From the Soviet occupation zone to the GDR

Four and a half months after the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Soviet occupation zone became the GDR on October 7, 1949. The dream of a united Germany is over.

by Kathrin Otto

On that Friday in the ballroom of the former Reich Ministry of Aviation in Berlin, SED co-founder Wilhelm Pieck announced the founding of the German Democratic Republic. The state division of Germany is finally sealed with this act. An official speech states:

"On the basis of the constitution approved by the Third German People's Congress, the German Democratic Republic was unanimously created in the German capital of Berlin by all parties and mass organizations in the German People's Council."

However, this is a very positive interpretation of the facts:the decision in the People's Council was unanimous, but the body was clearly dominated by the SED, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany.

KPD and SPD become SED

The division of Germany had been announced for some time. The tensions between the western powers and the Soviet Union had already intensified shortly after the end of the Second World War. Although they shared the common goal of a democratic post-war German state, their ideas of democratization differed widely. When the SPD and KPD united to form the socialist mass party SED in 1946, for example under pressure from the military administration, and opponents from the ranks of the SPD were persecuted, this was a clear signal for the Western powers that the "Cold War" was about to begin. Soon the SED developed according to the Marxist-Leninist model, other parties were brought "into line" or their indomitable leaders were dismissed.

Cold War:Disagreement between the victorious powers

At the end of 1947 at the latest, it became clear at a foreign ministers' conference of the four victorious powers in London that they would not reach an agreement on the German question. Above all, the British and Americans pushed for an independent state in the western zones of occupation. In the Soviet Zone of Occupation (SBZ), on the other hand, consultations had started about two years earlier on a "German Democratic Republic" - which was intended to be all-German. When the Western powers were now clearly working towards a partial state solution, the SED initiated the "German People's Congress for Unity and Just Peace". With this, the party wanted to distinguish itself as an advocate of German unity.

On December 6, the SED invited representatives of parties and mass organizations from all zones of occupation to the First German People's Congress in Berlin. She chose the delegates herself, no previous elections took place. The majority of the approximately 2,000 participants came from the SBZ, with 605 supporters from the SED alone present. The most important demand of the body:a central German government and the rejection of a West German state. This was to be presented to the Foreign Ministers in London, but a specially appointed delegation was denied entry.

Drafting of the GDR constitution

At the Second German People's Congress in March 1948, among other things, the Marshall Plan - an economic development program of the USA in favor of Europe - was rejected and a popular initiative for German unity was decided. Above all, however, the First German People's Council was elected, consisting of 300 members of the SBZ and another 100 from the West - to underline the all-German claim. The most important committee of the People's Council, headed by the former SPD and now SED man Otto Grotewohl, worked out the draft of a "Constitution for the German Democratic Republic" over the next few months, which was put up for discussion at the end of October.

The news that the Bonn Basic Law was about to be passed in March 1949 caused unrest in the Soviet Zone, and the German People's Council announced a "national emergency". The Third People's Congress was convened and met on May 28 and 29, 1949, a few days after the Basic Law had been signed and promulgated in the Federal Republic. The draft constitution was accepted with only one dissenting vote and the Second German People's Council was elected. It was this that met on October 7, 1949 and constituted itself as the Provisional People's Chamber of the GDR.

The birth of the GDR

In that ceremony in the former Reich Ministry of Aviation, the Provisional People's Chamber put the "Constitution of the German Democratic Republic" into force. This still stuck to the unity of Germany, guaranteed basic rights and "general, equal, direct and secret elections". However, numerous provisions laid down a socialist development and the leading role of the SED. The highest state body was the People's Chamber, which, together with the state chamber, elected Wilhelm Pieck as state president on October 11, Otto Grotewohl became prime minister. Ultimately, a guiding principle formulated by Ulbricht in 1945 came to fruition, which said:Everything has to look democratic, but we have to have everything under control!

The dream of a united Germany was thus over for a long time. In fact, however, many people, including those in northern Germany, had had to live with restrictions since the occupying powers divided it up. Since the end of the war, travel between the SBZ and the other occupation zones was only possible with an interzone pass, which not everyone received. As a result, many people from Lübeck to the Harz Mountains were suddenly separated from relatives and friends. In individual cases, entire towns were even divided, such as the double village of Zicherie-Böckwitz. Zicherie was in Lower Saxony, Böckwitz in Saxony-Anhalt. So the division itself was not new.

The consequences of the division of Germany

At the beginning of the 1950s, the Soviet soldiers at the borders were gradually replaced by the Barracked People's Police. If you could get to the "other side" before, for example for a bottle of schnapps, this was now impossible. In 1952, a Council of Ministers decision was issued that provided for a five-kilometer-wide exclusion zone behind the border in the eastern area. Politically unreliable people were forcibly relocated from the area. Those who were allowed to stay, such as in Herrnburg in northern Mecklenburg near Lübeck, now always had to identify themselves if they wanted to leave the restricted area.

In July 1952, the five states of the GDR were abolished and replaced by 14 districts. This also meant the temporary end of the 850-year-old state of Mecklenburg. In doing so, the leadership abolished all remnants of federalism and self-government. A real democracy did not emerge in the GDR. Although there were always other parties alongside the SED, they only played a subordinate role. The Socialist Unity Party of Germany always celebrated sensational electoral successes until its end. The people in the GDR went from one dictatorship to another.