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{{Infobox Former Country|native_name = Deutsche Demokratische Republik|conventional_long_name = German Democratic Republic|common_name = East Germany|continent = Europe|region = Germany|country = Germany|era = Cold War|event_start = History of Germany since 1945|year_start = 1949|date_start = October 7|event_end = German reunification|year_end = 1990|date_end = October 3|event1 = Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany|date_event1 = September 25 1990]"|common_languages = German language|capital = East Berlin ||latd=52 |latm=31 |latNS=N |longd=13 |longm=24 |longEW=E|government_type = Socialist republic|legislature = Volkskammer|title_leader = Leaders of East Germany|leader1 = Wilhelm Pieck|year_leader1 = 1949 – 1960|leader2 = Walter Ulbricht|year_leader2 = 1960 – 1973|leader3 = Willi Stoph|year_leader3 = 1973 – 1976|leader4 = Erich Honecker|year_leader4 = 1976 – 1989|leader5 = Egon Krenz|year_leader5 = 1989|leader6 = Manfred Gerlach|year_leader6 = 1989 - 1990|leader7 = Sabine Bergmann-Pohl|year_leader7 = 1990|title_deputy = Leaders of East Germany|deputy1 = Otto Grotewohl|year_deputy1 = 1949 – 1964|deputy2 = Willi Stoph|year_deputy2 = 1964 – 1973|deputy3 = Horst Sindermann|year_deputy3 = 1973 – 1976|deputy4 = Willi Stoph|year_deputy4 = 1976 – 1989|deputy5 = Hans Modrow|year_deputy5 = 1989 – 1990|deputy6 = Lothar de Maizière|year_deputy6 = 1990|stat_area1 = 108333|stat_pop1 = 16111000|stat_year1 = 1990|currency = East German mark|footnotes = Country code top-level domain: .dd, List of country calling codes: +37-->

The German Democratic Republic (GDR; , DDR; commonly and informally known in English as East Germany) was a communist state in the Soviet Zone of occupied Germany by the Soviet Union which was adjacent to the Capitalism, democracy state of West Germany, and existed from 1949 to 1990.

It consisted of the current States of Germany of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Saxony and the eastern part of Berlin.

In 1955 the Republic was declared by the Soviet Union to be fully sovereignty; however, Soviet Union troops remained, based on the four-power Potsdam Agreement. As NATO troops remained in West Berlin and West Germany, the GDR and Berlin in particular became focal points of Cold War tensions. East Germany was a member of the Warsaw Pact and a close ally of the Soviet Union. Following the initial opening of sections of the Berlin Wall on November 9 1989, new elections were held on March 18 1990, and the governing party, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, lost its majority in the Volkskammer (the East German parliament) soon after. On August 23, the Volkskammer decided that the territory of the Republic would accede to the Ambit claim of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany on October 3 1990. As a result of the German reunification on that date, the German Democratic Republic officially ceased to exist.

History During the post-Roman migration period, many of these populations left for other lands, and Slavic peoples Wends settled in their wake. German imperial rulers conquered the area during the Middle Ages. The newly acquired land was organised in margravates, German feudal states on the land of Slavs. Consequent waves of German settlements, which in subsequent centuries later included French Hugenots and Jews, gradually modified the originally Slavic composition of the land, except for the small community of Sorbs in Lusatia, and eventually most of what is now East Germany formed a large part of the historical Kingdom of Prussia.

In Imperial Germany and later during the time of the Weimar Republic, territory that would become East Germany was situated in the center of the state. This territory was known as "Mitteldeutschland" (Middle Germany), while the designation "East" was reserved for provinces such as eastern Pomerania, eastern Brandenburg, Silesia and East Prussia and West Prussia. During WWII, Allied leaders decided at the Yalta Conference that post-war borders of Poland would be moved westward to the Oder-Neisse line, just as Soviet borders were also moved westward into formerly Polish territory.

Discussions at Yalta and Potsdam also outlined the planned occupation and administration of post-war Germany under a four-power Allied Control Council, or ACC (composed of the United States, United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union). At the end of World War II, at the Potsdam Conference in 1945, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union decided to divide Germany into four occupation zones. Each country would control a part of Germany until its sovereignty was restored.

The Länder (states) of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and the eastern sector of Greater Berlin fell in the Soviet Zone of Germany (in German: Sowjetische Besatzungszone, or SBZ). Soviet objections to economic and political changes in western (US, UK, and French) occupation zones led to Soviet withdrawal from the ACC in 1948 and subsequent evolution of the SBZ into East Germany. Concurrently, the Western occupation zones consolidated to form West Germany (or the Federal Republic of Germany, FRG).

consists of the American, British and French Zones (without the Saar), East Germany is formed from the Soviet Zone.Officially, both the western Allies and the Communists committed to maintaining a unified Germany after the war in the Potsdam Agreement, at least on paper. The 1952 Stalin Note proposed German unification and superpower disengagement from Central Europe, but the United States and its allies rejected the offer. Stalin died in early 1953. Though powerful Soviet politician Lavrenty Beria briefly pursued the idea of German unification once more following Stalin's death, he was arrested and removed from office in a coup d'etat in mid-1953. His successor, Nikita Khrushchev, firmly rejected the idea of handing eastern Germany over to be annexed, marking the end of any serious consideration of the unification idea until the collapse of the Communist East German government in 1989.

Just as Germany was divided after the war, Berlin, the former capital of Germany, was divided into four sectors. East Germany and the rest of the Eastern bloc considered East Berlin to be the capital of East Germany, although the legality of this was disputed by the western Allies, as the entire city was formally considered an occupied territory governed by martial law through the Allied Control Council. In practice, the Allied Control Council quickly became moot as the Cold War intensified, and the eastern government ignored the technical legal restrictions on how East Berlin could be used.

Conflict over the status of West Berlin led to the Berlin Blockade, when the East German government prohibited overland transit between West Germany and West Berlin, prompting the massive Berlin Airlift.

