East Germany

East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in <a href="/facts/Central_Europe/VdxzSbJz">Central Europe</a> from <a href="/facts/Foundation_of_East_Germany/u6huxG0T">its formation</a> on 7 October 1949 until <a href="/facts/German_reunification/1c7F6WoR">its reunification</a> with <a href="/facts/West_Germany/oCydk787">West Germany</a> (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally viewed as a <a href="/facts/Communist_state/oYaCr1Av">communist state</a> and described itself as a <a href="/facts/Socialist_state/SCSD8x2m">socialist</a> "workers' and peasants' state". The <a href="/facts/Economy_of_East_Germany/7YPW4C5N">economy of the country</a> was <a href="/facts/Central_planning/TCMJrC5M">centrally planned</a> and <a href="/facts/Government-owned_corporation/yml2hFlI">state-owned</a>. Although the GDR had to pay substantial war reparations to the Soviets, its economy became the most successful in the <a href="/facts/Eastern_Bloc/12f32hA7">Eastern Bloc</a>.
Before its establishment, the country's territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces following the <a href="/facts/Berlin_Declaration_(1945)/vufhqffP">Berlin Declaration</a> abolishing German sovereignty in <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>. The <a href="/facts/Potsdam_Agreement/7yWhoYWV">Potsdam Agreement</a> established the <a href="/facts/Soviet_occupation_zone_in_Germany/sA0UH496">Soviet-occupied zone</a>, bounded on the east by the <a href="/facts/Oder%25E2%2580%2593Neisse_line/22Xgm6Kx">Oder–Neiße line</a>. The GDR was dominated by the <a href="/facts/Socialist_Unity_Party_of_Germany/5pX4MKXz">Socialist Unity Party of Germany</a> (SED), a <a href="/facts/Communist_party/67myQQ7w">communist party</a>, before being democratized and liberalized in 1989 as a result of the pressure against communist governments brought by the <a href="/facts/Revolutions_of_1989/gLWM6JLk">revolutions of 1989</a>. This paved the way for East Germany's reunification with West Germany. Unlike the government of West Germany, the SED did not see its state as the successor to the <a href="/facts/German_Reich/yPUEaDFT">German Reich</a> (1871–1945). In <a href="/facts/Constitution_of_East_Germany/gU6DRfP7">1974</a>, it abolished the goal of unification in the constitution. The SED-ruled GDR was often described as a <a href="/facts/Soviet_satellite_state/09RFx27w">Soviet satellite state</a>; historians described it as an <a href="/facts/Authoritarian/88Kfm2gU">authoritarian</a> regime.
Geographically, the GDR bordered the <a href="/facts/Baltic_Sea/jbQJGLQX">Baltic Sea</a> to the north, <a href="/facts/Polish_People%2527s_Republic/hypM0C8R">Poland</a> to the east, <a href="/facts/Czechoslovak_Socialist_Republic/gJIrAxHu">Czechoslovakia</a> to the southeast, and West Germany to the west. Internally, the GDR bordered <a href="/facts/East_Berlin/FTpK8rP4">East Berlin</a>, the Soviet sector of <a href="/facts/Allied_occupation_of_Berlin/B1Hh14kz">Allied-occupied Berlin</a>, which was also administered as the country's de facto capital. It also bordered the three sectors occupied by the United States, United Kingdom, and France, known collectively as <a href="/facts/West_Berlin/TNTMYYlN">West Berlin</a> (de facto part of the FRG). Emigration to the <a href="/facts/Western_Bloc/RS9Ev5RJ">West</a> was a significant problem; as many emigrants were well-educated young people, this emigration economically <a href="/facts/Human_capital_flight/ISXuNRE2">weakened</a> the state. In response, the GDR government fortified its <a href="/facts/Inner_German_border/Cr4FTHbB">inner German border</a> and built the <a href="/facts/Berlin_Wall/WhKAVUE4">Berlin Wall</a> in 1961. Many people <a href="/facts/Escape_attempts_and_victims_of_the_inner_German_border/jqGdLS5z">attempting to flee</a> were killed by border guards or <a href="/facts/Booby_trap/UjGAEEjd">booby traps</a> such as <a href="/facts/Landmine/D5AkxUF9">landmines</a>.
In 1989, numerous social, economic, and political forces in the GDR and abroad – one of the most notable being peaceful protests starting in the city of <a href="/facts/Leipzig/KIqgMgLN">Leipzig</a> – led to the <a href="/facts/Fall_of_the_Berlin_Wall/CTcjBDlQ">fall of the Berlin Wall</a> and the establishment of a government committed to liberalization. The following year, <a href="/facts/1990_East_German_general_election/8DtdWEx2">a free and fair election</a> was held in the country, and international negotiations between the four former Allied countries and the two German states commenced. The negotiations led to the signing of the <a href="/facts/Treaty_on_the_Final_Settlement_with_Respect_to_Germany/lWQ0U1mR">Final Settlement treaty</a>, which replaced the Potsdam Agreement on the status and borders of a future, reunited Germany. The GDR ceased to exist when its five states ("Länder") joined the Federal Republic of Germany under Article 23 of the <a href="/facts/Basic_Law_for_the_Federal_Republic_of_Germany/wyl4L4Jt">Basic Law</a>, and its capital East Berlin united with West Berlin on 3 October 1990. Several of the GDR's leaders, notably its last communist leader <a href="/facts/Egon_Krenz/DyM06o0X">Egon Krenz</a>, were later prosecuted for offenses committed during the GDR era.

East Germany open-in-new

East Germany