The East Germany portal offers an overview of the most important and newest articles on the subject of East Germany, the former Communist state officially known as the German Democratic Republic or GDR The portal contains links to a cross-section of articles from the areas of history and politics, geography and economy, art and culture, and some of the important personalities from the region.
Before its establishment the country's territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces following the Berlin Declaration abolishing German sovereignty in World War II. The Potsdam Agreement established the Soviet-occupied zone, bounded on the east by the Oder–Neisse line. The GDR was dominated by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), a communist party, before being democratized and liberalized in 1989 as a result of the pressure against communist governments brought by the Revolutions of 1989. This paved the way for East Germany's reunification with the West. Unlike the government of West Germany, the SED did not see its state as the successor to the German Reich (1871–1945) and abolished the goal of unification in the constitution (1974). The SED-ruled GDR was often described as a Soviet satellite state; historians described it as an authoritarian regime. (Full article...)
The Alliance fell nine seats short of the 201 seats needed to govern alone. Lothar de Maizière of the CDU invited the SPD to join his Alliance partners – the German Social Union (DSU) and Democratic Awakening (DA) – in a grand coalition. The SPD was initially cool to de Maizière's offer, in part because of the presence of the right-wing populist DSU in de Maizière's grouping; the SPD had originally been willing to govern alongside all parties other than the PDS and DSU. However, they ultimately agreed, and the four parties formed government. The government, which was able to amend the constitution thanks to its two-thirds supermajority of seats in the Volkskammer, subsequently organised and ratified the reunification of Germany, resulting in the dissolution of the German Democratic Republic into the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990. (Full article...)
The German Democratic Republic, which consisted geographically of what is now eastern Germany, had an area of 107,771 km2 (41,610 mi2), bordering Czechoslovakia in the south, West Germany in the south and west, the Baltic Sea to the north, and Poland in the east.
Much of the territory of the former East Germany lay on the North German Plain and was largely flat and agricultural apart from low morainic hills left by the ice age. However in the south the land rose to the Ore Mountains and Elbe Sandstone Mountains that formed the border with its Communist neighbour, Czechoslovakia.
Image 4Map showing the different borders and territories of Poland and Germany during the 20th century, with the current areas of Germany and Poland in dark gray (from History of East Germany)
Image 5East German leaflet, fired across the inner German border (from Culture of East Germany)
Image 9Occupation zone borders in Germany, 1947. The territories east of the Oder-Neisse line, under Polish and Soviet administration/annexation, are shown as white, as is the likewise detached Saar protectorate. Berlin is the multinational area within the Soviet zone. (from History of East Germany)
Image 10Statues of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the Marx-Engels-Forum, Berlin (from Culture of East Germany)
The following are articles, related to East Germany, added in the last six months.
Parts of this portal (those related to section) need to be updated. Please help update this portal to reflect recent events or newly available information. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. (September 2020)
All articles on East Germany are here;
Articles on East German people are here.