1.
Council of Ministers of East Germany
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Originally formed as a body of 18 members, by 1989 the council consisted of 44 members. Under the Constitution of East Germany, the Council of Ministers was formally defined as the government of East Germany, the same Constitution, however, officially confirmed the leading role of the Socialist Unity Party. Hence the Council of Ministers was not the highest power in the country, in particular, ministers were subordinate to the secretary of the CC responsible for their portfolio, and, at least unofficially, to the General Secretary. The Council was led by a chairman, equivalent to a Prime Minister, there were two first deputy chairmen and nine other deputy chairmen. Together with some key ministers they formed the presidency of the Council, the Präsidium managed the day-to-day affairs of the Council between its weekly meetings, which took place regularly on Wednesdays to execute the resolutions of the Politbüro’s weekly meetings. The secretaries and department managers in the Central Committee were authorized to give instructions to the ministers as necessary, until the Wende in the fall of 1989, the two first deputy chairmen were Werner Krolikowski and Alfred Neumann, who were both members of the SED Politbüro. Other deputy chairmen included the leaders of the four allied parties, additional members included the chairman of the State Planning Commission, the president of the Staatsbank der DDR and some state secretaries, who were usually office directors at the Council. All members of the Council were selected by the GDR Volkskammer for a term of five years, within the centralized state structure of the GDR, the city, county and district administrations were subordinated to the Council. After the SED abandoned power in November 1989, the last Communist prime minister, Hans Modrow and he was succeeded by Lothar de Maizière after what turned out to be the only free election ever held in East Germany, in March 1990. De Maizière presided over the period to the reunification of the two Germanies in October 1990. The former Prussian state parliament served as the seat of the Council from 1950 to 1953, from 1961 to 1990 the Councils offices were located in the former Old City Hall of Berlin at No.47 Klosterstraße. The Law Gazette of the GDR was also published by the Council, in addition, the Council’s Press Office made official government announcements and was responsible for the accreditation of foreign journalists in the GDR. The individual ministries had their own buildings in East Berlin. ** Renamed on 17 November 1989 as the Office for National Security, *** Renamed in 1989 as the Ministry for Education and Youth. State Council of the German Democratic Republic
2.
East Germany
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East Germany, formally the German Democratic Republic, was an Eastern Bloc state during the Cold War period. The Soviet zone surrounded West Berlin, but did not include it, as a result, the German Democratic Republic was established in the Soviet Zone, while the Federal Republic was established in the three western zones. East Germany, which lies culturally in Central Germany, was a state of the Soviet Union. Soviet occupation authorities began transferring administrative responsibility to German communist leaders in 1948, Soviet forces, however, remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Until 1989, the GDR was governed by the Socialist Unity Party, though other parties participated in its alliance organisation. The economy was centrally planned, and increasingly state-owned, prices of basic goods and services were set by central government planners, rather than rising and falling through supply and demand. Although the GDR had to pay war reparations to the USSR. Nonetheless it did not match the growth of West Germany. Emigration to the West was a significant problem—as many of the emigrants were well-educated young people, the government fortified its western borders and, in 1961, built the Berlin Wall. Many people attempting to flee were killed by guards or booby traps. In 1989, numerous social and political forces in the GDR and abroad led to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the following year open elections were held, and international negotiations led to the signing of the Final Settlement treaty on the status and borders of Germany. The GDR was dissolved and Germany was unified on 3 October 1990, internally, the GDR also bordered the Soviet sector of Allied-occupied Berlin known as East Berlin which was also administered as the states de facto capital. It also bordered the three sectors occupied by the United States, United Kingdom and France known collectively as West Berlin. The three sectors occupied by the Western nations were sealed off from the rest of the GDR by the Berlin Wall from its construction in 1961 until it was brought down in 1989, the official name was Deutsche Demokratische Republik, usually abbreviated to DDR. West Germans, the media and statesmen purposely avoided the official name and its abbreviation, instead using terms like Ostzone, Sowjetische Besatzungszone. The centre of power in East Berlin was referred to as Pankow. Over time, however, the abbreviation DDR was also used colloquially by West Germans. However, this use was not always consistent, for example, before World War II, Ostdeutschland was used to describe all the territories east of the Elbe, as reflected in the works of sociologist Max Weber and political theorist Carl Schmitt
3.
