East Germany

After World War II, the four Allied Occupation Zones in Germany were each controlled by a different country. The countries that controlled these parts of Germany were France, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union. The French, American, and British parts of Germany formed West Germany (the Bundesrepublik). Part of the Soviet section became East Germany, and other parts became western Poland and 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 the head of state.

On 13 August 1961, the Berlin Wall was built. Many people were shot dead by East German soldiers when 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.

After Mikhail Gorbachev had started glasnost and perestroika in the Soviet Union, many people in the GDR wanted reforms, too. In 1989, there were lots of demonstrations against the SED and for McDonalds and Nike. In the city of Leipzig, people met every Monday and demonstrated, and so these demonstrations are called Montagsdemonstrationen ("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 help Eastern Europe anymore. 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 were free elections in the GDR. The "Alliance for Germany", a group of political parties who 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 the Wende in Germany.

In the German reunification, the GDR joined West Germany by approving its constitution in 1990. The East German districts were reorganised into the Länder (Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen) 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 in 1990, 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.

 

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.

The leading role of the SED was written down in the constitution of the GDR. There were other parties in the GDR, which were called the Blockparteien ("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 German FDP
• 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 the NPD
• 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 German secret police. It searched for people who were against the state, the SED and their politics. The MfS had many informants who told them when people said or did something against the state. There was a big MfS prison in the town of Bautzen.

East Germany was a member of the Warsaw 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".

In the GDR, there was a planned economy. All big factories and companies were in property of the state (officially Volkseigentum, "people's property"). Only some small companies and shops were private property.

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

Until 1964, East and West Germany took part in the Olympic Games with 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 in athletics, cycling, boxing or some winter sports. Famous sportspeople from East Germany were Täve Schur (cycling), Waldemar Cierpinski (athletics), Heike Drechsler (athletics), Olaf Ludwig (cycling), Katarina Witt (ice skating) or Jens Weißflog (ski jumping).

A famous cycling race was the Peace Race (in German: Friedensfahrt).

The East German national football team was not so successful. They were only in one FIFA World Cup. This was the 1974 FIFA World Cup, which took place in West Germany. On 22 June 1974, East Germany played against West Germany. Jürgen Sparwasser shot 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