frahm; 18 December 1913 – 8 October 1992) was a German politician and statesman who was leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) from 1964 to 1987 and concurrently served as the Chancellor ...
, established normal diplomatic relations with the
Eastern Bloc
The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
states. This policy saw the
Treaty of Moscow (August 1970), the
Treaty of Warsaw (December 1970), the
Four Power Agreement on Berlin (September 1971), the
Transit Agreement (May 1972), and the
Basic Treaty (December 1972), which relinquished any separate claims to an
exclusive mandate over Germany as a whole and established normal relations between the two Germanies. Both countries were admitted into the United Nations on 18 September 1973. This also increased the number of countries recognizing East Germany to 55, including the US, UK and France, though these three still refused to recognize East Berlin as the capital, and insisted on a specific provision in the UN resolution accepting the two Germanies into the UN to that effect.
Following the Ostpolitik, West Germany viewed East Germany as a ''de facto'' government within a single German nation and a ''de jure'' state organisation of parts of Germany outside the Federal Republic. The Federal Republic continued to maintain that it could not within its own structures recognize the GDR ''de jure'' as a sovereign state under international law; but it fully acknowledged that, within the structures of international law, the GDR was an independent sovereign state. By distinction, West Germany then viewed itself as being within its own boundaries, not only the ''de facto'' and ''de jure'' government, but also the sole ''de jure'' legitimate representative of a dormant "Germany as whole". The two German governments each relinquished any claim to represent the other internationally, which they acknowledged as necessarily implying a mutual recognition of each other as both capable of representing their own populations ''de jure'' in participating in international bodies and agreements, such as the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
and the
Helsinki Final Act.
This assessment of the Basic Treaty was confirmed in a decision of the
Federal Constitutional Court in 1973:
Travel between the GDR and Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary became visa-free from 1972.
GDR identity

From the beginning, the newly formed GDR tried to establish its own separate identity. Because of the imperial and military legacy of
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
, the SED repudiated continuity between Prussia and the GDR. The SED destroyed a number of symbolic relics of the former
Prussian aristocracyJunker
Junker (, , , , , , ka, იუნკერი, ) is a noble honorific, derived from Middle High German , meaning 'young nobleman'Duden; Meaning of Junker, in German/ref> or otherwise 'young lord' (derivation of and ). The term is traditionally ...
manor-houses were torn down, the
Berliner Stadtschloß was razed and the
Palace of the Republic was built in its place, and the
equestrian statue of Frederick the Great was removed from East Berlin. Instead, the SED focused on the progressive heritage of German history, including
Thomas Müntzer's role in the
German Peasants' War (1524–1525) and the roles of heroes of the class struggle during Prussia's industrialization. The SED upheld other notable figures and reformers from Prussian historysuch as
Karl Freiherr vom Stein (1757–1831),
Karl August von Hardenberg (1750–1822),
Wilhelm von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Christian Karl Ferdinand von Humboldt (22 June 1767 – 8 April 1835) was a German philosopher, linguist, government functionary, diplomat, and founder of the Humboldt University of Berlin. In 1949, the university was named aft ...
(1767–1835), and
Gerhard von Scharnhorst (1755–1813)as examples and role models.
Remembrance of the Third Reich
The communist regime of the GDR based its legitimacy on the struggle of anti-fascist militants. The
Buchenwald Resistance, a resistance group, was established at the memorial site of the
Buchenwald concentration camp
Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Nazi Germany, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (pre-1938 ...
, with the creation of a museum in 1958, and the annual celebration of the Buchenwald oath taken on 19 April 1945 by the prisoners who pledged to fight for peace and freedom. In the 1990s, the 'state anti-fascism' of the GDR gave way to the 'state anti-communism' of the FRG. From then on, the dominant interpretation of GDR history, based on the concept of totalitarianism, led to the equivalence of communism and Nazism.
Although officially built in opposition to the 'fascist world' in West Germany, 32% of GDR public administration employees in 1954 were former members of the
Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
(NSDAP). However, in 1961, the share of former NSDAP members among the senior Interior Ministry administration staff was less than 10% in the GDR, compared to 67% in the FRG.
While a work of memory on the resurgence of Nazism was carried out in West Germany, this was not the case in the East.
On 17 October 1987, around thirty
skinheads threw themselves into a crowd of 2,000 people at a rock concert in the
Zionskirche without the police intervening. In 1990, the writer
Freya Klier received a death threat for writing an essay on
antisemitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
and
xenophobia
Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...
in the GDR. SPDA Vice President
Wolfgang Thierse, for his part, complained in ''
Die Welt'' about the rise of the extreme right in the everyday life of the inhabitants of the former GDR, in particular the terrorist group NSU, with the German journalist Odile Benyahia-Kouider explaining that "it is no coincidence that the neo-Nazi party NPD has experienced a renaissance via the East".
The historian Sonia Combe observes that until the 1990s, the majority of West German historians described the
Normandy landings
The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...
in June 1944 as an "invasion", exonerated the
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the German Army (1935–1945), ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmac ...
of its responsibility for the genocide of the Jews, and fabricated the myth of a diplomatic corps that "did not know". In contrast,
Auschwitz was never a taboo in the GDR. The Nazis' crimes were the subject of extensive film, theatre, and literary productions. In 1991, 16% of the population in West Germany and 6% in East Germany had antisemitic prejudices. In 1994, 40% of West Germans and 22% of East Germans felt that too much emphasis was placed on the genocide of the Jews.
Historian
Ulrich Pfeil, nevertheless, recalls the fact that anti-fascist commemoration in the GDR had "a hagiographic and indoctrination character".
As in the case of the memory of the protagonists of the German labour movement and the victims of the camps, it was "staged, censored, ordered" and, during the 40 years of the regime, was an instrument of legitimisation, repression, and maintenance of power.
''Die Wende'' (German reunification)
In May 1989, following widespread public anger over the faking of local government election results, many GDR citizens applied for exit visas or
left the country contrary to GDR laws. The impetus for this exodus of East Germans was the removal of the electrified fence along
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
's border with
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
on 2 May 1989. Although formally the Hungarian frontier was still closed, many East Germans took the opportunity to enter Hungary via
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
, and then make the illegal crossing from Hungary to Austria and to West Germany beyond.
By July, 25,000 East Germans had crossed into Hungary; most of them did not attempt the risky crossing into Austria but remained instead in Hungary or claimed asylum in West German embassies in
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
or
Budapest
Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
.
The opening of a border gate between Austria and Hungary at the
Pan-European Picnic on 19 August 1989 then triggered a chain reaction leading to the end of the GDR and the disintegration of the Eastern Bloc. It was the largest mass escape from East Germany since the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961. The idea of opening the border at a ceremony came from
Otto von Habsburg, who proposed it to
Miklós Németh, then Hungarian Prime Minister, who promoted the idea. The patrons of the picnic, Habsburg and Hungarian Minister of State
Imre Pozsgay, who did not attend the event, saw the planned event as an opportunity to test
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
's reaction to an opening of the border on the
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...
. In particular, it tested whether Moscow would give the Soviet troops stationed in Hungary the command to intervene. The
Paneuropean Union advertised extensively for the planned picnic with posters and flyers distributed among GDR holidaymakers in Hungary. The Austrian branch of the Paneuropean Union, then headed by
Karl von Habsburg, distributed thousands of brochures inviting GDR citizens to a picnic near the border at Sopron (near Hungary's border with Austria).
The local Sopron organizers knew nothing of possible GDR refugees, but envisaged a local party with Austrian and Hungarian participation. But with the mass exodus at the picnic, the subsequent hesitant behavior of the Socialist Unity Party of East Germany and the non-intervention of the Soviet Union broke the dams. Thus, the barrier of the Eastern Bloc was broken. Tens of thousands of East Germans, alerted by the media, made their way to Hungary, which was no longer ready to keep its borders completely closed or force its border troops to open fire on escapees. The GDR leadership in East Berlin did not dare to completely lock down their own country's borders.
The next major turning point in the exodus came on 10 September 1989, when Hungarian Foreign Minister
Gyula Horn announced that his country would no longer restrict movement from Hungary into Austria. Within two days, 22,000 East Germans crossed into Austria; tens of thousands more did so in the following weeks.
