East Germany, formally known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR) (German Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR)), was a Communist satellite state of the former Soviet Union which, together with West Germany, existed from 1949 to 1990 in Germany.
History
After World War II, at the Potsdam Conference in 1945, the victorious countries France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union decided to divide Germany into four parts. Each country controlled a part of former Germany.
When in 1949 the three sectors controlled by the United States, England and France united and formed the Federal Republic of Germany ("West Germany") the Soviet part was made its own country, the German Democratic Republic, or "East Germany". East Germany was heavily under the influence of the Soviet Union, becoming a totalitarian state-socialistic country, and part of the Warsaw Pact. The first leader of the new state was Walter Ulbricht.
Just as Germany was divided after the war, Berlin, the former capital, of Germany was divided into four sectors. Since Berlin lay entirely inside the Soviet part of Germany, the areas of Berlin being held under the control of the three western countries soon became known as West Berlin. Conflict over the status of West Berlin led to the Berlin Airlift.
The increasing prosperity of West Germany and growing political oppression in the East led large numbers of East Germans to flee to the West. The increasing depopulation in the GDR caused the political leadership to order the borders closed, with fences, turrets, dogs and most of all huge walls, in 1961.
When East Germany closed the western borders, it also literally enclosed West Berlin within a huge wall, the Berlin Wall. Travel was greatly restricted into, and particularly out of, East Germany. Many who had come to East Germany as anti-fascists who were opposed to the quick reinstatement of Nazi functionaries and industry in the west found themselves captives of a bureaucratic and impoverished state which, alone, was forced to pay reparations to the Soviet Union. In 1971 the country had its only change of leadership when Erich Honecker overthrew Ulbricht in a technical coup.
In August 1989 Hungary removed its border restrictions and many people fled East Germany by crossing the "green" border into Hungary and then on to Austria and West Germany. Many others peacefully demonstrated against the ruling party. On November 9th, 1989 the Berlin Wall fell and with it the whole communist system of East Germany. Both parts of Germany united.
To this day, there remain many differences between the formerly "eastern" and "western" parts of Germany (both in lifestyle, wealth, political beliefs and such) and thus it is still common to speak of eastern and western Germany distinctly; one would hesitate however to contend it is greater than say that between a southern Bavarian and a Hamburg resident. In this new Germany the economic chasm is greater than in the former West Germany, and much greater than in the former East Germany . 70% of the women who were employed under the former East German Government lost their jobs in the time of or directly following unification. Unemployment and long term poverty as well as an uncomfortable reawakening of nationalistic and fascistic sentiments have led to uncomfortably large numbers of attacks on foreigners, or those perceived to be foreign.
Facts
- Area: 108.333 sq. kilometres (41,757 sq. miles)
- Population: 17 million (1989) -- ca. 154 per km².
- Capital: Berlin
- Regions (named after the largest city): Rostock; Schwerin; Neubrandenburg; Magdeburg; Potsdam; Berlin; Frankfurt (Oder); Cottbus; Halle; Erfurt; Leipzig; Dresden; Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitz); Gera; Suhl
- Constitution and national holiday: October 7, 1949
- Currency: 1 Mark (Ostmark) = 100 Pfennig
- Highest point: Fichtelberg (1,214 m)
- Official language: German
- Flag of East Germany