Volta
Politics7 October 1949

Founding of the German Democratic Republic

Also called: Founding of East Germany, DDR

The German Democratic Republic was founded in the Soviet zone, with East Berlin as its capital and real power held by the Socialist Unity Party (SED) under Ulbricht.

Ulbricht, Pieck and Grotewohl on the day the GDR was founded — photo by Walter Heilig, East Berlin, 7 October 1949, German Federal Archives
Ulbricht, Pieck and Grotewohl on the day the GDR was founded — photo by Walter Heilig, East Berlin, 7 October 1949, German Federal Archives

Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-S88643 / Walter Heilig · CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Source

In the Soviet zone the Communist and Social Democratic parties had been forcibly merged in 1946 into the Socialist Unity Party (SED). After the Federal Republic was founded, the People’s Council in East Berlin turned itself into a provisional People’s Chamber on 7 October 1949, brought a constitution into force and proclaimed the German Democratic Republic. Wilhelm Pieck was president and Otto Grotewohl prime minister, but power lay with the SED’s general secretary, Walter Ulbricht.

Through land reform and the nationalization of industry East Germany built a Soviet-style planned economy. Two states with opposing systems now stood on German soil. A year earlier two separate governments had likewise been set up in the north and south of the Korean peninsula.

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States and rulers at the time
East Germany · established
Soviet Union — Leader Joseph Stalin
Places
Berlin

People

  • Walter Ulbricht1893 – 1973

    key figure · Leader of East Germany’s Socialist Unity Party (1950–1971), who built a Soviet-style state and the Berlin Wall in 1961

Before and after

Earlier
1949 Founding of the Federal Republic of Germany
Later
1953 East German Uprising of 17 June 1953

Themes that include this event