Many other GDR citizens
demonstrated against the ruling party, especially in the city of
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
. The Leipzig demonstrations became a weekly occurrence, with a turnout of 10,000 people at the first demonstration on 2 October, and a peak of an estimated 300,000 by the end of the month.
The protests were surpassed in East Berlin, where half a million demonstrators turned out against the regime on 4 November.
Kurt Masur, conductor of the
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, led local negotiations with the government and held town meetings in the concert hall. The demonstrations eventually led Erich Honecker to resign in October; he was replaced by a slightly more moderate communist,
Egon Krenz
Egon Rudi Ernst Krenz (; born 19 March 1937) is a German former politician who was the last Communist leader of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) during the Revolutions of 1989. He succeeded Erich Honecker as the Secretary (title), ...
.
The massive demonstration in East Berlin on 4 November coincided with Czechoslovakia formally opening its border to West Germany.
With the West more accessible than ever before, 30,000 East Germans made the crossing via Czechoslovakia in the first two days alone. To try to stem the outward flow of the population, the SED proposed a law loosening travel restrictions. When the rejected it on 5 November, the Cabinet and
Politburo
A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...
of the GDR resigned.
This left only one avenue open for Krenz and the SED: completely abolishing travel restrictions between East and West.
On 9 November 1989, a few sections of the Berlin Wall were opened, resulting in thousands of East Germans crossing freely into West Berlin and West Germany for the first time in nearly 30 years. Krenz resigned a month later, and the SED opened negotiations with the leaders of the incipient Democratic movement,
Neues Forum, to schedule free elections and begin the process of democratization. As part of this process, the SED eliminated the clause in the East German constitution guaranteeing the Communists leadership of the state. The change was approved in the on 1 December 1989 by a vote of 420 to 0.

East Germany held
its last election in March 1990. The winner was
Alliance for Germany, a coalition headed by the East German branch of West Germany's
Christian Democratic Union, which advocated speedy reunification. Negotiations (
2+4 Talks) were held involving the two German states and the former
Allies, which led to agreement on the conditions for German unification. By a two-thirds vote in the on 23 August 1990, the German Democratic Republic declared its accession to the Federal Republic of Germany. The five original
East German states that had been abolished in the 1952 redistricting were restored.
On 3 October 1990, the five states officially joined the Federal Republic of Germany, while East and West Berlin united as a third city-state (in the same manner as
Bremen
Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...
and
Hamburg
Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...
). On 1 July, a currency union preceded the political union: the
Ostmark was abolished, and the Western German
Deutsche Mark
The Deutsche Mark (; "German mark (currency), mark"), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later of unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it ...
became the common currency.
Although the 's declaration of accession to the Federal Republic had initiated the process of reunification, the act of reunification itself (with its many specific terms, conditions, and qualifications, some of which involved amendments to the West German Basic Law) was achieved constitutionally by the subsequent Unification Treaty of 31 August 1990 – that is, through a binding agreement between the former Democratic Republic and the Federal Republic, now recognising each other as separate sovereign states in international law. The treaty was then voted into effect prior to the agreed date for unification by both the and the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet (assembly), Diet") is the lower house of the Germany, German Federalism in Germany, federal parliament. It is the only constitutional body of the federation directly elected by the German people. The Bundestag wa ...
by the constitutionally required two-thirds majorities, effecting on the one hand the extinction of the GDR, and on the other the agreed amendments to the Basic Law of the Federal Republic.
The wide economic and socio-political inequalities between the former German states required government subsidies for the full integration of the GDR into the FRG. Because of the resulting
deindustrialization
Deindustrialization is a process of social and economic change caused by the removal or reduction of industrial capacity or activity in a country or region, especially of heavy industry or manufacturing industry.
There are different interpr ...
in former East Germany, the causes of the failure of this integration continue to be debated. Some western commentators claim that the depressed eastern economy is a natural aftereffect of a demonstrably inefficient
command economy
A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, ...
. But many East German critics contend that the
shock-therapy style of
privatization
Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...
, the artificially high
rate of exchange offered for the Ostmark, and the speed with which the entire process was implemented did not leave room for East German enterprises to adapt.
Government and politics
The political history of East Germany had four periods: 1949–1961, which saw the building of socialism; 1961–1970, after the Berlin Wall closed off escape, was a period of stability and consolidation; 1971–1985 was termed the "
Honecker Era", and saw closer ties with West Germany; and 1985–1990 saw the decline and extinction of East Germany.
Organization
The ruling political party in East Germany was the (
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 Mar ...
; SED). It was created in 1946 through the Soviet-directed merger of the
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany (, ; KPD ) was a major Far-left politics, far-left political party in the Weimar Republic during the interwar period, German resistance to Nazism, underground resistance movement in Nazi Germany, and minor party ...
(KPD) and the
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a 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 w ...
(SPD) in the Soviet-controlled zone. However, the SED quickly transformed into a full-fledged communist party as the more independent-minded social democrats were pushed out.
The Potsdam Agreement committed the Soviets to support a democratic form of government in Germany, though the Soviets' understanding of democracy was radically different from that of the West. As in other Soviet Bloc countries,
non-communist political parties were allowed. Nevertheless, every political party in the GDR was forced to join the
National Front of Democratic Germany, a broad coalition of parties and mass political organisations, which included:
* (
Christian Democratic Union of Germany; CDU), which merged with the West German
CDU after reunification;
* (
Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY)
** Democratic Par ...
; DBD), which party merged with the West German
CDU after reunification;
* (
Liberal Democratic Party of Germany; LDPD), which merged with the West German
FDP after reunification;
* (
National Democratic Party of Germany; NDPD), which merged with the West German
FDP after reunification.
The member parties were almost completely subservient to the SED and had to accept its "
leading role" as a condition of their existence. However, the parties did have representation in the Volkskammer and received some posts in the government.
The Volkskammer also included representatives from the
mass organisations like the
Free German Youth (; FDJ), or the
Free German Trade Union Federation. There was also the
Democratic Women's Federation of Germany, with seats in the .
Important non-parliamentary mass organisations in East German society included the German Gymnastics and Sports Association (; DTSB), and the
People's Solidarity (), an organisation for the elderly. Another society of note was the
Society for German–Soviet Friendship.
After the fall of socialism, the SED transformed into the
Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), which continued for a decade after reunification, before merging with the West German
WASG to form the
Left Party (). The Left Party continues to be a political force in many parts of Germany, albeit drastically less powerful than the SED.
State symbols
The flag of the German Democratic Republic consisted of three horizontal stripes in the traditional German-democratic colors black-red-gold; at its center was a GDR national coat of arms, consisting of a wreath of corn surrounding a hammer and compass, which symbolised the alliance of workers, peasants, and intelligentsia. The first drafts of Fritz Behrendt's coat of arms contained only a hammer and wreath of corn; the final version was mainly based on the work of Heinz Behling.
The state coat of arms and flag were set by law on 26 September 1955. Initially, the flag lacked the coat of arms; it was later added (1 October 1959). Until the end of the 1960s, the public display of this flag in the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin was regarded as a violation of the constitution and public order, and prevented by police measures. It was not until 1969 that the Federal Government decreed "that the police should no longer intervene anywhere against the use of the flag and coat of arms of the GDR."
At the request of the DSU, the first freely elected People's Chamber of the GDR decided on 31 May 1990 that the GDR state coat of arms should be removed within a week in and on public buildings. Nevertheless, until the official end of the republic, it continued to be used in other ways, such as on documents.
The national anthem of the GDR, "Resurrected from Ruins", had its text was written by Johannes R. Becher and its melody composed by Hanns Eisler. From the beginning of the 1970s to the end of 1989, however, the text of the anthem was no longer sung due to the passage "''Deutschland einig Vaterland''" ("Germany a united Fatherland").
Presidential standard
The first standard of the president had the shape of a rectangular flag in the colors black-red-gold with the inscription "President" in yellow in the red stripe, as well as "D.D.R." (contrary to the official abbreviation with dots) in the stripe below in black letters. The flag was surrounded by a stripe of yellow color. An original of the standard is in the German Historical Museum in Berlin.
War and service flags and symbols
The flags of the military units of the GDR bore the national coat of arms with a wreath of two olive branches on a red background in the black-red-gold flag.
