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<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O48-GermanDemocraticRepublic.html" title="Facts and informations about German Democratic Republic">German Democratic Republic</a>

German Democratic Republic

German Democratic Republic (or East Germany) A former eastern European country. It emerged in 1949 from the Soviet Zone of occupation of Germany. Its frontier with Poland on the Oder-Neisse line, agreed at the POTSDAM CONFERENCE, was confirmed by the Treaty of Zgorzelec in 1950. Its capital was East Berlin, but the status of West Berlin, - an enclave of the Federal Republic of GERMANY 150 km (93 miles) inside East German territory, whose existence was guaranteed by the Four-Power Agreement between the victorious allied powers - caused serious problems (see BERLIN AIRLIFT). In the first five years the republic had to pay heavy REPARATIONS to the Soviet Union, and Soviet troops were used to put down disorder in 1953. In 1954, however, the republic proclaimed itself a sovereign state and in the following year became a founder-member of the WARSAW PACT. In 1956 the National People's Army was formed; this organization was instrumental in sealing the GDR's borders in August 1961 (including erecting the BERLIN WALL) to prevent large-scale emigration to West Germany. Walter Ulbricht (1893–1973) was General Secretary of the ruling Socialist Unity Party (1946–71) and Chairman of the Council of State (1960–71). In 1972 the German Federal Republic, as part of the policy of OSTPOLITIK, established diplomatic relations with the republic. Admission to the UN followed in 1973, after which the republic was universally recognized. Although economic recovery from World War II was slower than in the west, East Germany, under Erich HONECKER (Chairman of the Council of State, 1976–89), succeeded in establishing a stronger industrial base than most of its fellow members of COMECON. However, its highly bureaucratic, centralized system of control steadily atrophied, corruption spread from the top, and its secret police, the Stasi, became ever more ruthless. During 1989 a series of huge demonstrations took place, mostly in Berlin and Leipzig, with a new political grouping, New Forum, demanding democratic reforms. In November 1989 the Berlin Wall was opened and the communist monopoly of power collapsed. The first free elections since 1933 were held in March 1990, with the conservative Christian Democratic Union emerging victorious, and on 3 October 1990 the republic ceased to exist, being absorbed into the Federal Republic of Germany. Criminal proceedings were instituted against those who were deemed to have committed human rights abuses in the GDR regime, but few were punished. The case against Erich Honecker was dropped due to his ill-health. His successor Egon Krenz, and several officials were found guilty of various crimes, notably for ordering or carrying out the shooting of refugees across the Berlin Wall.

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	Beyond the Tiedge affair. (Hans Joachim Tiedge, defection to East Germany of West Germany's top official) Magazine article from: National Review; 10/4/1985; 552 words ; THE DEFECTION to East Germany of Bonn's top official for counterespionage...juxtaposed to the contrast between East Germany as a highly open society makes the...recognizes the reunification with East Germany is a very long-term goal, and knows... Read more
	Coffee market in East Germany. Magazine article from: Tea & Coffee Trade Journal; 6/1/1990; ; 700+ words ; Coffee market in East Germany Due to an extremely poor image in the eyes of the population in East Germany and a fear of leaving the well-trodden...for new ways, the coffee industry in East Germany is in a desolate situation. It has... Read more
	The Currency of Socialism: Money and Political Culture in East Germany.(Book review) Magazine article from: The Historian; 6/22/2009; ; 550 words ; ...Money and Political Culture in East Germany. By Jonathan Zatlin. (New York...75.00.) As a student living in East Germany, this reviewer's idee fixe about...difficult task in a country like East Germany that had a strong capitalistic... Read more
	Air Quality in Postunification Erfurt, East Germany: Associating Changes in Pollutant Concentrations with Changes in Emissions. Magazine article from: Environmental Health Perspectives; 4/1/2001; ; 700+ words ; ...changes, particularly affecting East Germany (1). This restructuring resulted...concluded, the environment in East Germany is in a catastrophic state. Water...living conditions. Clean up in East Germany initially occurred as a by-product... Read more
	Kirch wins East Germany battle; regains rights on huge film package. (Leo Kirch) Magazine article from: Video Age International; 2/1/1991; 375 words ; Kirch Wins East Germany Battle Regains Rights On Huge Film...per cent, arguing that - even when east Germany was still the DDR - its signal was...per cent, to cover the extension to east Germany. And it was finally ZDF which worked... Read more
	The horrors of the Stasi's East Germany.(Stasiland: True Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall)(After the Wall: Confessions from an East German Childhood and the Life That Came Next)(Book Review) Magazine article from: Reason; 1/1/2006; ; 700+ words ; ...LIKE ITS COUNTERPART in Moscow, East Germany's Ministry for State Security...furiously--and correctly--accused East Germany of sheltering the Libyan terrorists...Virtually every living person in East Germany had a file in the Stasi archives... Read more
	Hollywood behind the Wall: The Cinema of East Germany.(Book review) Magazine article from: The Modern Language Review; 1/1/2007; ; 699 words ; ...behind the Wall: The Cinema of East Germany. By Daniela Berghahn. Manchester...ceased to exist in 1990, the 'East Germany' of the book's title in many ways merely continued as 'east Germany', and not least, as the author... Read more
	Sonja Fritzsche. Science Fiction Literature in East Germany.(Book review) Magazine article from: Utopian Studies; 3/22/2008; ; 700+ words ; ...Science Fiction Literature in East Germany. Bern: Peter Lang, 2006. 333 pp...science fiction from the founding of East Germany in 1949 to the construction of...only Western capitalism but also East Germany's path toward socialism. This period... Read more
	Germany, afterwards.(Race after Hitler: Black Occupation Children in Postwar Germany and America; The Holocaust and Catholic Conscience: Cardinal Aloisius Muench and the Guilt Question in Germany; A Woman in Berlin; Johanna Krause, Twice Persecuted: Surviving in Nazi Germany and Communist East Germany)(Critical essay) Magazine article from: Human Rights & Human Welfare; 1/1/2008; ; 700+ words ; ...Occupation Children in Postwar Germany and America. By Heide Fehrenbach...and the Guilt Question in Germany. By Suzanne Brown-Fleming...Persecuted: Surviving in Nazi Germany and Communist East Germany. By Carolyn Gammon and Christiane...do we need to know that East German Communists ... Read more
	The Stasi Files: East Germany's Secret Operations Against Britain.(Brief Article)(Book Review) Magazine article from: Contemporary Review; 12/1/2003; 172 words ; The Stasi Files: East Germany's Secret Operations Against Britain...today than they were when there was an East Germany simply because we know more about...more, to Stasi agents. This story of East Germany's 'chilling secret police' is not... Read more

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