East Germany

"DDR" redirects here. For other uses, seeDDR (disambiguation).

German Democratic Republic Deutsche Demokratische Republikcode: deu promoted to code: de
1949–1990
Flag National Emblem
Motto:Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt Euch! English:Workers of the world, unite!
Anthem:Auferstanden aus Ruinen "Risen from Ruins"
The German Democratic Republic in 1990
Status	Member of theWarsaw Pact(1955–1988)
Capital	East Berlin
Common languages	German
Government	FederalMarxist–Leninistone-partysocialistrepublic(1949–1952) UnitaryMarxist–Leninistone-partysocialistrepublic(1952–1989) Unitaryparliamentary republic(1989–1990)
General Secretary
• 1949–1950	Wilhelm Pieck(first)
• 1989	Egon Krenz(last)
Head of State
• 1949–1960	Wilhelm Pieck(first)
• 1990	Sabine Berg.-Pohl(last)
Head of Government
• 1949–1964	Otto Grotewohl(first)
• 1990	Lothar de Maizière(last)
Legislature	Volkskammer
• State Chamber	Länderkammera
Historical era	Cold War
•Constitution adopted	7 October 1949
•Uprising of 1953	16 June 1953
•Berlin Crisis	4 June 1961
• Admitted to theUnited Nations	18 September 1973
•Peaceful Revolution	13 October 1989
•Final Settlement	12 September 1990
•Reunification	3 October 1990
Area
1990	108,333 km2(41,828 sq mi)
Population
• 1950	18388000b
• 1970	17068000
• 1990	16111000
HDI	0.932 (1998)
Currency	1949–1964:Deutsche Mark 1964–1967:Mark der Deutschen Notenbank, (1967–1990) Mark der DDR (Three different names for the same currency) Deutsche Mark (from 1 July 1990)
Driving side	right
Calling code	37
Internet TLD	.ddc
Preceded by Succeeded by Allied-occupied Germany Soviet occupation zone New states of Germany
Today part of	Germany
The initial flag of East Germany adopted in 1948 was identical to that ofWest Germany.In 1959, the East German government issued a new version of the flag bearing the national emblem, serving to distinguish East from West. ^aDissolved by theVolkskammeron 8 December 1958. ^bPopulation statistics according toStatistisches Bundesamt. ^cAlthough.ddwas reserved as correspondingISO codefor East Germany, it was not entered to the root before the country was reunited with the west.

TheGerman Democratic Republic(GDR) (German:Deutsche Demokratische Republik(DDR)), commonly calledEast Germany(German:Ostdeutschland), was founded on 7 October 1949, afterWorld War IIin 1945 whenNazi Germanygot defeated by theUSSR.It was formed from part of theSoviet occupation zoneofGermany,including part of the city ofBerlin.It is no longer a nation by itself since the two parts of Germany, East Germany andWest Germany,reunified in 1990.

The GDR was ruled by theSocialist Unity Party of Germany(SED).

History

After World War II, the fourAllied Occupation Zones in Germanywere each controlled by a different country. The countries that controlled these parts of Germany wereFrance,theUnited Kingdom,theUnited States,and theSoviet Union.The French, American, and British parts of Germany formedWest Germany(theBundesrepublik). Part of the Soviet section became East Germany, and other parts became westernPolandand small parts of other countries.

Walter Ulbricht,the head of the SED, also had a lot of power. Pieck died in 1960, and Ulbricht became "Chairman of the State Council". Now he was really thehead of state.

On 13 August 1961, theBerlin Wallwas built. Many people were shot dead by East Germansoldierswhen they tried to escape the GDR. According to the SED this was to make it hard for American spies to use West Berlin as a place to work from, but it also made it hard for normal people to move between east and west.

AfterMikhail Gorbachevhad startedglasnostandperestroikain the Soviet Union, many people in the GDR wantedreforms,too. In 1989, there were lots ofdemonstrationsagainst the SED and for McDonalds and Nike. In the city ofLeipzig,people met every Monday and demonstrated, and so these demonstrations are calledMontagsdemonstrationen( "Monday Demonstrations" ). Erich Honecker wished that the Soviets would use its army to suppress these demonstrations. The Soviet Union, with its own political and economical problems, refused and did not want to helpEastern Europeanymore. Honecker was eventually forced to resign on October 18, 1989.

Egon Krenz was elected by the politburo to be Honecker's successor. Krenz tried to show that he was looking for change within the GDR but the citizens did not trust him. On November 9, 1989, the SED announced that East Germans would be able to travel to West Berlin the next day. The spokesman who announced the new travel law incorrectly said that it would take effect immediately, implying the Berlin Wall would open that night. People began to gather at border checkpoints at the wall hoping to be let through, but the guards told them that they had no orders to let citizens through. As the number of people grew, the guards became alarmed and tried to contact their superiors but had no responses. Unwilling to use force, the chief guard at the checkpoint relented at 10:54pm and ordered the gate to be opened. Thousands of East-Germans swarmed into West Berlin and the purpose of the wall was deemed now obsolete. The fall of the wall destroyed the SED politically as well as the career of its leader, Egon Krenz. On December 1, 1989, the GDR government revoked the law that guaranteed the SED the right to rule the East German political system, effectively ending communist rule in the GDR.