Walter Ulbricht
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Walter Ernst Paul Ulbricht was a German Communist politician. Ulbricht played a role in the creation of the Weimar-era Communist Party of Germany. As the First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party 1950 to 1971, from President Wilhelm Piecks death in 1960, he was also the East German head of state until his own death in 1973. He followed Stalins guidelines very closely, and made sure everyone else in East Germany did so as well. Ulbricht was born in Leipzig, Saxony, to Pauline Ida and Ernst August Ulbricht and he spent eight years in primary school. After leaving school, he trained to be a joiner, both his parents worked actively for the Social Democratic Party, which Walter joined in 1912. Ulbricht served in World War I from 1915 to 1917 in Galicia on the Eastern Front and he deserted in 1918, as he had opposed the war from the beginning. Imprisoned in Charleroi, in 1918 he was released as part of the collapse of Imperial Germany, in 1917 he became a member of the Independent Social Democratic Party after it split off from the Social Democratic Party over support of Germanys participation in World War I. During the German Revolution, he became a member of the soviet of his army corps. Along with the bulk of the USPD, he joined the KPD in 1920 and he rose fast in the ranks of the KPD, becoming a member of the Central Committee in 1923. Ulbricht attended the International Lenin School of the Comintern in Moscow in 1924/1925, the electors subsequently voted him into the regional parliament of Saxony in 1926. He became a Member of the Reichstag for South Westphalia from 1928 to 1933 and served as KPD chairman in Berlin, in the years before the 1933 Nazi election to power, paramilitary wings of Marxist and extreme nationalist parties provoked massive riots connected with demonstrations. Besides the Berlin Police, the KPDs arch-enemies were street-fighters affiliated with the Nazi Party, the Monarchist German National Peoples Party, and radical nationalist parties. The Social Democratic Party of Germany, which dominated local and national politics from 1918-1931, for this reason, the Comintern ordered the KPD to cooperate with the Nazis against the SPD. At an event arranged by the Nazi Party in January 1931, Ulbricht was allowed by Joseph Goebbels, subsequently, Goebbels delivered his own speech. The attempt at a friendly discussion turned hostile, and a struggle between Nazis and Communists began, police officers divided them, both sides had tried to use this event for their election propaganda. The Nazi Party attained power in Germany in January 1933, and very quickly began a purge of Communist, following the arrest of the KPDs leader, Ernst Thälmann, Ulbricht campaigned to be Thälmanns replacement as head of the Party. Many competitors for the leadership were killed in the Soviet Union because of Ulbricht, Ulbricht lived in exile in Paris and Prague from 1933 to 1937
4.
Erich Honecker
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From 1976 onward he was also the countrys official head of state as chairman of the State Council following Willi Stophs relinquishment of the post. Honeckers political career began in the 1930s when he became an official of the Communist Party of Germany, a position for which he was imprisoned during the Nazi era. Following World War II, he was freed and soon relaunched his political activities, founding the organisation the Free German Youth in 1946. Honeckers eighteen years at the helm of the soon-to-collapse German Democratic Republic came to an end. However, the proceedings were abandoned due to illness and he was freed from custody to travel to join his family in exile in Chile, where he died in May 1994 from liver cancer. Honecker was born in Neunkirchen, in what is now Saarland, as the son of Wilhelm Honecker, a miner and political activist. The couple had six children together, Katharina, Wilhelm, Frieda, Erich, Gertrud, after World War I, the Territory of the Saar Basin was occupied by France. After his tenth birthday in 1922, Erich Honecker became a member of the Spartacus Leagues childrens group in Wiebelskirchen, aged 14 he entered the KJVD, the Young Communist League of Germany, for whom he later served the organisations leader of Saarland from 1931. Honecker did not find an apprenticeship immediately after leaving school, there, sharing a room with Anton Ackermann, he studied under the cover name Fritz Malter. In 1930, aged 18, Honecker entered the KPD, the Communist Party of Germany and his political mentor was Otto Niebergall, who later represented the KPD in the Reichstag. After returning from Moscow in 1931 following his studies at the International Lenin School, Honecker was arrested in Essen, Germany but soon released. Following this he fled to the Netherlands and from there oversaw KJVDs activities in Pfalz, Hesse and he returned to the Saar in 1934 and worked alongside Johannes Hoffmann on the campaign against the region’s re-incorporation into Germany. A referendum on the future in January 1935 however saw 90. 73% vote in favour of reunifying with Germany. Like 4,000 to 8,000 others, Honecker then fled the region, on 28 August 1935 he illegally travelled to Berlin under the alias Marten Tjaden, with a printing press in his luggage. From there he worked together with the KPD official Herbert Wehner – later to become an SPD member - in opposition/resistance to the Nazi state. On 4 December 1935 Honecker was detained by the Gestapo and until 1937 remanded in Berlin’s Moabit detention centre, on 3 July 1937 he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for the preparation of high treason alongside the severe falsification of documents. Honecker spent the majority of his incarceration in the Brandenburg-Görden Prison, in early 1945 he was moved to the Barnimstraße Women’s Prison in Berlin due to good behaviour and, as a trained roofer, in order to be put to work repairing the bomb-damaged building. During an Allied bombing raid on 6 March 1945 he managed to escape and hid himself at the apartment of Lotte Grund, after several days she persuaded him to hand himself back in and the escape was then covered up by the guard
5.
Berlin
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Berlin is the capital and the largest city of Germany as well as one of its constituent 16 states. With a population of approximately 3.5 million, Berlin is the second most populous city proper, due to its location in the European Plain, Berlin is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. Around one-third of the area is composed of forests, parks, gardens, rivers. Berlin in the 1920s was the third largest municipality in the world, following German reunification in 1990, Berlin once again became the capital of all-Germany. Berlin is a city of culture, politics, media. Its economy is based on high-tech firms and the sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, research facilities, media corporations. Berlin serves as a hub for air and rail traffic and has a highly complex public transportation network. The metropolis is a popular tourist destination, significant industries also include IT, pharmaceuticals, biomedical engineering, clean tech, biotechnology, construction and electronics. Modern Berlin is home to world renowned universities, orchestras, museums and its urban setting has made it a sought-after location for international film productions. The city is known for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts. Since 2000 Berlin has seen the emergence of a cosmopolitan entrepreneurial scene, the name Berlin has its roots in the language of West Slavic inhabitants of the area of todays Berlin, and may be related to the Old Polabian stem berl-/birl-. All German place names ending on -ow, -itz and -in, since the Ber- at the beginning sounds like the German word Bär, a bear appears in the coat of arms of the city. It is therefore a canting arm, the first written records of towns in the area of present-day Berlin date from the late 12th century. Spandau is first mentioned in 1197 and Köpenick in 1209, although these areas did not join Berlin until 1920, the central part of Berlin can be traced back to two towns. Cölln on the Fischerinsel is first mentioned in a 1237 document,1237 is considered the founding date of the city. The two towns over time formed close economic and social ties, and profited from the right on the two important trade routes Via Imperii and from Bruges to Novgorod. In 1307, they formed an alliance with a common external policy, in 1415 Frederick I became the elector of the Margraviate of Brandenburg, which he ruled until 1440. In 1443 Frederick II Irontooth started the construction of a new palace in the twin city Berlin-Cölln
6.
German Empire
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The German Empire was the historical German nation state that existed from the unification of Germany in 1871 to the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1918, when Germany became a federal republic. The German Empire consisted of 26 constituent territories, with most being ruled by royal families and this included four kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies, seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. Although Prussia became one of kingdoms in the new realm, it contained most of its population and territory. Its influence also helped define modern German culture, after 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron, chemicals, and railways. In 1871, it had a population of 41 million people, and by 1913, a heavily rural collection of states in 1815, now united Germany became predominantly urban. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire operated as an industrial, technological, Germany became a great power, boasting a rapidly growing rail network, the worlds strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. In less than a decade, its navy became second only to Britains Royal Navy, after the removal of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck by Wilhelm II, the Empire embarked on a bellicose new course that ultimately led to World War I. When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, the German Empire had two allies, Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy, however, left the once the First World War started in August 1914. In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in autumn 1914 failed, the Allied naval blockade caused severe shortages of food. Germany was repeatedly forced to send troops to bolster Austria and Turkey on other fronts, however, Germany had great success on the Eastern Front, it occupied large Eastern territories following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 was designed to strangle the British, it failed, but the declaration—along with the Zimmermann Telegram—did bring the United States into the war. Meanwhile, German civilians and soldiers had become war-weary and radicalised by the Russian Revolution and this failed, and by October the armies were in retreat, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, Bulgaria had surrendered and the German people had lost faith in their political system. The Empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution as the Emperor and all the ruling monarchs abdicated, and a republic took over. The German Confederation had been created by an act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, German nationalism rapidly shifted from its liberal and democratic character in 1848, called Pan-Germanism, to Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarcks pragmatic Realpolitik. He envisioned a conservative, Prussian-dominated Germany, the war resulted in the Confederation being partially replaced by a North German Confederation in 1867, comprising the 22 states north of the Main. The new constitution and the title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871, during the Siege of Paris on 18 January 1871, William accepted to be proclaimed Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles. The second German Constitution was adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April, the political system remained the same. The empire had a parliament called the Reichstag, which was elected by universal male suffrage, however, the original constituencies drawn in 1871 were never redrawn to reflect the growth of urban areas
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