East Germany: Encyclopedia II - East Germany - History

East Germany - History

Main articles: History of the German Democratic Republic, History of Germany

The territories of East Germany were settled by Germanic peoples during the last few centuries BC. During the post-Roman migration period, many of these populations left for other lands, and Slavic Wends settled in their wake. German imperial rulers reconquered the area during the Middle Ages. The newly acquired land was organised in margravates, German feudal states on the land of Slavs. Consequent waves of German settlements, which in subsequent centuries later included French Hugenots and Jews, gradually modified the originally Slavic composition of the land, except for the small community of Sorbs in Lusatia, and eventually most of what is now East Germany formed a large part of the historical Kingdom of Prussia.

In Imperial Germany and later during the time of the Weimar Republic, territory that would become East Germany was situated in the center of the state. This territory was known as "Mitteldeutschland" (Middle Germany), while the designation "East" was reserved for provinces such as eastern Pomerania, eastern Brandenburg, Silesia and East and West Prussia. During WWII, Allied leaders decided at the Yalta Conference that post-war borders of Poland would be moved westward to the Oder-Neisse line, just as Soviet borders were also moved westward into formerly Polish territory.

Discussions at Yalta and Potsdam also outlined the planned occupation and administration of post-war Germany under a four-power Allied Control Council, or ACC (composed of the United States, United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union). At the end of World War II, at the Potsdam Conference in 1945, four of the victorious countries France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union decided to divide Germany into four occupation zones. Each country would control a part of Germany until its sovereignty was restored.

The Länder (states) of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt, Thüringen, and the eastern sector of Greater Berlin fell in the Soviet Sector of Germany, or SBZ. Soviet objections to economic and political reforms in western (US, UK, and French) occupation zones led to Soviet withdrawal from the ACC in 1948 and subsequent evolution of the SBZ into East Germany. Concurrently, the western occupation zones consolidated to form West Germany (or the Federal Republic of Germany, FRG).

Just as Germany was divided after the war, Berlin, the former capital, of Germany was divided into four sectors. Since Berlin was entirely enclosed in the Soviet part of Germany, the areas of Berlin being held under the control of the UK, the United States and France soon became known as West Berlin while the Soviet sector became known as East 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.

East Germany adopted a socialist republic and became part of the Warsaw Pact, while West Germany became a liberal parliamentary republic and part of NATO.

The first leader of East Germany was Wilhelm Pieck. He was the first (and last) president of the GDR. The East German Constitution defined the country as "a Republic of Workers and Peasants."

On June 17, 1953, following a production quota increase of 10 percent for workers building East Berlin's new showcase boulevard, the Stalinallee, demonstrations broke out in East Berlin and other industrial centers. Later that day, Soviet troops and tanks suppressed the demonstrations killing at least 125 (See Straße des 17. Juni and Workers' Uprising of 1953 in East Germany).

Since the 1940s, refugees had been leaving the Soviet zone of Germany to start a new life in the west. The ongoing exodus of East Germans further strained the GDR's troubled economy. Although the inter-German border was largely closed by the mid-1950s (see GDR border system), the sector borders in Berlin were relatively easy to cross. However, in the night of August 13, 1961, East German troops sealed the border between West and East Berlin, and started to build the Berlin Wall, literally and physically enclosing West Berlin. Travel was greatly restricted into, and out of, East Germany. The Stasi spied extensively on the citizens to suppress dissenters through its network of 175,000 informants and 90,000 agents.

In 1971, Erich Honecker replaced Ulbricht in what was technically a coup, with the blessing of the USSR. East Germany was generally regarded as the most economically advanced member of the Warsaw Pact. Before the 1970s, the official position of West Germany was that of the Hallstein Doctrine which involved non-recognition of East Germany. In the early 1970s, Ostpolitik led by Willy Brandt led to a form of mutual recognition between East and West Germany.

Competition with the West was carried on also on an athletic level. East German athletes dominated several Olympic disciplines. Of special interest was the only football match ever to occur between West and East Germany, a first round match during the 1974 World Cup. Though West Germany was the host and the eventual champion, East beat West 1-0.

In August 1989 Hungary removed its border restrictions and several thousand 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. These demonstrations eventually forced the resignation of Honecker; in October he was replaced, albeit briefly, by Egon Krenz.

On November 9, 1989 the Berlin Wall fell, resulting in emotional scenes as hundreds of thousands of East Germans crossed into West Berlin and West Germany for the first time. Soon the whole authoritarian system of East Germany fell apart. Although there were some small attempts to create a permanent non-authoritarian East Germany, these were soon overwhelmed by calls for reunification with West Germany. After some negotiations (2+4 Talks, involving the two Germanies and the victory powers United States, France, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union), conditions for German reunification were agreed upon. Thus, on October 3, 1990 the East German population was the first from the Eastern Bloc to join the European Economic Community as a part of the reunified Federal Republic of Germany. The East German territory was reorganized into what is now the city of Berlin and five states, reconstituting political entities that had been abolished in 1950.

To this day, there remain many differences between the former East Germany and West Germany (e.g. in lifestyle, wealth, political beliefs and other matters) and thus it is still common to speak of eastern and western Germany distinctly. The Eastern German economy has struggled since German re-unification, and large subsidies are still transferred from west to east.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki