East Germany: The Founding

Intro

‘Hey guys, it’s Artie here, the Minister of History, and today the Ministry is launching a new podcast series as part of season 4, and that is about East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic (GDR) as it was officially called. So right off the bat, let me state very clearly that when I say GDR, it is just another way of referring to East Germany. The GDR was a socialist state that existed for 40 years from 1949 until 1989, and it was one of two Germanies that existed at the time. This one was the communist one, allied with the Soviet Union. It’s important to stress though that the GDR, despite being in the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence in the Eastern Bloc, was NOT a part of the Soviet Union. It was its own state with its own government, although in reality a lot of strings were pulled from Moscow.

‘I am very excited about this as I have been obsessed with East Germany since I moved to Berlin in 2017. It is such a fascinating topic, and as a tour guide here in Berlin, I am finding out new things about it all the time, because what is so great about it is that it is still well within living memory. My goal with this series is to share the core, essential information with you because I believe that in the West, we often have a distorted perception of what life in East Germany was truly like. No, not all East Germans hated their lives there—far from it in fact. 

‘But how was East Germany created? How was it structured politically and who were the figures leading it? What crucial events defined it as a nation? How did the communists keep a grip on power? What was everyday life like? How did East Germany collapse? Find out the answers to all these questions and more in this Ministry of History Podcast series about East Germany.’

End of WWII, Division of Germany and Soviet Occupation

‘East Germany was born from the ashes of the Second World War. The most devastating conflict in human history, which had killed an estimated 60 million people, finally ended after 6 horrific years in 1945. Germany lost the war and was obliterated in the process, both physically and morally. The Nazis, wanting to conquer Europe and the world and assert German dominance, ended up being Germany’s destruction. German cities lay in ruins, 50% of German housing stock had been destroyed and over 8 million Germans lay dead. Those who survived were left struggling to rebuild their lives amidst the devastation. On 8 May 1945, Germany signed an unconditional surrender, granting the victorious powers – the Soviet Union and the Western Allies (consisting of the United States, Britain and France), full authority to occupy and administer the defeated nation.

‘The division of Germany into these four zones of occupation between the victorious powers had been agreed at the Yalta Conference in February 1945, where the Soviet Union, the US and Britain had agreed on the post-war borders of Germany. Germany was stripped of much of its land, losing its eastern territories of East Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania, which were given to Poland and the Soviet Union, and Germany’s eastern border was moved to the west on the Oder-Niesse Line. The state of Prussia, long regarded as the dominant German state and a powerful symbol of German militarism and identity—responsible for many enduring German stereotypes—would be dissolved in 1947 by the victorious powers. The Soviet Union’s occupation zone included the eastern states of: Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The Western Allies divided the remaining states in the west of Germany between them, including Bavaria for the Americans, North Rhein Westfalia for the British, and Rhineland-Palatinate for the French, amongst others. The Yalta Conference also divided up the city of Berlin, which itself was located well within the Soviet Zone, into four zones of occupation between these four powers. The Soviets kept the largest single sector in the east of the city, about 40% of the city and 1.5 million Berliners, and the Western Allies occupied 60% of the city and 2 million Berliners.

‘Almost as soon as the Second World War ended, tensions arose between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, driven by their fundamentally opposing ideologies. The Soviet Union was a communist state, governed by a totalitarian, one-party dictatorship that aimed for a classless society with collective ownership of property and resources, distributing wealth and production based on need. In contrast, the Western Allies were capitalist democracies, defined by private ownership of production, competitive markets, and democratic elections to decide leadership and policy. 

‘The Western Allies and the Soviets also clashed over their plans for post-war Germany. The Western Allies, particularly the United States, sought to rebuild Germany’s economy, establish a capitalist democracy, and integrate it into the Western sphere of influence. The Soviet Union, however, had a different vision. Joseph Stalin initially wanted a unified, neutral, and non-socialist Germany, while also demanding significant reparations from Germany’s industrial Ruhr region, with the expectation that the Soviet zone would supply food to the West in return.

‘This arrangement broke down, as food deliveries from the Soviet zone failed to materialise, and the Western Allies eventually halted their reparations shipments to the Soviet zone. For Stalin, the failure to achieve his vision of a united and neutral Germany led him to adjust his strategy. While delaying the overt implementation of communism in the Soviet-occupied zone, he gradually moved toward creating a communist state under Moscow’s control. 

‘The deep ideological divide and conflicting visions for Germany’s future created mounting tensions between the Soviets and the Western Allies, setting the stage for the Cold War. This rivalry ultimately led to the formal separation of Germany into two states in 1949.’

The Ulbricht Group

‘But before we talk about this, we need to first of all look at the people who were put in charge by the Soviets in the Soviet sector at the end of the war to build a state in the Soviet Union’s image. 

‘A critical player in the administration of post-war Soviet sector Germany was the Ulbricht Group, led by Walter Ulbricht, a German communist who had fled to the Soviet Union during the Nazi era and had spent the whole war there in exile. Ulbricht and his team returned to Germany on 30 April 1945 to help rebuild local administrations under Soviet oversight. Their strategy was summed up in Ulbricht’s famous phrase: “It must look democratic, but we must control everything.” With Soviet support, the Ulbricht Group ensured that key positions in local governments went to German communists. Surprisingly, in June 1945, the  Soviets allowed a multi-party system to exist in the Soviet zone. The Communist Party (KPD), Social Democratic Party (SPD), Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) were all permitted to operate, forming an “anti-fascist bloc” to promote denazification and reconstruction.

‘We will go into more detail about leaders and the political system of East Germany in the next episode, including Walter Ulbricht, who would go on to rule as leader for 21 years.’

Preparing the Soviet Zone Politically

‘But for now, back to the founding. The Communist Party (KPD), heavily favoured by the Soviets, still struggled to gain widespread popularity. To strengthen their influence, they worked with the Soviets to force a merger with the SPD, the socialists, in 1946, forming the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). This was achieved through heavy pressure, bribes, and deception, forcing the SPD leadership to agree. Even then, in the 1946 state elections, the SED received only 47.5% of the vote, falling short of a majority. 

‘The first two leaders of the SED were Wilhelm Pieck and Otto Grotewohl, who served as co-chairmen following the forced merger of the communists and socialist parties. Wilhelm Pieck, a veteran communist, later became the first and only President of East Germany, holding the position from 1949 until his death in 1960. Otto Grotewohl, originally from the SPD, became the first Prime Minister of East Germany, serving from 1949 to 1964. While their co-leadership symbolised the union of the two parties, the SED quickly came under the dominant influence of the communists, particularly Walter Ulbricht, who would go on to become the central figure in East German politics.

‘To counter resistance from the CDU and LDP, the SED introduced the People’s Congress Movement in 1947. This body added new “block parties” like the National Democratic Party of Germany (NDPD) and the Democratic Farmers’ Party of Germany (DBD), along with mass organisations like trade unions and women’s groups. These were mostly controlled by communists and further centralised power under the SED.’

Official Founding

‘In March 1948, the People’s Congress of the SED established the German People’s Congress, tasked with drafting a constitution for a proposed German Democratic Republic that was envisioned for all of Germany. Under the leadership of Wilhelm Pieck (SED), Wilhelm Külz (LDP), and Otto Nuschke (CDU), the Congress began its work on 19 March 1948. Otto Grotewohl chaired the committee responsible for drafting the constitution, which was completed by 22 October 1948. This draft, based on a 1946 proposal by the SED, was officially adopted by the 1st German People’s Congress on 19 March 1949.

‘In May of that year, the Soviet Union’s attempt to blockade West Berlin ended in failure. The effort, intended to pressure West Berliners into expelling the Western Allies from West Berlin, was countered by the remarkable success of the Western Allied airlift, which kept West Berlin supplied with food and essential goods. This event underscored the deep divisions between the two sides and highlighted their inability to reconcile their differences. This impasse led both the Soviets and the Western Allies to move forward with their own plans within their respective sectors, ultimately resulting in the creation of two separate German states: the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). West Germany was formed first, on 23 May 1949, a capitalist democracy, with its capital in the small university city of Bonn, just south of Cologne. 

‘In mid-May, on the 15th and 16th, elections were held in the Soviet occupation zone for the East German Constitutional Assembly. Voters were presented with a ballot listing candidates predominantly from the SED and its allied parties, collectively known as the “democratic bloc.” The ballot included the statement: “I am for the unity of Germany and a just peace treaty. I therefore vote for the following list of candidates for the Third German People’s Congress.” Voters could only approve or reject the entire candidate list by selecting either “yes” or “no.” When the initial vote count indicated that just over 12 million had voted in favor and just over 4 million had voted against—falling short of the required two-thirds majority—the provisional East German authorities intervened. They ordered that invalid ballots, such as those left blank or crossed out, be counted as “yes” votes. As a result, on 16 May, it was officially announced that, with the inclusion of approximately 860,000 invalid or blank ballots, 66.1% of voters had ostensibly supported the proposed constitution drafted by the council. On 30 May 1949, the constituent assembly formally adopted the new constitution. Later, on 7 October 1949, the assembly proclaimed itself the Provisional People’s Chamber and officially enacted the Constitution of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). This marked the official establishment of East Germany as a socialist state. In the next episode, we will delve deeper into the details of the East German constitution and political system.’

Outro

‘Thank you for listening to this first episode of the Ministry’s East Germany series about the founding of this fascinating German state. We’re just getting started! Join us in the next episode where we will discuss East Germany’s political structure, its state symbols and its political leaders!

‘See you next time, goodbye.’