The first leader of East Germany was Wilhelm Pieck, the first (and as it turned out, only) President of the Republic. However, after 1950 the real power rested with Walter Ulbricht, first secretary of the Socialist Unity Party, the ruling Communist party.

On June 16, 1953, following a production quota increase of 10 percent for workers building East Berlin's new boulevard the Stalinallee, (today's Karl-Marx-Allee), demonstrations by disgruntled workers broke out in East Berlin. The next day the protests spread across East Germany with more than a million on strike and demonstrations in 700 communities. Fearing revolution the government requested the aid of Soviet occupation troops and on the morning of the 18th tanks and soldiers were dispatched who dealt harshly with protesters. The result was some fifty deaths and a wave of arrests and jail sentences numbering over 10,000. East Berlin June 17, 1953: Stones Against Tanks, Deutsche Welle, Accessed 2007-05-16 Transit between West and East Berlin was relatively free at the time, meaning that the protests and the harsh Soviet reaction unfolded in full view of many western observers. See Uprising of 1953 in East Germany.

During the early stages of the occupation, the Red Army seized a great deal of industrial equipment from eastern Germany to be shipped back to the Soviet Union as war reparations, crippling the East German economy for years. The increasing economic prosperity of West Germany led large numbers of East Germans to Republikflucht. Since the 1940s, East Germans had been leaving the Soviet zone of Germany to emigrate to the west. The ongoing emigration of East Germans further strained the East German economy. Although the border between the two Germanies was largely closed by the mid-1950s (see Inner German border), the sector borders in Berlin were relatively easy to cross. Due to the lure of higher salaries in the West and political oppression in the East, many skilled workers (such as doctors) crossed into the West, causing a 'brain drain' in the East. However, on the night of August 13 1961, East German troops sealed the border between West and East Berlin and started to build the Berlin Wall, literally and physically enclosing West Berlin. Travel was greatly restricted into, and out of, East Germany. A highly effective security force called the Stasi monitored the lives of East German citizens to suppress dissenters through its network of informants and agents.

In 1971, Ulbricht was forced out as head of state under Soviet pressure, and replaced by Erich Honecker. Ulbricht had experimented with a few reforms, but Honecker tightened the reins and imposed a East German Constitution that used the word "German" sparingly and defined the country as a "republic of workers and peasants." East Germany was generally regarded as the most economically advanced member of the Warsaw Pact.

Until the 1970s, West Germany regarded East Germany as an illegally constituted state, and under the Hallstein Doctrine refused to have diplomatic relations with any country (except the Soviet Union) that recognized East Germany as a separate country. In the early 1970s, Ostpolitik led by Willy Brandt led to a form of mutual recognition between East and West Germany. The Treaty of Moscow (1970) (August 1970), the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) (December 1970), the Four Power Agreement on Berlin (September 1971), the Transit Agreement (1972) (May 1972), and the Basic Treaty (1972) (December 1972) helped to normalise relations between East and West Germany and led to both Germanies joining the United Nations.



Competition with the West was also conducted on a sporting level. East German athletes dominated several Olympic Games disciplines. Of special interest was the only football (soccer) match ever to occur between West and East Germany, a first round match during the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Though West Germany was the host and the eventual champion, East beat West 1-0.

In September 1989 Hungary removed its border restrictions and unsealed its border and more than 13,000 people left East Germany by crossing the "green" border via Czechoslovakia into Hungary and then on to Austria and West Germany. The Berlin Wall (1961 - 1989) German Notes, Accessed 2006-10-24 Many others demonstrated against the ruling party, especially in the city of Leipzig. Kurt Masur, the conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra led local negotiations with the government, and held town meetings in the concert hall.Darnton, Robert, Berlin Journal (New York, 1992, W.W. Norton) pp.98-99 The demonstrations eventually led Erich Honecker to resign in October, and he was replaced by a slightly more liberal Communist, Egon Krenz.

On November 9 1989, a few sections of the Berlin Wall were opened, resulting in thousands of East Germans crossing into West Berlin and West Germany for the first time. Soon, the governing party of East Germany resigned. Although there were some small attempts to create a permanent, democratic East Germany, these were soon overwhelmed by calls for unification with West Germany. After some negotiations (Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany Talks, involving the two Germanies and the former Allies of World War II United States, France, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union), conditions for German unification were agreed upon. East Germany recreated the original New Länder that had been abolished in 1952. On October 3 1990; the five East German 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 and Hamburg).

To this day, there remain vast differences between the former East Germany and West Germany (for example, in lifestyle, wealth, political beliefs and other matters) and thus it is still common to speak of eastern and western Germany distinctly. The Eastern German economy has struggled since unification, and large subsidies are still transferred from west to east.

Politics and Social Democrat Otto Grotewohl when their parties merged in 1946

Political organisation The ruling political party in East Germany was the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Socialist Unity Party of Germany, SED). It was created in 1946 through the Soviet-directed merger of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in the Soviet controlled zone.

The Potsdam Agreement committed the Soviets to supporting a democratic form of government in Germany, and, unlike other Soviet satellites, other political parties were permitted. The East German concept of democracy both benefitted from concepts central to democracy that were foreign to their Western neighbours— however, the government's advanced surveillance program was totalitarian.

All parties operating in East Germany were forced to join the "National Front (East Germany)", ostensibly a united coalition of anti-fascist political parties. It was completely controlled by the SED. Members included:



Elections took place to a parliament called the Volkskammer, but were effectively controlled by the SED/state hierarchy, as Hans Modrow has noted. Elections were held in less-than-secret conditions, with voters given the choice of approving or rejecting "unity lists" put forward by the National Front. As was the case in most Communist countries, approval rates of 90 percent or more were routine.

The Volkskammer also included representatives from the mass organisations like the Free German Youth (Freie Deutsche Jugend or FDJ), or the Free German Trade Union Federation. In an attempt to include women in the political life of East Germany, there was a Democratic Women's Federation of Germany, with seats in the Volkskammer.

