1. Divided Germany
West Germany FRG: Federal Republic of Germany capital Bonn Chancellor Konrad Adenauer President Theodor Heuss Parlimentary democratic republic East Germany GDR: German Democratic Republc, capital Berlin (East) President Wihelm Pieck PM Otto Grotewohl SED leader Walter Ulbricht In effect one party communist republic

2. Thursday 19th May am 1 hour

3. To what extent and in what ways did Communism transform the GDR?

4. Constitution 1949 Parliament Volkskammer, representative of the people
Upper House, Landerkammer, represented the five regions of East Germany or Lander
President Wihelm Pieck: head of state
Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl: head of government

5. Democratic Politics in the GDR?
SED general secretary Walter Ulbricht.
The Lander were abolished in 1952 and replaced by smaller and more numerous units the Bezirke
Upper House abolished 1958

6. Changes in the GDR... Life on the Land
1952: Collectivisation ‘land production cooperatives’
LPGs: a collective farm often made up of several previously independent farms now joined together
LPGs unpopular, many farmers fled to the West
Problems with food supply: contributed to uprising 1953

7. Uprising 17th June 1953
Causes: tightening of borders, collectivisation, emphasis on enhanced productivity
USSR was not happy with the developments in the GDR
June 1953 key SED leaders summoned to Moscow and asked to make changes: condition of workers would become worse, they were to produce 10% more, but wages the same

8. Uprising 17th June 1953
Confusion: Different messages came out in the Communist Party newspaper and Trade Union newspaper.
Construction on the building work in Berlin halted 16th June, workers marched to House of Ministries
One worker got to a loudspeaker and announced a general strike for the following day. News spread throughout the GDR

9. Aftermath of the Uprising
Ulbricht got help from the USSR and the uprising was crushed by Soviet tanks
West Germany under Konrad Adenauer didn’t intervene
East Germans felt abandoned
Workers won concessions
Inadequacy of secret security service in noticing signs of unrest
Ulbricht criticised by party
SED paranoid about views of the people and determined to crush any signs of unrest

11. Land Reform
Ambitious building program: 101,800 new apartment houses were to be built between 1948 and In the end, however, only 39% built in 1950.

12. Success? Agriculture did become more efficient
Farmers well trained, becoming specialists in crop or livestock production
Collective farms treated as industrial factories, a place of work rather than an inherited property.

13. Relationship with USSR page 147
What was the Warsaw Pact?
What was the Comecon?

14. Relationship with the West
Social and economic changes stirred up widespread unrest, the need for protection and fortification was apparent to the SED leadership.
May 1952, 5km exclusion zone along the border between East and West Germany was created, with the forcible removal of ‘unreliable’ people from their homes and villages, and the erection of a firmer border fence and no mans land