The flags of the People's Navy for combat ships and boats bore the coat of arms with olive branch wreath on red, for auxiliary ships and boats on blue flag cloth with a narrow and centrally arranged black-red-gold band. As Gösch, the state flag was used in a reduced form.
The ships and boats of the Border Brigade Coast on the Baltic Sea and the boats of the border troops of the GDR on the Elbe and Oder carried a green bar on the Liekjust like the service flag of the border troops.
Political and social emblems
After being a member of the
Thälmann Pioneers, which was for schoolchildren ages 6 to 14, East German youths would usually join the
Free German Youth (''Freie Deutsche Jugend''; FDJ).
Young Pioneer programs
Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation

The Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation was a youth organisation of schoolchildren aged 6 to 14 in East Germany. In the 1960s and 1970s, nearly all schoolchildren were organised into "Young Pioneer" or "Thälmann Pioneer" groups, with the organisations having "nearly two million children" collectively by 1975.
The group was a subdivision of the ''Freie Deutsche Jugend'' (FDJ), East Germany's youth movement.
The pioneer group was loosely based on
Scouting
Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...
, but organised to teach socialist ideology to schoolchildren and prepare them for the FDJ.
The program was designed to follow the Soviet pioneer program
Vladimir Lenin All-Union Pioneer Organization.
Both pioneer groups would often have massive parades, honoring and celebrating the socialist success of their nations.
Membership was formally voluntary, but often expected by the state or by parents. In practice, admission of all students in a class came from the school. As the membership quota of up to 98 percent of the students (in the later years of the GDR) shows, the six- or ten-year-olds (or their parents) had to be independently active to ''not'' become members. Rarely, students were not admitted because of poor academic performance or bad behavior "as a punishment", or excluded from further membership.
The pioneers' uniform consisted of white shirts and blouses, along with blue trousers or skirts. A distinctive feature was the triangular
neckerchief.
In contrast to the Soviet Union and other Eastern Bloc countries, a blue neckerchief was common in the GDR. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the organization in 1973, the red neckerchief was introduced for the Thälmann Pioneers.
Free German Youth

After being a member of the Thälmann Pioneers, East German youths would usually join the ''Freie Deutsche Jugend'' (Free German Youth; FDJ), a youth organization for both boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 25 and which comprised about 75% of the GDR's young population. In 1981–1982, this meant 2.3 million members. Its main objective was to win over the hearts and minds of young East Germans to socialism and the ideals of the SED.
The FDJ was founded in 1946 with an emphasis on 'happy youth life', which involved organised activities like sports, dances, concerts, and hikes. During the following decades, the FDJ increasingly developed into an instrument of communist rule, and gained a more severe anti-religious agenda.
After
German reunification
German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...
in October 1990, the FDJ quickly lost nearly all of its remaining memberships.
Upon request, young people were admitted to the FDJ from the age of 14. Membership was voluntary according to the statutes, but there was high pressure to join from line-loyal teachers and societal expectations. Non-members had to fear considerable disadvantages in school admission, choice of study, career, and military service. By the end of 1949, almost a third of young people (around one million) had joined; yet in Berlin, where other youth organizations were also admitted due to the four-power status, participation was limited to just under 5%. In 1985, about 80% of all GDR youths between the ages of 14 and 25 were members. Most young people tacitly ended their FDJ membership after completing their apprenticeship or studies when they entered the workforce. The degree of organisation was much higher in urban areas than in rural areas.
From 1948, the official organizational clothing of the FDJ were long-sleeved blue shirts for boys and blouses for girls. The left sleeve was sewn with the FDJ symbol of the rising sun.
Administrative districts
Until 1952, East Germany comprised the capital,
East Berlin
East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...
(though legally it was not fully part of the GDR's territory), and the five
German states of
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...
(in 1947 renamed Mecklenburg),
Brandenburg
Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...
,
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...
(named Province of Saxony until 1946),
Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
, and
Saxony
Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
. The states' post-war territorial demarcations approximated the pre-war German demarcations of the
Middle German ''Länder'' (states) and ''Provinzen'' (
provinces of Prussia
The Provinces of Prussia () were the main administrative divisions of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. Prussia's province system was introduced in the Prussian Reform Movement, Stein-Hardenberg Reforms in 1815, and were mostly organized from duchies an ...
). The western parts of two provinces,
Pomerania
Pomerania ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The central and eastern part belongs to the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, West Pomeranian, Pomeranian Voivod ...
and
Lower Silesia, the remainder of which were annexed by Poland, remained in the GDR and were attached to Mecklenburg and Saxony, respectively.
The
East German Administrative Reform of 1952 established 14 (districts) and ''de facto'' disestablished the five ''Länder''. The new , named after their district centres, were as follows: (i)
Rostock
Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...
, (ii)
Neubrandenburg
Neubrandenburg (, Low German ''Niegenbramborg'', both lit. ''New Brandenburg an der Havel, Brandenburg'') is a city in the southeast of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located on the shore of a lake called Tollensesee and forms the urban c ...
, and (iii)
Schwerin
Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Low German: ''Swerin''; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Zwierzyn''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germ ...
created from the ''Land'' (state) of Mecklenburg; (iv)
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
, (v)
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (, ; Central Marchian: ''Frankfort an de Oder,'' ) is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after Potsdam, Cottbus and Brandenburg an der Havel. With around 58,000 inh ...
, and (vii)
Cottbus
Cottbus () or (;) is a university city and the second-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after the state capital, Potsdam. With around 100,000 inhabitants, Cottbus is the most populous city in Lusatia. Cottbus lies in the Sorbian ...
from Brandenburg; (vi)
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river.
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...
and (viii)
Halle from Saxony-Anhalt; (ix)
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
, (xi)
Dresden
Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
, and (xii)
Karl-Marx-Stadt
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 Be ...
(Chemnitz until 1953 and again from 1990) from Saxony; and (x)
Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...
, (xiii)
Gera
Gera () is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of ...
, and (xiv)
Suhl from Thuringia.
East Berlin was made the country's 15th ''Bezirk'' in 1961 but retained special legal status until 1968, when the residents approved the new (draft) constitution. Despite the city as a whole being legally under the control of the
Allied Control Council
The Allied Control Council (ACC) or Allied Control Authority (), also referred to as the Four Powers (), was the governing body of the Allies of World War II, Allied Allied-occupied Germany, occupation zones in Germany (1945–1949/1991) and Al ...
, and diplomatic objections of the Allied governments, the GDR administered the ''Bezirk'' of Berlin as part of its territory.
Foreign relations
Support of Third World socialist countries
After receiving wider international diplomatic recognition in 1972–73, the GDR began active cooperation with Third World socialist governments and
national liberation movements. While the USSR was in control of the overall strategy and Cuban armed forces were involved in the actual combat (mostly in the
People's Republic of Angola and socialist
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
), the GDR provided experts for military hardware maintenance and personnel training, and oversaw creation of secret security agencies based on its own
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 pol ...
model.
Already in the 1960s, contacts were established with the
MPLA
The People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola (, abbr. MPLA), from 1977–1990 called the People's Movement for the Liberation of Angola – Labour Party (), is an Angolan social democratic political party. The MPLA fought against the P ...
in Angola, the
FRELIMO in Mozambique, and the
PAIGC in Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde. In the 1970s, official cooperation was established with other socialist states, such as the
People's Republic of the Congo
The People's Republic of the Congo () was a Marxist–Leninist socialist state that existed in the Republic of the Congo from 1969 to 1992.
The People's Republic of the Congo was founded in December 1969 as the first Marxist-Leninist state ...
,
People's Democratic Republic of Yemen,
Somali Democratic Republic
The Somali Democratic Republic (; , ; ) was a socialist state in Somalia that existed from 1969 to 1991.
Established in October 1969, the Somali Democratic Republic emerged following a 1969 Somali coup d'état, coup d'état led by Major General ...
,
Libya
Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya border, the east, Sudan to Libya–Sudan border, the southeast, Chad to Chad–L ...
, and the
People's Republic of Benin
The People's Republic of Benin (; sometimes translated literally as the Benin Popular Republic or Popular Republic of Benin) was a socialist state located in the Gulf of Guinea on the African continent, which became present-day Benin in 1990 ...
.
The first military agreement was signed in 1973 with the People's Republic of the Congo. In 1979 friendship treaties were signed with Angola, Mozambique, and Ethiopia.