Important non-parliamentary mass organisations in East German society included the German Gymnastics and Sports Association (Deutscher Turn- und Sportbund or DTSB), and People's Solidarity (Volkssolidarität, an organisation for the elderly). Another society of note (and very popular during the late 1980s) was the Society for German-Soviet Friendship.

A highly effective secret police force called the Stasi infiltrated and reported on most private activity in East Germany, limiting opportunity for non-sanctioned political organisation. All formal organisations except for churches were directly controlled by the East German government. Churches were permitted to operate more or less free from government control, as long as they abstained from political activity.

Following German reunification, the SED was renamed the "Party of Democratic Socialism" (PDS) and then the Left Party (Germany) (die Linke). The Left Party continues to be a political force in Berlin and other areas of the former East Germany, albeit drastically less powerful than the SED.

Persons of note in East Germany

Political representatives

Other notable East Germans



Administrative divisions In 1952, as part of the reforms designed to centralise power in the hands of the SED's Politbüro, the five States of Germany of East Germany were abolished, and East Germany was divided into fifteen Bezirke (districts), each named after the largest city: the northern Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was divided between the Bezirke Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg; Brandenburg (surrounding Berlin) was reorganised into the Bezirke of Potsdam, Frankfurt (Oder) and Cottbus; Saxony-Anhalt split into the Bezirke of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt and Magdeburg; the south-western Land Thuringia became the Bezirke of Erfurt, Gera and Suhl; finally, the south-eastern Land Saxony was divided between Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz (formerly and following the GDR's collapse again known as Chemnitz). The GDR capital, East Berlin formed the 15th Bezirk, though it retained a special legal status in the GDR until 1968, when East Berliners voted with the rest of the GDR to approve the draft of the new constitution. From this point onwards, irrespective of the Four Power Status and the western allies' objections that East Berlin was merely the Soviet occupied sector of the German capital, East Berlin was treated as a Bezirk like any other.

Economy

Like other East European socialist states, East Germany had a centrally planned economy (CPE), similar to the one in the former Soviet Union, in contrast to the market economy or mixed economy of most Western states. The state established production targets and prices and allocated resources, codifying these decisions in a comprehensive plan or set of plans. The means of production were almost entirely state owned. In 1985, for example, state-owned enterprises or collectives earned 96.7 percent of total net national income. To secure constant prices for inhabitants, the state bore 80% of costs of basic supplies, from bread to housing. The per capita income in 1989 was an estimated $9,800 (approximately $16,000 in 2006 dollars), though the currency conversion used to create this figure was difficult to conduct. In 1976 average annual GDP growth was roughly 2.6%.

The ultimate directing force in the economy, as in every aspect of the society, was the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands--SED), particularly its top leadership. The party exercised its leadership role formally during the party congress, when it accepted the report of the general secretary, and when it adopted the draft plan for the upcoming five-year period.

The private sector of the economy was small but not entirely insignificant. In 1985 about 2.8 percent of the net national product came from private enterprises. The private sector included private farmers and gardeners; independent craftsmen, wholesalers, and retailers; and individuals employed in so-called free-lance activities (artist, writers, and others). Although self-employed, such individuals were strictly regulated; in some cases the tax rate exceeded 90 %. In 1985, for the first time in many years, the number of individuals working in the private sector increased slightly. According to East German statistics, in 1985 there were about 176,800 private entrepreneurs, an increase of about 500 over 1984. Certain private sector activities were quite important to the system because those craftsmen provided rare, specially made spare parts.

Culture Music For ideological reasons artists were expected to sing songs only in German at first, which changed with the end of the sixties. This seemed a logical constraint by the Party leaders but it was rather unpopular among young people. There were strict rules that regulated that all artistic activity ought to be censored for any open or implied anti-socialist tendencies. The band Renft, for example, was prone to political misbehaviour, which eventually led to its split.

The Puhdys and Karat (band) were some of the most popular mainstream bands, managing to hint at critical thoughts in their lyrics without being explicit. Like most mainstream acts, they appeared in popular youth magazines such as Neues Leben and Magazin. Other popular rock bands were Wir (band), Dean Reed, City (band) and Pankow (band). Most of these artists recorded on the state-owned :de:AMIGA label.

Influences from the West were heard everywhere, because TV and radio that came from the Klassenfeind (class enemy, meaning "enemy of the working class") could be received in many parts of the East, too (a notorious exception being Dresden, with its geographically disadvantageous position in the Elbe valley, giving it the nickname of “Valley of the Clueless”). The Western influence led to the formation of more "underground" groups with a decisively western-oriented sound. A few of these bands were Die Skeptiker, as well as Feeling B.

Classical music was highly supported, so that there existed over 50 classical symphony orchestras in a country with a population about 16 million.See also:

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in East German territory and his birthplace in Eisenach was turned into a museum of his life, which, among other things, included more than 300 instruments from Bach's life. In 1980 this museum was receiving more than 70,000 visitors annually.

In Leipzig, an enormous archive with recordings of all of Bach's music was compiled, along with many historical documents and letters both to and from him.

Every other year, school children from across East Germany gathered for a Bach competition held in East Berlin. Every four years an international Bach competition for keyboard and strings was held.

Theatre East German theatre was originally dominated by Bertolt Brecht, 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 heritage. Heinz Kahlau, Slatan Dudow, Erwin Geschonneck, Erwin Strittmatter, Peter Hacks, Benno Besson, Peter Palitzsch and Ekkehard Schall were considered to be among Bertolt Brecht's scholars and followers.

In the 1950s the Swiss director Benno Besson with the Deutsches Theater successfully toured Europe and Asia including Japan with "The Dragon" by Jewgenij Schwarz. In the 1960s, he became the Intendant of the Volksbühne often working with Heiner Müller.

After 1975 many artists left the GDR due to increasing censorship. A parallel theatre scene grew 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 had high status in the GDR, which allowed it to be very pro-active. This often brought it into confrontation with the State. Benno Besson once said: "At least they took us seriously, we had a bearing."

