Germany, East

I

Introduction

Germany, East, common name for a former republic of central Europe, bordered on the north by the Baltic Sea, on the east by Poland, on the south by the Czech Republic, and on the south and west by the former West Germany.

East Germany had an area of 108,178 sq km (41,768 sq mi). It was established officially as the German Democratic Republic (GDR; German, Deutsche Demokratische Republik) on October 7, 1949, as one of two successor states—West Germany (officially the Federal Republic of Germany, or the FRG) being the other—to the country of Germany after its defeat in World War II. East Germany ceased to exist when it was reunified with West Germany on October 3, 1990.

East Germany occupied the areas which are now the German states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-West Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The republic named East Berlin as its capital, a decision which other powers refused to recognize. At the time of reunification, the republic had around 16 million inhabitants.

East Germany, established under Soviet auspices in 1949 in response to the Allied-sponsored founding of West Germany, insisted on international recognition as an independent Communist state. Despite Soviet demands for heavy reparations, it developed a potent economy and held a key position in the Soviet bloc.

II

The Ulbricht Years

Walter Ulbricht, a long-time member of the German Communist Party, presided over the destiny of East Germany for more than 25 years. He helped found the Socialist Unity Party (German, Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands), a Communist organization, in 1946 and was General Secretary of the party from 1950 to 1971, First Deputy Premier of the republic from 1949 to 1950, and Chairman of the Council of State from 1960 to 1973.

Determined to transform his country, ravaged by World War II, into a major Communist power, Ulbricht designed a foreign policy to foster friendly relations with other Communist states. In 1950 East Germany made a treaty with Poland ratifying the Oder-Neisse border, and joined the other Communist nations in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. In 1954 the republic’s stature grew when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) ended its demands for reparations and granted East Germany diplomatic recognition. The next year East Germany helped found the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet answer to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and in 1956 East Germany formed an army. Ulbricht made a pact with the USSR in 1964 to maintain Communism in Eastern Europe, and negotiated a trade agreement in 1965 in return for Soviet political support. Ulbricht sent East German troops to help the Soviets crush a 1968 uprising in the former Czechoslovakia.

III

Relations with West Germany

In the 1950s East Germany’s relations with capitalist West Germany became strained after West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer claimed that all Germans were one nation, and insisted on dealing with the Socialist Unity Party rather than with the East German government. Relations became even more strained with the division of Berlin into separate zones. Berlin lay deep within East German territory, but had been divided into east (Communist) and west (non-Communist) sectors. To stop the flow of dissatisfied East Germans to the West, a situation draining East Germany’s trained workforce, Ulbricht set up a well-guarded corridor along the country’s western frontier, leaving Berlin as the only practical escape route. Ulbricht finally blocked that exit in 1961 by ordering the construction of the Berlin Wall, a heavily fortified cement barrier that cut off East Berlin from West Berlin; in 1968 Ulbricht imposed new restrictions on already limited travel from West Germany to West Berlin.

IV

Strict Party Control

In domestic affairs Ulbricht’s first concern was to rebuild the East German economy. After World War II East Germany was left with only one-quarter of its pre-war resources, but was required by the USSR to pay three-quarters of overall German reparations to aid Soviet war recovery. Ulbricht attained his goal by imposing an iron discipline comparable to that of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The Socialist Unity Party completely controlled the government, which had already taken over all heavy industry and agriculture and which gradually acquired all smallholdings as well. Emphasis was on heavy industrial production to satisfy Soviet requirements. In 1953 increased production quotas and food shortages caused worker revolts, which were put down by Soviet troops.

With the New Economic System of 1963, a policy characterized by partial decentralization and computerized planning, economic recovery in East Germany occurred rapidly. As workers’ incomes and benefits improved and many of them were given advanced technological education, they became somewhat more reconciled to the Communist government. A new, fully socialist constitution was adopted in 1968.