It was estimated that altogether 2,000–4,000 DDR military and security experts were dispatched to Africa. In addition, representatives from African and Arab countries and liberation movements underwent military training in the GDR.
East Germany and the Middle East conflict
East Germany pursued an
anti-Zionist policy;
Jeffrey Herf argues that East Germany was waging an undeclared war on
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
.
According to Herf, "the Middle East was one of the crucial battlefields of the global Cold War between the Soviet Union and the West; it was also a region in which East Germany played a salient role in the Soviet bloc's antagonism toward Israel." While East Germany saw itself as an "anti-fascist state", it regarded Israel as a "fascist state", and East Germany strongly supported the
Palestine Liberation Organization
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...
(PLO) in its armed struggle against Israel. In 1974, the GDR government recognized the PLO as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people". The PLO declared the
Palestinian state
Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, collectively known as th ...
on 15 November 1988 during the
First Intifada
The First Intifada (), also known as the First Palestinian Intifada, was a sustained series of Nonviolent resistance, non-violent protests, acts of civil disobedience, Riot, riots, and Terrorism, terrorist attacks carried out by Palestinians ...
, and the GDR recognized the state prior to reunification. After becoming a member of the UN, East Germany "made excellent use of the UN to wage political warfare against Israel
nd wasan enthusiastic, high-profile, and vigorous member" of the anti-Israeli majority of the General Assembly.
Ba'athist Iraq
Ba'athist Iraq, officially the Iraqi Republic (1968–1992) and later the Republic of Iraq (1992–2003), was the Iraqi state between 1968 and 2003 under the one-party rule of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Iraq Region, Iraqi regional bra ...
, due to its wealth of unexploited natural resources, was sought out as an ally of East Germany, with Iraq being the first Arab country to recognise East Germany on 10 May 1969, paving the way for other
Arab League
The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...
states to later do the same. East Germany attempted to play a decisive role in mediating the conflict between the
Iraqi Communist Party and the
Ba'ath Party
The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party ( ' ), also known simply as Bath Party (), was a political party founded in Syria by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, and associates of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party espoused Ba'athism, which is an ideology ...
and supported the creation of the
National Progressive Front. The East German government also attempted to foster close relations with the Ba'athist regime of
Hafez al-Assad
Hafez al-Assad (6 October 193010 June 2000) was a Syrian politician and military officer who was the president of Syria from 1971 until Death and state funeral of Hafez al-Assad, his death in 2000. He was previously the Prime Minister of Syria ...
during the early years of Assad's regime and, as it did in Iraq, used its influence to minimise tensions between the
Syrian Communist Party and the Ba'athist regime.
Western Europe
During the Cold War, especially during its early years, the East German government attempted to build closer diplomatic relations and trade links between
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
and East Germany. By the 1950s, East Germany had become Iceland's fifth largest trading partner. East German influence in Iceland significantly declined in the 1970s and 1980s following a schism between the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and the Icelandic Socialist Party over the
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in
the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...
, along with free market economic reforms implemented by Iceland during the 1960s.
Soviet military occupation

Military
The government of East Germany controlled a large number of military and paramilitary organisations through various ministries. Chief among these was the Ministry of National Defence.
Because of East Germany's proximity to the West during the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
(1945–92), its military forces were among the most advanced of the
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact (WP), formally the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance (TFCMA), was a Collective security#Collective defense, collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Polish People's Republic, Poland, between the Sovi ...
. Defining what was a military force and what was not is a matter of some dispute.
National People's Army
The (NVA) was the largest military organisation in East Germany. It was formed in 1956 from the (Barracked People's Police), the military units of the regular police (
Volkspolizei), when East Germany joined the Warsaw Pact. From its creation, it was controlled by the
Ministry of National Defence. It was an all-volunteer force until an eighteen-month
conscription
Conscription, also known as the draft in the United States and Israel, is the practice in which the compulsory enlistment in a national service, mainly a military service, is enforced by law. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it conti ...
period was introduced in 1962. NATO officers regarded it as the best military in the Warsaw Pact.
The NVA consisted of the following branches:
*
Land Forces of the National People's Army
* People's Navy
*
Air Forces of the National People's Army
Border troops
The border troops of the Eastern sector were originally organised as a police force, the , similar to the in West Germany. It was controlled by the Ministry of the Interior. Following the remilitarisation of East Germany in 1956, the was transformed into a military force in 1961, modeled after the
Soviet Border Troops, and transferred to the Ministry of National Defense, as part of the National People's Army. In 1973, it was separated from the NVA, but it remained under the same ministry. At its peak, it numbered approximately 47,000 men.
Volkspolizei-Bereitschaft
After the NVA was separated from the in 1956, the Ministry of the Interior maintained its own public order barracked reserve, known as the (VPB). These units were equipped as motorised infantry, like the , and in total numbered between 12,000 and 15,000 men.
Stasi
The Ministry of State Security (Stasi) included the
Felix Dzerzhinsky Guards Regiment, which was mainly involved with facilities security and plain clothes events security. They were the only public-facing wing of the Stasi. The Stasi numbered around 90,000 men, the Guards Regiment around 11,000–12,000 men.
Combat groups of the working class
The (Combat Groups of the Working Class; KdA) numbered around 400,000 men for much of their existence, and were organised around factories. The KdA was the political-military instrument of the SED; it was essentially a "party army". All KdA directives and decisions were made by the ZK's . They received their training from the Volkspolizei and the Ministry of the Interior. Membership was voluntary, but SED members were required to join as part of their membership obligation.
Conscientious objection
Every man was required to serve eighteen months of
compulsory military service. For the medically unqualified and
conscientious objector
A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...
s, there were the (construction units) or the (People's Sanitation Service), both established in 1964, two years after the introduction of conscription, in response to political pressure by the national
Lutheran
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
Protestant Church upon the GDR's government. In the 1970s, East German leaders acknowledged that former
construction soldiers and sanitation service soldiers were at a disadvantage when they rejoined the civilian sphere.
Totalitarianism and repression
There is general consensus among academics that the GDR fulfilled most of the criteria to be considered a totalitarian state. There is, however, ongoing debate as to whether the more positive aspects of the regime can sufficiently dilute the harsher aspects so as to make the totalitarian tag seem excessive. According to the historian
Mary Fulbrook:
The state security service (SSD), commonly known as the
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 pol ...
, was fundamental to the socialist leadership's attempts to reach their historical goal. It was an open secret in the GDR that the Stasi read people's mail and tapped phone calls. They also employed a vast network of unofficial informers who would spy on people more directly and report to their Stasi handlers. These collaborators were hired in all walks of life and had access to nearly every organisation in the country. At the end of the GDR in 1990 there were approximately 109,000 still-active informants at every grade. Repressive measures carried out by the Stasi can be roughly divided into two main chronological groupings: before 1971 and after 1971, when Honecker came to power. According to the historian Nessim Ghouas, "There was a change in how the Stasi operated under Honecker in 1971. The more brutal aspects of repression seen in the Stalinist era (torture, executions, and physical repression descending from the GDR's earlier days) was changed with a more selective use of power."
The more direct forms of repression such as arrest and torture could mean significant international condemnation for the GDR. However, the Stasi still needed to paralyse and disrupt what it considered to be 'hostile-negative' forces (internal domestic enemies) if the socialist goal was to be properly realised. A person could be targeted by the Stasi for expressing politically, culturally, or religiously incorrect views; for performing hostile acts; or for being a member of a group which was considered sufficiently counter-productive to the socialist state to warrant intervention. As such, writers, artists, youth sub-cultures, and members of the church were often targeted.
If after preliminary research the Stasi found an individual warranted action against them then they would open an "operational case"
in regard to them. There were two desirable outcomes for each case: that the person was either arrested, tried, and imprisoned for an ostensibly justified reason, or, if this could not be achieved, that they were debilitated through the application of ''
Zersetzung'' ("decomposition") methods. In the Honecker era, Zersetzung became the primary method of Stasi repression, due in large part to an ambition to avoid political fallout from wrongful arrest. Historian Mike Dennis says, "Between 1985–1988, the Stasi conducted about 4,500 to 5,000 OVs (operational cases) per year."