Important theatres:

Cinema In the GDR, the movie industry was very active. The head-group for film-productions was the DEFA , Deutsche Film AG, which was subdivided in different local groups, for example Gruppe Berlin, Gruppe Babelsberg or Gruppe Johannisthal, where the local teams shot and produced films. Besides folksy movies, the movie-industry became known worldwide for its productions, especially children's movies ("Das kalte Herz", film versions of the Grimm brothers fairy-tales and modern productions such as "Das Schulgespenst").

Frank Beyer's "Jacob the Liar" (about persecution of Jews in Third Reich) and, "Fünf Patronenhülsen"(Five Bullet Shells) about resistance against fascism, became internationally famous.

Movies about problems of everyday life such as "Die Legende von Paul und Paula" (directed by Heiner Carow) and "Solo Sunny" (directed by Konrad Wolf and Wolfgang Kohlhaase) were also very popular.

The film industry was remarkable for its production of Ostern, or Western-like movies. Native Americans in the United States in these films often took the role of displaced people who fight for their rights, in contrast to the Western (genre) of the time, where Indians were often either not mentioned at all or are portrayed as the villains. Yugoslavians were often cast as the Indians, due to the small number of American Indians in eastern Europe. Gojko Mitic was well-known in these roles, often playing the righteous, kindhearted and charming Tribal chief ("The Sons of the Great Mother Bear" directed by Josef Mach). He became an honorary Sioux chief when he visited the United States of America in the 90s 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 America. See also Spaghetti Western and the West German Winnetou films (adaptations of novels of Karl May).

Because of censorship a certain number of very remarkable movies were forbidden at this time and reissued after the Wende in 1990. Examples are "Spur der Steine" (directed by Frank Beyer) and "Der geteilte Himmel" (directed by Konrad Wolf).

Cinemas in the GDR also showed some foreign films. Czechoslovak and Polish productions were more common, but also certain western movies were shown, but the numbers were limited because it cost foreign exchange to buy the licences. Further, movies representing or glorifying capitalistic ideology were not bought. Comedies enjoyed great popularity, such as the Danish "Olsen Gang" or movies with the French comedian Louis de Funès.

Sports For a small country, the people of East Germany achieved some remarkable results in many sports including cycling, weightlifting, swimming, track and field, boxing, skating and other winter sports.One reason for the success was started with late 1960s leadership of Dr. Manfred Hoeppner, when his policy of anabolic steroid administration to many athletes was established. This secret and illegal program allowed East Germany, with its small population, to become a world leader in the following two decades, winning a large number of Olympic Games and world gold medals and records. This success continued even after the international steroid testing policy was established as the steroids given to athletes in the GDR olympic program were not detectable by standard tests of the time. These drugs were given to athletes including young children without their knowledge and have had tragic effects on their health over the years. (See Doping (sport)).

Another factor for success was the furtherance-system for young people in GDR. When some children were aged around 6 until 10 years old (or older) sport-teachers at school were encouraged to look for certain talents in every pupil. For older pupils it was possible to attend grammar-schools with a focus on sports (for example sailing, football and swimming). This policy was also used for talented pupils with regard to music or mathematics.

Sports clubs were highly subsidised, especially sports in which it was possible to get international fame. For example, the major leagues for ice hockey and basketball just included each 2 teams (excluding the school and university sport). Football (soccer) was the most popular sport after team handball, although the East Germany national football team was rarely successful in comparison to the Germany national football team, which won the FIFA World Cup three times before reunification. Club football sides like Dynamo Dresden, 1. FC Magdeburg, FC Carl Zeiss Jena and 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig did have some success in European competition. Many East German players became integral parts of the reunified national football team, for example Matthias Sammer. Other sports enjoyed great popularity like figure skating, especially because of sportswomen like Katharina Witt.

East Germans patriotically supported their athletes to success in international competitions for similar reasons as those in other countries, and this no doubt played its part in the success that state enjoyed. However, as with other Soviet states, a widely held perception existed that international athletic success advertised their political and economic system to a worldwide audience. In the special case of East Germany, being the minority section of the divided Cold War era Germany, the particular success of that state was considered to foster international acceptance of the GDR as a state in its own right.

Holidays {| border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 class="toccolours" style="align: left; margin: 0.5em 0 0 0; border-style: solid; border: 1px solid #7f7f7f; border-right-width: 2px; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"|-! style="background: #efefef; border-bottom: 2px solid gray;" | Date! style="background: #efefef; border-bottom: 2px solid gray;" | English Name! style="background: #efefef; border-bottom: 2px solid gray;" | German Name! style="background: #efefef; border-bottom: 2px solid gray;" | Remarks|-| January 1| Neujahr|  |-| [March 8| Internationaler Frauentag| Was not a day off.|-| [Moveable feast]| Karfreitag|  |-| Moveable feast]| Ostersonntag|  |-| Moveable feast]| Ostermontag| Was not an official Holiday after 1967.|-| May 1| Tag der Arbeit| International Workers' Day|-| [Moveable feast] / Ascension Day. Was not an official holiday nor a day off, but still widely celebrated.|-| [Moveable feast]| Pfingstmontag| 50 days after Easter Sunday

|-| [October 7| Tag der Republik| National holiday|-| [December 25| 1. Weihnachtsfeiertag|  |-| [December 26| 2. Weihnachtsfeiertag|  |}

See also Germany

Forces

Media

Transport

Other

References

Notes External links

Countries of the world  ]

{{succession box | title=German Democratic Republic
1949-1990

Concurrent with:

