IB History Nations - East Germany Notes

The Cold War and East Germany (GDR)

From Soviet Zone to GDR (1945-1949)

1. After Germany's defeat in 1945, the Soviet occupation zone in eastern Germany was transformed along communist lines, with land reform, nationalisation of industry, and the forced merger of socialist and communist parties into the SED.
2. The German Democratic Republic (GDR) was formally established on 7 October 1949, in direct response to the creation of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) in the Western zones.
3. The division of Germany became the most visible symbol of the Cold War divide in Europe, with East and West Germany representing competing ideological, economic, and social systems.
4. The USSR extracted massive reparations from the eastern zone - dismantling factories and transporting equipment to the Soviet Union - which severely hampered the GDR's early economic development.

Sovietisation

1. The GDR adopted the Soviet model of centralised planning, collectivised agriculture, and one-party rule under the SED (Socialist Unity Party), led initially by Walter Ulbricht.
2. All aspects of life were brought under party control - media, education, culture, youth organisations, and trade unions were restructured to serve the SED's ideological agenda.
3. The GDR presented itself as the anti-fascist German state, claiming to have broken completely with the Nazi past, while portraying West Germany as a continuation of capitalist structures that had enabled fascism.

The 1953 Uprising

1. On 17 June 1953, workers in East Berlin staged a strike that spread to over 500 towns and cities across the GDR, demanding free elections, lower work quotas, and German reunification.
2. The uprising was crushed by Soviet tanks, killing at least 55 people and demonstrating that the GDR regime could only survive with Soviet military backing.
3. The 1953 uprising showed the regime's fundamental lack of popular legitimacy and reinforced the SED's reliance on repression rather than consent to maintain power.

The Berlin Wall (1961)

1. Between 1949 and 1961, approximately 3.5 million East Germans fled to the West through Berlin, draining the GDR of skilled workers, professionals, and young people.
2. The Berlin Wall was erected on 13 August 1961, sealing the border and trapping East Germans behind a fortified barrier of concrete, barbed wire, watchtowers, and minefields.
3. At least 140 people were killed attempting to cross the Wall, and thousands more were imprisoned for attempting to flee, making the Wall the most potent symbol of Cold War division.