Zersetzung methods varied and were tailored depending on the targeted individual. They are known to have included sending offensive mail to a person's house, the spreading of malicious rumours, banning them from traveling, sabotaging their career, and breaking into their house and moving objects around. These acts frequently led to unemployment, social isolation, and poor mental health. Many people had various forms of mental or nervous breakdown. Similarly to physical imprisonment, Zersetzung methods had the effect of paralysing a person's ability to operate but with the advantage of the source being unknown or at least unprovable. There is ongoing debate as to whether weaponised
directed energy devices, such as X-ray transmitters, were used in combination with the psychological warfare methods of Zersetzung. About 135,000 children were educated in special residential homes; the worst of them was
Torgau penal institution (until 1975). The
International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims considers that there are between 300,000 and 500,000 victims of direct physical torture, Zersetzung, and gross human rights violations due to the Stasi. Victims of historical Zersetzung can now draw a special pension from the German state.
Economy

The East German economy began poorly due to the devastation caused by the Second World War, the loss of so many young soldiers, the disruption of business and transportation, the Allied bombing campaigns that decimated cities, and reparations owed to the USSR. The
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
dismantled and transported lots of infrastructure and industrial plants of the Soviet Zone of Occupation to the Soviet Union. By the early 1950s, the reparations were paid in agricultural and industrial products; and
Lower Silesia, with its coal mines, and
Szczecin
Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...
, an important natural port, were given to Poland by the decision of Stalin and in accordance with the
Potsdam Agreement
The Potsdam Agreement () was the agreement among three of the Allies of World War II: the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union after the war ended in Europe that was signed on 1 August 1945 and published the following day. A ...
.
The socialist
centrally planned economy
A planned economy is a type of economic system where investment, production and the allocation of capital goods takes place according to economy-wide economic plans and production plans. A planned economy may use centralized, decentralized, ...
of the German Democratic Republic was like that of the USSR. In 1950, the GDR joined the
COMECON
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, often abbreviated as Comecon ( ) or CMEA, was an economic organization from 1949 to 1991 under the leadership of the Soviet Union that comprised the countries of the Eastern Bloc#List of states, Easter ...
trade bloc. In 1985,
collective
A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an e ...
(state) enterprises earned 97% of the net national income. To ensure stable prices for goods and services, the state paid 80% of basic supply costs. The estimated 1984 per capita income was $9,800 ($22,600 in 2015 dollars) (this is based on an unreal official exchange rate). In 1976, the average annual growth of the GDP was 5 percent. This made the East German economy the richest in all of the
Soviet Bloc until reunification in 1990.
Notable East German exports were
photographic cameras, under the
Praktica brand; automobiles under the
Trabant,
Wartburg, and
IFA brands; hunting rifles,
sextants,
typewriter
A typewriter is a Machine, mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of Button (control), keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an i ...
s, and
wristwatches.
Until the 1960s, East Germans endured shortages of basic foodstuffs such as
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose
Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...
and
coffee
Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...
. East Germans with friends or relatives in the West (or with any access to a
hard currency
In macroeconomics, hard currency, safe-haven currency, or strong currency is any globally traded currency that serves as a reliable and stable store of value. Factors contributing to a currency's ''hard'' status might include the stability and ...
) and the necessary
foreign currency account could afford Western products and export-quality East German products via
Intershop. Consumer goods also were available, by post, from the Danish
Jauerfood, and Genex companies.
The government used money and prices as political devices, providing highly subsidised prices for a wide range of basic goods and services, in what was known as "the second pay packet". At the production level, artificial prices made for a system of semi-barter and resource hoarding. For the consumer, it led to the substitution of GDR money with time, barter, and hard currencies. The socialist economy became steadily more dependent on financial infusions from hard currency loans from West Germany. East Germans, meanwhile, came to see their soft currency as worthless relative to the Deutsche Mark (DM). Economic issues would also persist in East Germany after the reunification of the West and the East. According to Manfred Görtemaker, "In 1991 alone, 153 billion DM had to be transferred to eastern Germany to secure incomes, support businesses and improve infrastructure.
..From 1991 to 1999, this resulted in a total of 1.634 trillion
M ..The sums were so large that public debt in Germany more than doubled.
..
Consumption and jobs
Loyalty to the SED was a primary criterion for getting a good job – professionalism was secondary to political criteria in personnel recruitment and development.
Beginning in 1963 with a series of secret international agreements, East Germany recruited workers from
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
,
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
,
Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
,
Albania
Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
,
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
,
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
, and
North Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...
. They numbered more than 100,000 by 1989. Many, such as future politician Zeca Schall (who emigrated from Angola in 1988 as a contract worker), stayed in Germany after the
Wende.
Transportation
*
Deutsche Reichsbahn (East Germany)
*
Interflug
Telecommunications
By the mid-1980s, East Germany possessed a well-developed communications system. There were approximately 3.6 million telephones in usage (21.8 for every 100 inhabitants), and 16,476
Telex
Telex is a telecommunication
Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communica ...
stations. The
Deutsche Post der DDR (East German Post Office) operated both these networks. East Germany was assigned telephone country code
+37; in 1991, several months after reunification, East German telephone exchanges were incorporated into country code +49.
An unusual feature of the telephone network was that, in most cases,
direct distance dialing for
long-distance calls was not possible. Although
area codes
A telephone numbering plan is a type of numbering scheme used in telecommunication to assign telephone numbers to subscriber telephones or other telephony endpoints. Telephone numbers are the addresses of participants in a telephone network, reach ...
were assigned to all major towns and cities, they were only used for switching international calls. Instead, each location had its own list of dialing codes with shorter codes for
local calls and longer codes for long-distance calls. After unification, the existing network was largely replaced, and area codes and dialing became standardised.
In 1976 East Germany inaugurated the operation of a ground-based radio station at
Fürstenwalde for the purpose of relaying and receiving communications from Soviet satellites and to serve as a participant in the international telecommunications organization established by the Soviet government,
Intersputnik.
Demographics
The East German population declined by three million people throughout its forty-one year history, from 19 million in 1948 to 16 million in 1990; of the 1948 population, some four million
were deported from the lands east of the
Oder–Neisse line, which made the home of millions of Germans part of Poland and the Soviet Union. This was in contrast to Poland's population, which increased during that time from 24 million in 1950 (a little more than East Germany) to 38 million (more than twice of East Germany's population). This was primarily a result of emigrationabout one quarter of East Germans left the country before the Berlin Wall was completed in 1961, and after that time, East Germany had very low birth rates, except for a recovery in the 1980s when the birth rate in East Germany was considerably higher than in West Germany.
Vital statistics
Religion
Religion became contested ground in the GDR, with the governing communists promoting
state atheism
State atheism or atheist state is the incorporation of hard atheism or non-theism into Forms of government, political regimes. It is considered the opposite of theocracy and may also refer to large-scale secularization attempts by governments ...
, although some people remained loyal to Christian communities. In 1957, the state authorities established a
State Secretariat for Church Affairs to handle the government's contact with churches and with religious groups; the SED remained officially atheist.
In 1950, 85% of the GDR citizens were
Protestants
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
, while 10% were
Catholics. In 1961, the renowned philosophical theologian
Paul Tillich claimed that the Protestant population in East Germany had the most admirable Church in Protestantism, because the communists there had not been able to win a spiritual victory over them. By 1989, membership in the Christian churches had dropped significantly. Protestants constituted 25% of the population, Catholics 5%. The share of people who considered themselves non-religious rose from 5% in 1950 to 70% in 1989.
State atheism
When it first came to power, the Communist Party asserted the compatibility of Christianity and Marxism–Leninism and sought Christian participation in the building of socialism. At first, the promotion of
Marxist–Leninist atheism received little official attention. In the mid-1950s, as the Cold War heated up, atheism became a topic of major interest for the state, in both domestic and foreign contexts. University chairs and departments devoted to the study of scientific atheism were founded and much literature (scholarly and popular) on the subject was produced. This activity subsided in the late 1960s amid perceptions that it had started to become counterproductive. Official and scholarly attention to atheism renewed beginning in 1973, though this time with more emphasis on scholarship and on the training of cadres than on propaganda. Throughout, the attention paid to atheism in East Germany was never intended to jeopardise the cooperation that was desired from those East Germans who were religious.