West Germany 1949-1990

| before=Allied Occupation Zones in Germany ]|years=-->

{{Infobox Former Country|native_name = Deutsche Demokratische Republik|conventional_long_name = German Democratic Republic|common_name = East Germany|continent = Europe|region = Germany|country = Germany|era = Cold War|event_start = History of Germany since 1945|year_start = 1949|date_start = October 7|event_end = German reunification|year_end = 1990|date_end = October 3|event1 = Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany|date_event1 = September 25 1990]"|common_languages = German language|capital = East Berlin ||latd=52 |latm=31 |latNS=N |longd=13 |longm=24 |longEW=E|government_type = Socialist republic|legislature = Volkskammer|title_leader = Leaders of East Germany|leader1 = Wilhelm Pieck|year_leader1 = 1949 – 1960|leader2 = Walter Ulbricht|year_leader2 = 1960 – 1973|leader3 = Willi Stoph|year_leader3 = 1973 – 1976|leader4 = Erich Honecker|year_leader4 = 1976 – 1989|leader5 = Egon Krenz|year_leader5 = 1989|leader6 = Manfred Gerlach|year_leader6 = 1989 - 1990|leader7 = Sabine Bergmann-Pohl|year_leader7 = 1990|title_deputy = Leaders of East Germany|deputy1 = Otto Grotewohl|year_deputy1 = 1949 – 1964|deputy2 = Willi Stoph|year_deputy2 = 1964 – 1973|deputy3 = Horst Sindermann|year_deputy3 = 1973 – 1976|deputy4 = Willi Stoph|year_deputy4 = 1976 – 1989|deputy5 = Hans Modrow|year_deputy5 = 1989 – 1990|deputy6 = Lothar de Maizière|year_deputy6 = 1990|stat_area1 = 108333|stat_pop1 = 16111000|stat_year1 = 1990|currency = East German mark|footnotes = Country code top-level domain: .dd, List of country calling codes: +37-->

The German Democratic Republic (GDR; , DDR; commonly and informally known in English as East Germany) was a communist state in the Soviet Zone of occupied Germany by the Soviet Union which was adjacent to the Capitalism, democracy state of West Germany, and existed from 1949 to 1990.

It consisted of the current States of Germany of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Saxony and the eastern part of Berlin.

In 1955 the Republic was declared by the Soviet Union to be fully sovereignty; however, Soviet Union troops remained, based on the four-power Potsdam Agreement. As NATO troops remained in West Berlin and West Germany, the GDR and Berlin in particular became focal points of Cold War tensions. East Germany was a member of the Warsaw Pact and a close ally of the Soviet Union. Following the initial opening of sections of the Berlin Wall on November 9 1989, new elections were held on March 18 1990, and the governing party, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, lost its majority in the Volkskammer (the East German parliament) soon after. On August 23, the Volkskammer decided that the territory of the Republic would accede to the Ambit claim of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany on October 3 1990. As a result of the German reunification on that date, the German Democratic Republic officially ceased to exist.

History During the post-Roman migration period, many of these populations left for other lands, and Slavic peoples Wends settled in their wake. German imperial rulers conquered the area during the Middle Ages. The newly acquired land was organised in margravates, German feudal states on the land of Slavs. Consequent waves of German settlements, which in subsequent centuries later included French Hugenots and Jews, gradually modified the originally Slavic composition of the land, except for the small community of Sorbs in Lusatia, and eventually most of what is now East Germany formed a large part of the historical Kingdom of Prussia.

In Imperial Germany and later during the time of the Weimar Republic, territory that would become East Germany was situated in the center of the state. This territory was known as "Mitteldeutschland" (Middle Germany), while the designation "East" was reserved for provinces such as eastern Pomerania, eastern Brandenburg, Silesia and East Prussia and West Prussia. During WWII, Allied leaders decided at the Yalta Conference that post-war borders of Poland would be moved westward to the Oder-Neisse line, just as Soviet borders were also moved westward into formerly Polish territory.

Discussions at Yalta and Potsdam also outlined the planned occupation and administration of post-war Germany under a four-power Allied Control Council, or ACC (composed of the United States, United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union). At the end of World War II, at the Potsdam Conference in 1945, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union decided to divide Germany into four occupation zones. Each country would control a part of Germany until its sovereignty was restored.

The Länder (states) of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and the eastern sector of Greater Berlin fell in the Soviet Zone of Germany (in German: Sowjetische Besatzungszone, or SBZ). Soviet objections to economic and political changes in western (US, UK, and French) occupation zones led to Soviet withdrawal from the ACC in 1948 and subsequent evolution of the SBZ into East Germany. Concurrently, the Western occupation zones consolidated to form West Germany (or the Federal Republic of Germany, FRG).

consists of the American, British and French Zones (without the Saar), East Germany is formed from the Soviet Zone.Officially, both the western Allies and the Communists committed to maintaining a unified Germany after the war in the Potsdam Agreement, at least on paper. The 1952 Stalin Note proposed German unification and superpower disengagement from Central Europe, but the United States and its allies rejected the offer. Stalin died in early 1953. Though powerful Soviet politician Lavrenty Beria briefly pursued the idea of German unification once more following Stalin's death, he was arrested and removed from office in a coup d'etat in mid-1953. His successor, Nikita Khrushchev, firmly rejected the idea of handing eastern Germany over to be annexed, marking the end of any serious consideration of the unification idea until the collapse of the Communist East German government in 1989.

Just as Germany was divided after the war, Berlin, the former capital of Germany, was divided into four sectors. East Germany and the rest of the Eastern bloc considered East Berlin to be the capital of East Germany, although the legality of this was disputed by the western Allies, as the entire city was formally considered an occupied territory governed by martial law through the Allied Control Council. In practice, the Allied Control Council quickly became moot as the Cold War intensified, and the eastern government ignored the technical legal restrictions on how East Berlin could be used.

Conflict over the status of West Berlin led to the Berlin Blockade, when the East German government prohibited overland transit between West Germany and West Berlin, prompting the massive Berlin Airlift.

The first leader of East Germany was Wilhelm Pieck, the first (and as it turned out, only) President of the Republic. However, after 1950 the real power rested with Walter Ulbricht, first secretary of the Socialist Unity Party, the ruling Communist party.