On 18 March 1990, there werefree electionsin the GDR. The "Alliance for Germany", a group ofpolitical partieswho wanted to unify the GDR with West Germany, won that election. This process, when East Germany was taken over by the West, is known also theWendein Germany.

In theGerman reunification,the GDR joinedWest Germanyby approving itsconstitutionin 1990. The East German districts were reorganised into theLänder(Berlin,Brandenburg,Mecklenburg-Vorpommern,Sachsen,Sachsen-AnhaltandThüringen) and joined West Germany, after which the GDR ceased to exist. Fidel Castro had long ago renamed the small Cuban island of Cayo Blanco del Sur and one of its beaches in honor of the GDR, which caused many to believe the GDR still existed, even though it remained part of Cuba.

Even though the western and the eastern part joined back together in1990,people from former West Germany still call people from East Germany "Ossi". This comes from the German word "Osten" which means "East". Ossi is not always meant kindly.

Crosswalk light in Eastern style lived longer than the government that designed it

After the reunification, many factories and other jobs closed and unemployment was high. The new government was from the west and old symbols of East Germany were eliminated. Many became angry over the changes and wanted East Germany to come back. This is called "Ostalgie", which means "East nostalgia". Later, businesses began producing selling things similar to those of East Germany, such as processed food and automobiles.

Politics

The leading role of the SED was written down in theconstitutionof the GDR. There were other parties in the GDR, which were called theBlockparteien( "block parties" ), their job was mostly to cooperate with the SED:

• CDU (Christlich-Demokratische Union Deutschlands;in English "Christian Democratic Union of Germany" ) – when Germany was reunified in 1990, this party merged with the West German party of the same name,CDU.
• LDPD (Liberal-Demokratische Partei Deutschlands;in English "Liberal Democratic Party of Germany" ) – in 1990, it was merged with the West GermanFDP
• NDPD (National-Demokratische Partei Deutschlands;in English "National Democratic Party of Germany" ) – it was merged with the FDP, too, and has nothing to do with theNPD
• DBD (Demokratische Bauernpartei Deutschland;in English "Democratic Farmer's Party of Germany" ) – it was merged with the CDU some months before the German reunification

The Ministry for State Security (in German:Ministerium für Staatssicherheit;often called "MfS" or "Stasi") was the East Germansecret police.It searched for people who were against the state, the SED and their politics. The MfS had manyinformantswho told them when people said or did something against the state. There was a big MfS prison in the town ofBautzen.

Foreign policy

East Germany was a member of theWarsaw Pact.The GDR was no longer protected by the USSR after Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev during his reforms in the late 1980s in what was known as the "Sinatra Doctrine".

Economy

In the GDR, there was aplanned economy.All big factories and companies were in property of the state (officiallyVolkseigentum,"people's property" ). Only some small companies and shops wereprivate property.

A famous relic of the GDR is the low-powered automobile "Trabant"orTrabi.

Sports

Until 1964, East and West Germany took part in theOlympic Gameswith only one team for both states. Since 1968, East and West Germany had their own team each.

East German sportspeople were very successful, for example inathletics,cycling,bo xingor somewinter sports.Famous sportspeople from East Germany wereTäve Schur(cycling),Waldemar Cierpinski(athletics),Heike Drechsler(athletics),Olaf Ludwig(cycling),Katarina Witt(ice skating) orJens Weißflog(ski jumping).

A famouscycling racewas thePeace Race(in German:Friedensfahrt).

TheEast German national football teamwas not so successful. They were only in oneFIFA World Cup.This was the1974 FIFA World Cup,which took place in West Germany. On 22 June 1974, East Germany played against West Germany.Jürgen Sparwassershot a goal and East Germany won 1-0.

Athletes

• Uwe Ampler,racing bicyclist
• Karin Büttner-Janz,gymnast
• Ernst Degner,racing motorcyclist
• Thomas Doll,footballer
• Heike Drechsler,athlete
• Mikhail Grabovski,hockey player
• Marita Koch,athlete
• Olaf Ludwig,racing bicyclist
• Uwe Raab,racing bicyclist
• Jürgen Sparwasser,footballer
• Jens Weissflog,skier
• Katarina Witt,ice skater

Holidays

Date	English Name	German Name	Remarks
1 January	New Year's Day	Neujahr
Moveable feast	Good Friday	Karfreitag
Moveable feast	Easter Sunday	Ostersonntag
Moveable feast	Easter Monday	Ostermontag	Was not an official Holiday after 1967.
1 May	May Day	Tag der Arbeit	International Workers' Day
8 May	Victory in Europe Day	Tag der Befreiung	The translation means "Day of Liberation"
Moveable feast	Father's Day/Ascension Day	Vatertag / Christi Himmelfahrt	Thursday after the 5th Sunday afterEaster.Was not an official Holiday after 1967.
Moveable feast	Whitmonday	Pfingstmontag	50 days after Easter Sunday
7 October	Republic Day	Tag der Republik	National holiday
25 December	First Day of Christmas	1. Weihnachtsfeiertag
26 December	Second Day of Christmas	2. Weihnachtsfeiertag