Protestantism
East Germany, historically, was majority
Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
(primarily
Lutheran
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
) from the early stages of the
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the papacy and ...
onwards. In 1948, freed from the influence of the
Nazi-oriented German Christians,
Lutheran
Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...
,
Reformed, and
United churches from most parts of Germany united as the
Protestant Church in Germany (''Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland''; EKD) at the Conference of Eisenach (''Kirchenversammlung von Eisenach'').
In 1969, the regional Protestant churches in East Germany and East Berlin broke away from the EKD and formed the ' (; BEK); the
Moravian ''Herrnhuter Brüdergemeinde'' also joined in 1970. In June 1991, following the German reunification, the BEK churches remerged with the EKD.
Between 1956 and 1971, the
leadership
Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations.
"Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...
of the East German Lutheran churches gradually changed its relations with the state from hostility to cooperation. From the founding of the GDR in 1949, the Socialist Unity Party sought to weaken the influence of the Church on the rising generation. The Church adopted an attitude of confrontation and distance toward the state. Around 1956 this began to develop into a more neutral stance accommodating conditional loyalty. The government was no longer regarded as illegitimate; instead, church leaders started to view the authorities as installed by God and, therefore, deserving of obedience by Christians. Still, churches reserved their right to reject state demands on matters that they felt were not in accordance with the will of God. There were both structural and intentional causes behind this development. Structural causes included the hardening of Cold War tensions in Europe in the mid-1950s, which made it clear that the East German state was not temporary. The loss of church members also made it clear to church leaders that they had to come into some kind of dialogue with the state. The intentions behind the change of attitude varied from a traditional liberal Lutheran acceptance of secular power to a positive attitude toward socialist ideas.
Manfred Stolpe became a lawyer for the Brandenburg Protestant Church in 1959 before taking up a position at church headquarters in Berlin. In 1969 he helped found the (BEK), where he negotiated with the government while at the same time working within the institutions of this Protestant body. He won the regional elections for the Brandenburg state assembly at the head of the SPD list in 1990. Stolpe remained in the Brandenburg government until he joined the federal government in 2002.
Apart from the Protestant state churches (, united in the EKD/BEK) and the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, there were a number of smaller Protestant bodies, including Protestant
Free Churches () united in the and the , as well as the
Free Lutheran Church, the
Old Lutheran Church, and
Federation of the Reformed Churches in the German Democratic Republic. The
Moravian Church
The Moravian Church, or the Moravian Brethren ( or ), formally the (Latin: "Unity of the Brethren"), is one of the oldest Protestant denominations in Christianity, dating back to the Bohemian Reformation of the 15th century and the original ...
also had its presence as the . There were also other Protestants such as
Methodists,
Adventists,
Mennonites
Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...
, and
Quakers
Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...
.
Catholicism
The smaller Catholic Church in eastern Germany had a fully functioning episcopal hierarchy in full accord with the Vatican. During the early postwar years, tensions were high. The Catholic Church as a whole (and particularly the bishops) resisted both the East German state and Marxist–Leninist ideology. The state allowed the bishops to lodge protests, which they did on issues such as abortion.
After 1945, the Church did fairly well in integrating Catholic exiles from lands to the east (which mostly became part of Poland) and in adjusting its institutional structures to meet the needs of a church within an officially atheist society. This meant an increasingly hierarchical church structure, whereas in the area of religious education, press, and youth organisations, a system of temporary staff was developed, one that took into account the special situation of
Caritas, a Catholic charity organisation. By 1950, therefore, there existed a Catholic subsociety that was well adjusted to prevailing specific conditions and capable of maintaining Catholic identity.
With a generational change in the episcopacy taking place in the early 1980s, the state hoped for better relations with the new bishops, but the new bishops instead began holding unauthorised mass meetings, promoting international ties in discussions with theologians abroad, and hosting ecumenical conferences. The new bishops became less politically oriented and more involved in pastoral care and attention to spiritual concerns. The government responded by limiting international contacts for bishops.
List of apostolic administrators:
*
Erfurt-Meiningen
*
Görlitz
Görlitz (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, East Lusatian: , , ) is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is on the river Lusatian Neisse and is the largest town in Upper Lusatia, the second-largest town in the region of Lusatia after ...
*
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river.
Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...
*
Schwerin
Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Low German: ''Swerin''; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Zwierzyn''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germ ...
Education
Childcare system

About 600,000 children and youth were involved in East German residential childcare system.
Culture
East Germany's culture was deeply influenced by communist ideology and was characterized by efforts to distinguish itself from the West, particularly
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 Republi ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. The ruling
Socialist Unity Party (SED) implemented a comprehensive cultural policy (Kulturpolitik) aimed at promoting socialist values and suppressing dissenting views. All forms of artistic and literary expression were subject to state censorship to ensure alignment with socialist ideals.
The
GDR leadership established institutions like the
Gesellschaft zur Verbreitung wissenschaftlicher Kenntnisse (Society for the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge), also known as Urania, to educate the population in science, technology, medicine, economics, and social sciences. This initiative reflected the state's commitment to advancing scientific knowledge and economic development.
Education in East Germany was designed to integrate vocational training with ideological instruction. The
polytechnic secondary school (POS) system emphasized subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, and political education, aiming to produce citizens aligned with
Marxist-Leninist ideals.
Cultural production, including literature and music, was guided by state policies.
The
Aufbauliteratur movement (1949–1961) exemplified literature that aligned with the state's political program, aiming to educate citizens in loyalty to the socialist ideology. In music, the state supported education but imposed guidelines to ensure that artistic expressions conformed to socialist values. Musicians in genres like rock, blues, and folk navigated these restrictions, sometimes facing conflicts with the state
Public perception of the state's ideals evolved over time. While some East Germans viewed their culture as embodying a more authentic and healthier mentality compared to that of West Germany, others became increasingly critical of the state's ideological commitments. Studies have shown that even decades after reunification, individuals from the former East Germany exhibit stronger preferences for state involvement in providing social welfare compared to their West German counterparts.
Music
A special feature of GDR culture is the broad spectrum of German rock bands. The
Puhdys and
Karat were some of the most popular mainstream bands in East Germany. Like most mainstream acts, they were members of the SED and appeared in state-run popular youth magazines such as ''Neues Leben'' and ''Magazin''. Other popular rock bands were ,
City
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
,
Silly, and
Pankow. Most of these artists recorded on the state-owned
AMIGA
Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...
label.
The
schlager genre, which was very popular in the West, also gained a foothold early on in East Germany, and numerous musicians, such as , , and gained national fame. From 1962 to 1976, an international schlager festival was held in
Rostock
Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...
, garnering participants from between 18 and 22 countries each year. The city of
Dresden
Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
held a similar international festival for schlager musicians from 1971 until shortly before reunification. There was a national schlager contest hosted yearly in Magdeburg from 1966 to 1971 as well.
Bands and singers from other socialist countries were popular, such as
Czerwone Gitary from Poland known as the .
Czech
Karel Gott, the Golden Voice from Prague, was beloved in both German states.
Hungarian band
Omega
Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value ...
performed in both German states, and
Yugoslavian band
Korni Grupa toured East Germany in the 1970s.
West German television and radio could be received in many parts of the East. The Western influence led to the formation of more "underground" groups with a decisively western-oriented sound. A few of these bands – the so-called ''
Die anderen Bands'' ("the other bands") – were , , and
Feeling B. Additionally,
hip hop
Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...
culture reached the ears of the East German youth. With videos such as ''
Beat Street'' and ''
Wild Style'', young East Germans were able to develop a hip hop culture of their own. East Germans accepted hip hop as more than just a music form. The entire street culture surrounding rap entered the region and became an outlet for oppressed youth.
The government of the GDR was invested in both promoting the tradition of German
classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
, and in supporting composers to write new works in that tradition. Notable East German composers include
Hanns Eisler,
Paul Dessau,
Ernst Hermann Meyer,
Rudolf Wagner-Régeny, and
Kurt Schwaen.
The birthplace of
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
(1685–1750),
Eisenach, was rendered as a museum about him, featuring more than three hundred instruments, which, in 1980, received some 70,000 visitors. In Leipzig, the Bach archive contains his compositions and correspondence and recordings of his music.