On June 16, 1953, following a production quota increase of 10 percent for workers building East Berlin's new boulevard the Stalinallee, (today's Karl-Marx-Allee), demonstrations by disgruntled workers broke out in East Berlin. The next day the protests spread across East Germany with more than a million on strike and demonstrations in 700 communities. Fearing revolution the government requested the aid of Soviet occupation troops and on the morning of the 18th tanks and soldiers were dispatched who dealt harshly with protesters. The result was some fifty deaths and a wave of arrests and jail sentences numbering over 10,000. East Berlin June 17, 1953: Stones Against Tanks, Deutsche Welle, Accessed 2007-05-16 Transit between West and East Berlin was relatively free at the time, meaning that the protests and the harsh Soviet reaction unfolded in full view of many western observers. See Uprising of 1953 in East Germany.

During the early stages of the occupation, the Red Army seized a great deal of industrial equipment from eastern Germany to be shipped back to the Soviet Union as war reparations, crippling the East German economy for years. The increasing economic prosperity of West Germany led large numbers of East Germans to Republikflucht. Since the 1940s, East Germans had been leaving the Soviet zone of Germany to emigrate to the west. The ongoing emigration of East Germans further strained the East German economy. Although the border between the two Germanies was largely closed by the mid-1950s (see Inner German border), the sector borders in Berlin were relatively easy to cross. Due to the lure of higher salaries in the West and political oppression in the East, many skilled workers (such as doctors) crossed into the West, causing a 'brain drain' in the East. However, on the night of August 13 1961, East German troops sealed the border between West and East Berlin and started to build the Berlin Wall, literally and physically enclosing West Berlin. Travel was greatly restricted into, and out of, East Germany. A highly effective security force called the Stasi monitored the lives of East German citizens to suppress dissenters through its network of informants and agents.

In 1971, Ulbricht was forced out as head of state under Soviet pressure, and replaced by Erich Honecker. Ulbricht had experimented with a few reforms, but Honecker tightened the reins and imposed a East German Constitution that used the word "German" sparingly and defined the country as a "republic of workers and peasants." East Germany was generally regarded as the most economically advanced member of the Warsaw Pact.

Until the 1970s, West Germany regarded East Germany as an illegally constituted state, and under the Hallstein Doctrine refused to have diplomatic relations with any country (except the Soviet Union) that recognized East Germany as a separate country. In the early 1970s, Ostpolitik led by Willy Brandt led to a form of mutual recognition between East and West Germany. The Treaty of Moscow (1970) (August 1970), the Treaty of Warsaw (1970) (December 1970), the Four Power Agreement on Berlin (September 1971), the Transit Agreement (1972) (May 1972), and the Basic Treaty (1972) (December 1972) helped to normalise relations between East and West Germany and led to both Germanies joining the United Nations.



Competition with the West was also conducted on a sporting level. East German athletes dominated several Olympic Games disciplines. Of special interest was the only football (soccer) match ever to occur between West and East Germany, a first round match during the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Though West Germany was the host and the eventual champion, East beat West 1-0.

In September 1989 Hungary removed its border restrictions and unsealed its border and more than 13,000 people left East Germany by crossing the "green" border via Czechoslovakia into Hungary and then on to Austria and West Germany. The Berlin Wall (1961 - 1989) German Notes, Accessed 2006-10-24 Many others demonstrated against the ruling party, especially in the city of Leipzig. Kurt Masur, the conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra led local negotiations with the government, and held town meetings in the concert hall.Darnton, Robert, Berlin Journal (New York, 1992, W.W. Norton) pp.98-99 The demonstrations eventually led Erich Honecker to resign in October, and he was replaced by a slightly more liberal Communist, Egon Krenz.

On November 9 1989, a few sections of the Berlin Wall were opened, resulting in thousands of East Germans crossing into West Berlin and West Germany for the first time. Soon, the governing party of East Germany resigned. Although there were some small attempts to create a permanent, democratic East Germany, these were soon overwhelmed by calls for unification with West Germany. After some negotiations (Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany Talks, involving the two Germanies and the former Allies of World War II United States, France, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union), conditions for German unification were agreed upon. East Germany recreated the original New Länder that had been abolished in 1952. On October 3 1990; the five East German 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 and Hamburg).

To this day, there remain vast differences between the former East Germany and West Germany (for example, in lifestyle, wealth, political beliefs and other matters) and thus it is still common to speak of eastern and western Germany distinctly. The Eastern German economy has struggled since unification, and large subsidies are still transferred from west to east.

Politics and Social Democrat Otto Grotewohl when their parties merged in 1946

Political organisation The ruling political party in East Germany was the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Socialist Unity Party of Germany, SED). It was created in 1946 through the Soviet-directed merger of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in the Soviet controlled zone.

The Potsdam Agreement committed the Soviets to supporting a democratic form of government in Germany, and, unlike other Soviet satellites, other political parties were permitted. The East German concept of democracy both benefitted from concepts central to democracy that were foreign to their Western neighbours— however, the government's advanced surveillance program was totalitarian.

All parties operating in East Germany were forced to join the "National Front (East Germany)", ostensibly a united coalition of anti-fascist political parties. It was completely controlled by the SED. Members included:



Elections took place to a parliament called the Volkskammer, but were effectively controlled by the SED/state hierarchy, as Hans Modrow has noted. Elections were held in less-than-secret conditions, with voters given the choice of approving or rejecting "unity lists" put forward by the National Front. As was the case in most Communist countries, approval rates of 90 percent or more were routine.

The Volkskammer also included representatives from the mass organisations like the Free German Youth (Freie Deutsche Jugend or FDJ), or the Free German Trade Union Federation. In an attempt to include women in the political life of East Germany, there was a Democratic Women's Federation of Germany, with seats in the Volkskammer.

