The State Planning Commission (SPC) (

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Staatliche Plankommission'') was a central state authority of the

GDR East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

Council of Ministers Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...

for planning, coordinating and proportional development of all sectors of the economy, public education and other areas of public life in the districts and for solving the most important economic tasks. In the central administrative economy of the GDR, it was responsible for the coordination, elaboration and control of the medium-term perspective plans (five-year plan) and the annual economic plans derived from them.

Heinrich Rau Heinrich Gottlob "Heiner" Rau (2 April 1899 – 23 March 1961) was a German communist politician during the time of the Weimar Republic; subsequently, during the Spanish Civil War, he was a leading member of the International Brigades and after ...

was the first chairman of SPC in 1950–1952.

Overview

The State Planning Commission emerged from the Ministry of Planning in 1950. The

state-owned enterprise A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a business entity created or owned by a national or local government, either through an executive order or legislation. SOEs aim to generate profit for the government, prevent private sector monopolies, provide goo ...

s, agricultural production cooperatives, etc. — each had to defend their plans in front of the planning commission responsible for them. The companies had to regularly document the implementation of the planned services with a large number of plan indicators. Monitoring the fulfillment of the plan was carried out at all levels in parallel by the party organs of 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 ...

, which were authorized to issue instructions to the state leaders. The annual national economic plan passed by the People's Chamber had the force of law. Verifiable violations of the plan discipline could lead to sanctions (fines) for the company. Since almost all company leaders were also members of the

, they could be expelled from the party as a result of not delivering of the state plans. At the intergovernmental level, the SPC coordinated the plans of the GDR with the countries of 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 ...

Block. For this purpose the East German government agreements were concluded within the framework of socialist economic integration. The SPC was based in the former building of the

Prussian Landtag The Landtag of Prussia () was the representative assembly of the Kingdom of Prussia implemented in 1849, a bicameral legislature consisting of the upper House of Lords (''Herrenhaus'') and the lower House of Representatives (''Abgeordnetenhaus'') ...

(state parliament) at the address

Leipziger Straße Leipziger Straße, or Leipziger Strasse (see ß), is a major thoroughfare in the central Mitte district of Berlin, capital of Germany. It runs from Leipziger Platz, an octagonal square adjacent to Potsdamer Platz in the west, to Spittelmar ...

5–7 in

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 ...

Mitte Mitte () is the first and most central borough of Berlin. The borough consists of six sub-entities: Mitte proper, Gesundbrunnen, Hansaviertel, Moabit, Tiergarten and Wedding. It is one of the two boroughs (the other being Friedrichshain-Kreuz ...

district .

Chairmen

The chairmen of the State Planning Commission had ministerial rank and usually also served as Deputy Chairman of the

and were full or candidate (in case of Schürer) members of the SED Politburo. , -align="center" ! colspan=7, Minister for Planning , -align="center" ! colspan=7, Chairman of the State Planning Commission , -align="center" ! colspan=7, Chairman of the Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers

References

{{Authority control 1950 establishments Business organisations based in East Germany Economic planning Economy of East Germany