Governmental support of classical music maintained some 168 publicly funded concert, opera, chamber, and radio orchestras, such as
Gewandhausorchester and
Thomanerchor in Leipzig;
Sächsische Staatskapelle in Dresden; and
Berliner Sinfonie Orchester and
Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin.
Kurt Masur was their prominent conductor.
Censorship in the music sector
All productions were subject to
censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governmen ...
. Texts had to be submitted and shows approved in advance; performances were watched. No one was exempt from this, not even famous artists with connections to the highest circles of the SED government. Under this pressure, strategies were developed to bring critical texts to the audience despite censorship. For example, Heinz Quermann always deliberately built an extreme gag into his entertainment programme so that the censors would have something to cut and the other gags would be less critically scrutinised.
Tamara Danz of the band Silly founded the term "green elephant" (''grüner Elefant'') for such passages.
At the beginning of the 1960s, the music of the
Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
influenced GDR youth. Initially, this music was still tolerated and supported by the GDR leadership, especially with the help of the FDJ. The high point of this era was 1965, when GDR bands not only got radio and television appearances but were even allowed to make recordings. However, the SED realised that it could not control and steer this movement, which was basically rebellious and oriented towards the West. In response, most
beat bands were therefore simply banned, the others were strictly controlled. For example, Thomas Natschinski's band had to change its English name "Team 4" to the German name "Thomas Natschinski and his group". Other bands were not so conformist. Renft in particular was repeatedly banned from performing and later also the blues rock band Freygang, whose members went into hiding and then played under pseudonyms. This crackdown led to the
Leipzig Beat Revolt in October that year.
Even convinced socialists were banned from performing if their ideas of socialism differed from those of the SED. In 1976, singer-songwriter
Wolf Biermann was allowed to tour in the West; this was immediately taken as an opportunity to denaturalise him and refuse him permission to return. Numerous artists protested against this and were forced to leave the country – some after serving prison sentences – including members of
Renft, as well as
Manfred Krug and
Nina Hagen. Other artists left voluntarily.
Veronika Fischer, for example, did not return from a performance in West Berlin in 1981, whereupon her songs were no longer allowed to be played by GDR radio stations.
West German productions were also subject to censorship in East Germany. For example, the song by
Udo Jürgens "" ("Once Upon a Time There Was a Balloon") was put on the Index because of the line, "They know no borders, the balloons of the world". It was not until 1987 that Jürgens was again allowed to perform in the GDR.
Udo Lindenberg had similar problems. Despite all his efforts (such as his song "" ("Special Train to Pankow")), he was only allowed to perform once before the fall of the Berlin Wall, at the
Palast der Republik on the occasion of the event "" ("Rock for Peace") on 25 October 1983.
In the 1980s, censorship seemed to loosen up. Lyrics about the longing for freedom (including "Albatros" by Karat) became possible. But it was only in the course of the peaceful revolution that songs by Veronika Fischer were heard on the radio again in October 1989.
Theatre

East German theatre was originally dominated by
Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...
, who brought back many artists out of exile and reopened the
Theater am Schiffbauerdamm with his
Berliner Ensemble.
Alternatively, other influences tried to establish a "working-class theatre", played for the working class by the working class.
After Brecht's death, conflicts began to arise between his family (around
Helene Weigel) and other artists about Brecht's legacy, including
Slatan Dudow,
Erwin Geschonneck,
Erwin Strittmatter
Erwin Strittmatter (14 August 1912 – 31 January 1994) was a German writer. Strittmatter was one of the most famous writers in the GDR.
Biography
Strittmatter was born the son of a baker and foods wholesaler. Between 1924 and 1930 he attende ...
,
Peter Hacks,
Benno Besson
Benno Besson was a Swiss Theatre Director.
Benno Besson (born René-Benjamin Besson; 4 November 1922 in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland – 23 February 2006 in Berlin, Germany) was a theatre director
A theatre director or stage director is a ...
,
Peter Palitzsch, and
Ekkehard Schall.
In the 1950s, the Swiss director
Benno Besson
Benno Besson was a Swiss Theatre Director.
Benno Besson (born René-Benjamin Besson; 4 November 1922 in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland – 23 February 2006 in Berlin, Germany) was a theatre director
A theatre director or stage director is a ...
with the
Deutsches Theater successfully toured Europe and Asia including Japan with ''The Dragon'' by
Evgeny Schwartz. In the 1960s, he became the Intendant of the
Volksbühne
The Volksbühne ("People's Theatre") is a theater in Berlin. Located in Berlin's city center Mitte on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Rosa Luxemburg Square) in what was the GDR's capital. It has been called Berlin's most iconic theatre.
About
The V ...
often working with
Heiner Müller.
In the 1970s, a parallel theatre scene sprung up, creating theatre "outside of Berlin" in which artists played at provincial theatres. For example,
Peter Sodann founded the
Neues Theater in
Halle/Saale and
Frank Castorf at the theater
Anklam.
Theatre and
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
had high status in the GDR, which allowed it to be very proactive. This often brought it into confrontation with the state. Benno Besson once said, "In contrast to artists in the west, they took us seriously, we had a bearing."
The
Friedrichstadt-Palast in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
was the last major building erected by the GDR, making it an exceptional architectural testimony to how Germany overcame its former division. Today, it is a major center for Berlin's
revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre, theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketch comedy, sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural pre ...
tradition. Other important theatres include the
Berliner Ensemble, the
Deutsches Theater, the
Maxim Gorki Theater, and the
Volksbühne
The Volksbühne ("People's Theatre") is a theater in Berlin. Located in Berlin's city center Mitte on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz (Rosa Luxemburg Square) in what was the GDR's capital. It has been called Berlin's most iconic theatre.
About
The V ...
.
Television and radio
Television and radio in East Germany were state-run industries; the ''
Rundfunk der DDR
Rundfunk der DDR (, 'GDR Broadcasting'; from about 1948 to 1972 Deutscher Demokratischer Rundfunk, 'German Democratic Broadcasting') was the collective designation for radio broadcasting organized by the State Broadcasting Committee in the East ...
'' was the official radio broadcasting organisation from 1952 until unification. The organization was based in the ''Funkhaus Nalepastraße'' in East Berlin. ''
Deutscher Fernsehfunk'' (DFF), from 1972 to 1990 known as ''Fernsehen der DDR'' or DDR-FS, was the state television broadcaster from 1952. Reception of Western broadcasts was widespread.
Cinema
The prolific cinema of East Germany was headed by the ''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'' (
DEFA), which was subdivided in different local groups whose local teams shot and produced films. The East German industry became known worldwide for its productions, especially children's movies (''
Das kalte Herz'', film versions of the
Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...
fairy tales, and modern productions such as ''
Das Schulgespenst'').
Frank Beyer's ''
Jakob der Lügner'' ("Jacob the Liar"), about
the Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
, and ''
Fünf Patronenhülsen'' ("Five Cartridges"), about resistance against fascism, became internationally famous.
Films about daily life, such as ''
Die Legende von Paul und Paula'', by
Heiner Carow, and ''
Solo Sunny'', directed by
Konrad Wolf and
Wolfgang Kohlhaase, were very popular.
The film industry was remarkable for its production of ''
Ostern'', or Western-like movies. In these films,
Native Americans often took the role of displaced people who fight for their rights, in contrast to the
North American westerns of the time, where they were often either not mentioned at all or portrayed as villains.
Yugoslavs
Yugoslavs or Yugoslavians ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Jugoslaveni/Jugosloveni, Југославени/Југословени; ; ) is an identity that was originally conceived to refer to a united South Slavic people. It has been used in two connotations: ...
were often cast as Native Americans because of the small number of Native Americans in Europe.
Gojko Mitić was well known in these roles, often playing the righteous, kindhearted, and charming
chief (as in ''
Die Söhne der großen Bärin'' directed by
Josef Mach). He became an honorary
Sioux chief when he visited the United States in the 1990s, and the television crew accompanying him showed the tribe one of his movies. American actor and singer
Dean Reed, an expatriate who lived in East Germany, also starred in several films. These films were part of the phenomenon of Europe producing alternative films about the colonization of the Americas.