Important non-parliamentary mass organisations in East German society included the German Gymnastics and Sports Association (Deutscher Turn- und Sportbund or DTSB), and People's Solidarity (Volkssolidarität, an organisation for the elderly). Another society of note (and very popular during the late 1980s) was the Society for German-Soviet Friendship.

A highly effective secret police force called the Stasi infiltrated and reported on most private activity in East Germany, limiting opportunity for non-sanctioned political organisation. All formal organisations except for churches were directly controlled by the East German government. Churches were permitted to operate more or less free from government control, as long as they abstained from political activity.

Following German reunification, the SED was renamed the "Party of Democratic Socialism" (PDS) and then the Left Party (Germany) (die Linke). The Left Party continues to be a political force in Berlin and other areas of the former East Germany, albeit drastically less powerful than the SED.

Persons of note in East Germany

Political representatives

Other notable East Germans



Administrative divisions In 1952, as part of the reforms designed to centralise power in the hands of the SED's Politbüro, the five States of Germany of East Germany were abolished, and East Germany was divided into fifteen Bezirke (districts), each named after the largest city: the northern Land Mecklenburg-Vorpommern was divided between the Bezirke Rostock, Schwerin and Neubrandenburg; Brandenburg (surrounding Berlin) was reorganised into the Bezirke of Potsdam, Frankfurt (Oder) and Cottbus; Saxony-Anhalt split into the Bezirke of Halle, Saxony-Anhalt and Magdeburg; the south-western Land Thuringia became the Bezirke of Erfurt, Gera and Suhl; finally, the south-eastern Land Saxony was divided between Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz (formerly and following the GDR's collapse again known as Chemnitz). The GDR capital, East Berlin formed the 15th Bezirk, though it retained a special legal status in the GDR until 1968, when East Berliners voted with the rest of the GDR to approve the draft of the new constitution. From this point onwards, irrespective of the Four Power Status and the western allies' objections that East Berlin was merely the Soviet occupied sector of the German capital, East Berlin was treated as a Bezirk like any other.

Economy

Like other East European socialist states, East Germany had a centrally planned economy (CPE), similar to the one in the former Soviet Union, in contrast to the market economy or mixed economy of most Western states. The state established production targets and prices and allocated resources, codifying these decisions in a comprehensive plan or set of plans. The means of production were almost entirely state owned. In 1985, for example, state-owned enterprises or collectives earned 96.7 percent of total net national income. To secure constant prices for inhabitants, the state bore 80% of costs of basic supplies, from bread to housing. The per capita income in 1989 was an estimated $9,800 (approximately $16,000 in 2006 dollars), though the currency conversion used to create this figure was difficult to conduct. In 1976 average annual GDP growth was roughly 2.6%.

The ultimate directing force in the economy, as in every aspect of the society, was the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands--SED), particularly its top leadership. The party exercised its leadership role formally during the party congress, when it accepted the report of the general secretary, and when it adopted the draft plan for the upcoming five-year period.

The private sector of the economy was small but not entirely insignificant. In 1985 about 2.8 percent of the net national product came from private enterprises. The private sector included private farmers and gardeners; independent craftsmen, wholesalers, and retailers; and individuals employed in so-called free-lance activities (artist, writers, and others). Although self-employed, such individuals were strictly regulated; in some cases the tax rate exceeded 90 %. In 1985, for the first time in many years, the number of individuals working in the private sector increased slightly. According to East German statistics, in 1985 there were about 176,800 private entrepreneurs, an increase of about 500 over 1984. Certain private sector activities were quite important to the system because those craftsmen provided rare, specially made spare parts.

Culture Music For ideological reasons artists were expected to sing songs only in German at first, which changed with the end of the sixties. This seemed a logical constraint by the Party leaders but it was rather unpopular among young people. There were strict rules that regulated that all artistic activity ought to be censored for any open or implied anti-socialist tendencies. The band Renft, for example, was prone to political misbehaviour, which eventually led to its split.

The Puhdys and Karat (band) were some of the most popular mainstream bands, managing to hint at critical thoughts in their lyrics without being explicit. Like most mainstream acts, they appeared in popular youth magazines such as Neues Leben and Magazin. Other popular rock bands were Wir (band), Dean Reed, City (band) and Pankow (band). Most of these artists recorded on the state-owned :de:AMIGA label.

Influences from the West were heard everywhere, because TV and radio that came from the Klassenfeind (class enemy, meaning "enemy of the working class") could be received in many parts of the East, too (a notorious exception being Dresden, with its geographically disadvantageous position in the Elbe valley, giving it the nickname of “Valley of the Clueless”). The Western influence led to the formation of more "underground" groups with a decisively western-oriented sound. A few of these bands were Die Skeptiker, as well as Feeling B.

Classical music was highly supported, so that there existed over 50 classical symphony orchestras in a country with a population about 16 million.See also:

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in East German territory and his birthplace in Eisenach was turned into a museum of his life, which, among other things, included more than 300 instruments from Bach's life. In 1980 this museum was receiving more than 70,000 visitors annually.

In Leipzig, an enormous archive with recordings of all of Bach's music was compiled, along with many historical documents and letters both to and from him.

Every other year, school children from across East Germany gathered for a Bach competition held in East Berlin. Every four years an international Bach competition for keyboard and strings was held.

Theatre East German theatre was originally dominated by Bertolt Brecht, 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 heritage. Heinz Kahlau, Slatan Dudow, Erwin Geschonneck, Erwin Strittmatter, Peter Hacks, Benno Besson, Peter Palitzsch and Ekkehard Schall were considered to be among Bertolt Brecht's scholars and followers.

In the 1950s the Swiss director Benno Besson with the Deutsches Theater successfully toured Europe and Asia including Japan with "The Dragon" by Jewgenij Schwarz. In the 1960s, he became the Intendant of the Volksbühne often working with Heiner Müller.

After 1975 many artists left the GDR due to increasing censorship. A parallel theatre scene grew 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 had high status in the GDR, which allowed it to be very pro-active. This often brought it into confrontation with the State. Benno Besson once said: "At least they took us seriously, we had a bearing."

