East Germany

East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic (GDR), existed from 1949 to 1990. Geographically it covered the German states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Berlin (excluding West Berlin), Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The country was established in 1949 within the area of Germany occupied by the Soviet Union after World War II, and its capital city, Berlin, was divided to East and West. The governance of the country was controlled by the pro-Soviet communist party, which declared it "a socialist nation-state of workers and peasants." East Germany was part of the Eastern Bloc and a member of the Warsaw Pact from 1955 to 1990. Heavily impoverished by war reparations and by the Iron Curtain isolation under communism, East Germany finally merged back with West Germany after the fall of Berlin Wall in 1990.

Brief History

At the Yalta Conference and the Potsdam Conference, both in 1945, the Allied forces (United Kingdom, United States, and the Soviet Union) divided defeated Germany into occupational zones. As a process of demilitarization and denazification of Germany began, the country and its capital city were split into areas controlled and governed by the Allies and France. Economic demilitarization was the responsibility of each individual sector, and included heavy reparations for the damages Germany caused during the World War II. As jurisdiction zones were divided up among the Allies, the area east of Oder-Neisse line was handed over to Poland, which suffered great losses and was the first to be affected in the war. Germans living in that area were migrated and replaced with Polish settlers. The casualties of the resettlement range from hundreds of thousands to several million, inflicting collective trauma on the population.

As part of the war reparations, German industry (especially war industry), agriculture, raw materials, and resources were dismantled and taken over by the Allies. As the Western governments did not agree to pay the Soviet Union the estimated $10 billion of war reparations, the Soviet troops, in specialized battalions, removed 1.28 tons of materials and 3.6 tons of equipment from East Germany. It is estimated that around $10 billion (a third of the East German productive capital) was thus extracted in materials by the early 1950s.

Military private industries and those owned by the state, by Nazi activists and war criminals, were confiscated throughout Germany. Most heavy industry was claimed by the Soviet Union. The remaining property was nationalized. During the currency reform of 1948, the Allies introduced the Deutsche Mark currency to the western sectors, destabilizing the East. In response, the Soviet-controlled East introduced the Berlin Blockade—stopping the passage of supplies through the Eastern territories that surrounded Berlin—for 11 months, causing the Allies to supply West Berlin by airplane.

Joseph Stalin died in March 1953 and, as a consequence, many countries of the Eastern Bloc attempted to gain a greater degree of independence. The Berlin Uprising took place in June 1953, starting with the strike of construction workers on Stalinallee (now Karl-Marx Allee), demanding free elections and reduced labor quotas. The protest spread to over 500 towns and villages in East Germany, but the uprising ended with the arrival of Soviet tanks in Berlin. The uprising was stopped, resulting in fifty-five deaths and as many executions, which included a number of Soviet soldiers who refused to shoot at the demonstrators.

If the early years after World War II witnessed the resettlement of populations and pillaging of East German resources, the next decade introduced a much tighter ideological grip on the country as well as collectivization and nationalization of its agriculture and industry. In the fifteen years following the end of the war, over three million people emigrated from East to West Germany. To stop this, the East Germans built the Berlin Wall in 1961, cutting off the flow of its citizens to the West. For many, the Berlin Wall came to symbolize the political repression of East Germany, which tightly controlled dissent through the actions of its secret police, known as the Stasi.

The East German Constitution was amended in 1974 in order to erase all reference to the German nationhood, addressing it instead as "an inseparable constituent part of the socialist community of states." Meanwhile, many East Germans continued to attempt to flee west; for example, in September 1989 more than 13,000 East Germans managed to escape to the West through Hungary. That year’s elections were rigged, causing renewed public anger, and by November 1989 the weakened East German Politburo (governing body) decided to allow East Germans who wanted to cross over to the West to do so. Immediately, the crowds gathered at the checkpoints near the Berlin Wall, outnumbering the guards—the wall was soon after dismantled. The fall of Berlin Wall marked the symbolic end of East German isolation. East Germany held its first free elections in 1990 and subsequently reunited with West Germany.

Impact

Contemporary post-reunification Germany is a thriving country with one of the strongest market economies in Europe. Its culture, education, and social services are among the most highly regarded in the world. Germany remembers its divided history—the day of German reunification, October 3, 1990, is celebrated as the Day of Unity, and the nation honors those who suffered during the pro-Soviet dictatorship in East Germany. After 1990, the German reintegration happened very swiftly, with some marked examples of inclusion. The first German woman chancellor (head of the federal government), Angela Merkel, was raised in East Germany, crossed over in 1989 and became the first female East German cabinet minister. However, like the other countries of the Eastern Bloc, former East Germany has experienced some transition difficulties. Unemployment and homelessness, which were rare during the socialist era, caused resentment. Some have experienced Ostalgie (a nostalgia for the East Germany), as depicted in Wolfgang Becker’s 2003 film Goodbye, Lenin!, noting that some issues, such as free child care, social services, recycling, egalitarianism, and communal solidarity were better in East Germany. Decades after reunification, some inequities between the former East Germany and the rest of the country persisted; even into the 2020s, Germans living in former East Germany earned less on average than their Western counterparts and were more likely to be unemployed.

Bibliography

Ahonen, Pertti. After the Expulsion: West Germany and Eastern Europe, 1945–1990. Oxford University Press, 2003.

Connolly, Kate. "'Germany Looks Like It's Still Divided': Stark Gaps Persist 30 Years after Reunification." The Guardian, 16 Sept. 2020, www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/16/germany-east-west-gaps-persist-30-years-reunification. Accessed 7 June 2022.

Fürstenau, Marcel. "'East Germany: A failed Experiment in Dictatorship." The Guardian, 10 July 2019, www.dw.com/en/east-germany-a-failed-experiment-in-dictatorship/a-50717157. Accessed 7 June 2022.

Gramlich, John. "East Germany has Narrowed Economic Gap with West Germany since Fall of Communism, but Still Lags." Pew Research, 6 Nov. 2019, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/11/06/east-germany-has-narrowed-economic-gap-with-west-germany-since-fall-of-communism-but-still-lags/. Accessed 7 June 2022.

Patterson, Tony. "Angela Merkel’s Unlikely Journey From Communist East Germany to the Chancellorship." The Independent, 17 Nov 2015, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/angela-merkel-s-unlikely-journey-from-communist-east-germany-to-the-chancellorship-a6738271.html. Accessed 7 June 2022.