Cinemas in the GDR also showed foreign films. Czechoslovak and Polish productions were more common, but certain Western movies were shown, though the numbers of these were limited because it cost foreign exchange to buy the licenses. Further, films representing or glorifying what the state viewed as capitalist ideology were not bought. Comedies enjoyed great popularity, such as the Danish ''
Olsen Gang'' or movies with the French comedian
Louis de Funès.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, several films depicting life in the GDR have been critically acclaimed. Some of the most notable were ''
Good Bye Lenin!'' by
Wolfgang Becker, ''
Das Leben der Anderen'' ("The Lives of Others") by
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (which won the
Academy Award for Best International Feature Film) in 2006,
[2006 Academy Award for "The Lives of Others"](_blank)
, and ''
Alles auf Zucker!'' ("Go for Zucker") by Dani Levi. Each film is heavily infused with cultural nuances of life in the GDR.
Sport
East Germany was very successful in the sports of
cycling
Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...
,
weightlifting
Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...
, swimming, gymnastics, track and field,
boxing
Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...
,
ice skating, and winter sports. The success is largely attributed to
doping under the direction of
Manfred Höppner, a sports doctor, described as the architect of East Germany's state-sponsored drug program.
Anabolic steroid
Anabolic steroids, also known as anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), are a class of drugs that are structurally related to testosterone, the main male sex hormone, and produce effects by binding to the androgen receptor (AR). Anabolism, Anaboli ...
s were the most detected doping substances in
IOC-accredited laboratories for many years. The development and implementation of a state-supported sports doping program helped East Germany, with its small population, to become a world leader in sport during the 1970s and 1980s, winning a large number of Olympic and world gold medals and records. Another factor for success was the furtherance system for young people in the GDR. Sports teachers at school were encouraged to look for certain talents in children of ages 6 to 10. For older pupils it was possible to attend grammar schools with a focus on sports (for example sailing, football and swimming).
Sports clubs were highly subsidized, especially sports in which international fame was possible. For example, the major leagues for ice hockey and basketball just included two teams each.
Football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
was the most popular sport. Club football teams such as
Dynamo Dresden
Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, is a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Kasse ...
,
1. FC Magdeburg,
FC Carl Zeiss Jena
FC Carl Zeiss Jena () is a German football club based in Jena, Thuringia. Founded in 1903, it was initially associated with the optics manufacturer Carl Zeiss. From the 1960s to the 1980s it was one of the top-ranked clubs in East Germany, won ...
,
1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig, and
BFC Dynamo had successes in European competition. Many East German players such as
Matthias Sammer and
Ulf Kirsten became integral parts of the reunified national football team.
The East and the West also competed via sport. GDR athletes dominated several Olympic sports; the
SV Dynamo club of the security agencies won more than 200 Olympic medals. Of special interest was the
only football match between the
Federal Republic of Germany and the
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 ...
, a first-round match during the
1974 FIFA World Cup
The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the ...
, which the East won 1–0; but West Germany, the host, went on to win the World Cup.
East Germany had a revolutionary technology for two-stroke engines called the
expansion chamber, allowing them to win motorcycle races with little competition. Racer
Ernst Degner defected to Japan, taking the technology secret with him over to
Suzuki
is a Japanese multinational mobility manufacturer headquartered in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Shizuoka. It manufactures automobiles, motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles (ATVs), outboard motor, outboard marine engines, wheelchairs and a va ...
. After the defection, East German motorcycle racing effectively ended.
Official and public holidays
Legacy
Decrepit infrastructure
At the time of reunification, almost all East German highways, railroads, sewage systems, and public buildings were in a state of disrepair, as little was done to maintain infrastructure in the GDR's last decades. Over the next 30 years, unified German public spending invested more than $2 trillion into former East Germany, to make up for the region's neglect and malaise and bring it up to a minimal standard.
The
Greifswald Nuclear Power Plant narrowly avoided a
Chernobyl-scale meltdown in 1976. All East German nuclear power plants had to be shut down after reunification, because they did not meet Western safety standards.
Authoritarianism
German historian
Jürgen Kocka in 2010 summarized the consensus of most recent scholarship:
Ostalgie

Many East Germans initially regarded the dissolution of the GDR positively, but this reaction partly turned sour. West Germans often acted as if they had "won" and East Germans had "lost" in unification, leading many East Germans (''Ossis'') to resent West Germans (''Wessis''). In 2004,
Deborah Ascher Barnstone wrote, "East Germans resent the wealth possessed by West Germans; West Germans see the East Germans as lazy opportunists who want something for nothing. East Germans find 'Wessis' arrogant and pushy, West Germans think the 'Ossis' are lazy good-for-nothings."
In addition, many East German women found the West more appealing, and left the region never to return, leaving behind an underclass of poorly educated and jobless men.
In 2009, a majority (57%) of the people who stayed in East Germany defended the GDR,
with 49% of those polled saying that "The GDR had more good sides than bad sides. There were some problems, but life was good there", while 8% opposed all criticism of East Germany and said that "Life there was happier and better than in reunified Germany today".
As of 2014, the vast majority of residents in the former GDR prefer to live in a unified Germany. However, a feeling of nostalgia persists among some, termed "''
Ostalgie''" (a
blend of "east" and "nostalgia"). This was depicted in the
Wolfgang Becker film ''
Goodbye Lenin!''. According to
Klaus Schroeder, a historian and political scientist at the
Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in West Berlin in 1948 with American support during the early Cold War period a ...
, some of the original residents of the GDR "still feel they don't belong or that they're strangers in unified Germany" as life in the GDR was "just more manageable". He warns German society should watch out in case ''Ostalgie'' results in a distortion and romanticization of the past.
In 2023, a poll found that among Germans living in the former East Germany, 40% identified as "East Germans" and 52% identified as "Germans".
Electoral consequences
The divide between the East and the West can be seen in contemporary German elections. The left-wing populist
Die Linke party (which has roots in the SED) continues to have a stronghold and occasionally wins a plurality in the east, such as in the state of
Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
where it remains one of the major parties. The region also sees disproportionate support for the
Alternative for Germany
Alternative for Germany (, AfD, ) is a Far-right politics in Germany (1945–present), far-right,Far-right:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative p ...
(AfD), a right-wing populist party, particularly in the state of
Saxony
Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
and
Thuringia
Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area.
Er ...
. This is in stark distinction to the west where the more centrist parties such as the
CDU/CSU,
SPD,
The Greens, and the
FDP dominate.
The far-right
National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) was represented in the
Saxon State Parliament from
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
to
2014
The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...
. In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern the NPD was represented from
2006 to
2016
2016 was designated as:
* International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly.
* International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...
.
Demographics
There are more migrants in
former West Germany than in
former East Germany.
In 2016, in every state of former East Germany, 90–95% of people did not have a migrant background.
Religion
As of 2009, more Germans are non-believers in former Eastern Germany than former Western Germany.
Eastern Germany is perhaps the least religious region in the world.
[, ] An explanation for this, popular in other regions, is the aggressive
state atheist policies of the SED. However, the enforcement of atheism existed only for the first few years. After that, the state allowed churches to have a relatively high level of autonomy.
Atheism is embraced by Germans of all ages, though irreligion is particularly common among younger Germans.
See also
*
Leadership of East Germany
*
History of Germany (1945–1990)
*
Inner German relations
*
Economic history of the German reunification
*
Scotland-GDR Society
*
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 Republi ...
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
Further reading
General
*
*
*
*
*
*
online review*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
online review*
*
*
*
excerpt and text search*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
online review*
*
online review
Historiography and memory
*
*
excerpt*
*
*
*
*
*
* Argues the history of East Germany is taught in 21st-century German schools, but not its literature.
External links
Border Museum at SchifflersgrundDDR Museum BerlinCulture of GDRAHFNationale Volksarmee : NVA*
*
Special Collections Research Center,
George Mason University
George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...
Libraries.
Geschichte des ostdeutschen Designshistory of east German design
*
RFE/RL East German Subject Files Blinken Open Society Archives, Budapest
*
East German anthem with English and German lyricsMap – Europe 1949: NATO and the Two Germanys (omniatlas.com)Mauerkarte – Detailed interactive map of the border between East and West Germany
{{Authority control
1949 establishments in Germany
1990 disestablishments in Germany
Communism in Germany
Communist states
Eastern Bloc
Former countries in Europe
Germany, East
Ostalgie
Soviet satellite states
Germany, East
States and territories established in 1949