Important theatres:

Cinema In the GDR, the movie industry was very active. The head-group for film-productions was the DEFA , Deutsche Film AG, which was subdivided in different local groups, for example Gruppe Berlin, Gruppe Babelsberg or Gruppe Johannisthal, where the local teams shot and produced films. Besides folksy movies, the movie-industry became known worldwide for its productions, especially children's movies ("Das kalte Herz", film versions of the Grimm brothers fairy-tales and modern productions such as "Das Schulgespenst").

Frank Beyer's "Jacob the Liar" (about persecution of Jews in Third Reich) and, "Fünf Patronenhülsen"(Five Bullet Shells) about resistance against fascism, became internationally famous.

Movies about problems of everyday life such as "Die Legende von Paul und Paula" (directed by Heiner Carow) and "Solo Sunny" (directed by Konrad Wolf and Wolfgang Kohlhaase) were also very popular.

The film industry was remarkable for its production of Ostern, or Western-like movies. Native Americans in the United States in these films often took the role of displaced people who fight for their rights, in contrast to the Western (genre) of the time, where Indians were often either not mentioned at all or are portrayed as the villains. Yugoslavians were often cast as the Indians, due to the small number of American Indians in eastern Europe. Gojko Mitic was well-known in these roles, often playing the righteous, kindhearted and charming Tribal chief ("The Sons of the Great Mother Bear" directed by Josef Mach). He became an honorary Sioux chief when he visited the United States of America in the 90s 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 America. See also Spaghetti Western and the West German Winnetou films (adaptations of novels of Karl May).

Because of censorship a certain number of very remarkable movies were forbidden at this time and reissued after the Wende in 1990. Examples are "Spur der Steine" (directed by Frank Beyer) and "Der geteilte Himmel" (directed by Konrad Wolf).

Cinemas in the GDR also showed some foreign films. Czechoslovak and Polish productions were more common, but also certain western movies were shown, but the numbers were limited because it cost foreign exchange to buy the licences. Further, movies representing or glorifying capitalistic ideology were not bought. Comedies enjoyed great popularity, such as the Danish "Olsen Gang" or movies with the French comedian Louis de Funès.

Sports For a small country, the people of East Germany achieved some remarkable results in many sports including cycling, weightlifting, swimming, track and field, boxing, skating and other winter sports.One reason for the success was started with late 1960s leadership of Dr. Manfred Hoeppner, when his policy of anabolic steroid administration to many athletes was established. This secret and illegal program allowed East Germany, with its small population, to become a world leader in the following two decades, winning a large number of Olympic Games and world gold medals and records. This success continued even after the international steroid testing policy was established as the steroids given to athletes in the GDR olympic program were not detectable by standard tests of the time. These drugs were given to athletes including young children without their knowledge and have had tragic effects on their health over the years. (See Doping (sport)).

Another factor for success was the furtherance-system for young people in GDR. When some children were aged around 6 until 10 years old (or older) sport-teachers at school were encouraged to look for certain talents in every pupil. For older pupils it was possible to attend grammar-schools with a focus on sports (for example sailing, football and swimming). This policy was also used for talented pupils with regard to music or mathematics.

Sports clubs were highly subsidised, especially sports in which it was possible to get international fame. For example, the major leagues for ice hockey and basketball just included each 2 teams (excluding the school and university sport). Football (soccer) was the most popular sport after team handball, although the East Germany national football team was rarely successful in comparison to the Germany national football team, which won the FIFA World Cup three times before reunification. Club football sides like Dynamo Dresden, 1. FC Magdeburg, FC Carl Zeiss Jena and 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig did have some success in European competition. Many East German players became integral parts of the reunified national football team, for example Matthias Sammer. Other sports enjoyed great popularity like figure skating, especially because of sportswomen like Katharina Witt.

East Germans patriotically supported their athletes to success in international competitions for similar reasons as those in other countries, and this no doubt played its part in the success that state enjoyed. However, as with other Soviet states, a widely held perception existed that international athletic success advertised their political and economic system to a worldwide audience. In the special case of East Germany, being the minority section of the divided Cold War era Germany, the particular success of that state was considered to foster international acceptance of the GDR as a state in its own right.

Holidays {| border=1 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 class="toccolours" style="align: left; margin: 0.5em 0 0 0; border-style: solid; border: 1px solid #7f7f7f; border-right-width: 2px; border-bottom-width: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 95%;"|-! style="background: #efefef; border-bottom: 2px solid gray;" | Date! style="background: #efefef; border-bottom: 2px solid gray;" | English Name! style="background: #efefef; border-bottom: 2px solid gray;" | German Name! style="background: #efefef; border-bottom: 2px solid gray;" | Remarks|-| January 1| Neujahr|  |-| [March 8| Internationaler Frauentag| Was not a day off.|-| [Moveable feast]| Karfreitag|  |-| Moveable feast]| Ostersonntag|  |-| Moveable feast]| Ostermontag| Was not an official Holiday after 1967.|-| May 1| Tag der Arbeit| International Workers' Day|-| [Moveable feast] / Ascension Day. Was not an official holiday nor a day off, but still widely celebrated.|-| [Moveable feast]| Pfingstmontag| 50 days after Easter Sunday

|-| [October 7| Tag der Republik| National holiday|-| [December 25| 1. Weihnachtsfeiertag|  |-| [December 26| 2. Weihnachtsfeiertag|  |}

See also Germany

Forces

Media

Transport

Other

References

Notes External links

Countries of the world  ]

{{succession box | title=German Democratic Republic
1949-1990

Concurrent with:

West Germany 1949-1990

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German Democratic Republic (East Germany)
Information on the state from Spartacus Schoolnet.

East Germany - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The German Democratic Republic (GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a socialist state created by the Soviet Union in the ...

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The German Democratic Republic (GDR), German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR), often known in English as East Germany, existed from 1949 to 1990.

German Democratic Republic
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