October 7 - East Germany is Created

This Day in History: 7 October 2020

 

7 October 1949

 

71 years ago, today, East Germany was created. This occurred less than five months after Great Britain, the United States, and France established the Federal Republic of Germany in West Germany. The Democratic Republic of Germany was proclaimed in retaliation within the Soviet occupation zone. The West criticised this as an un-autonomous Soviet creation, and Wilhelm Pieck was named as East Germany's president, with Otto Grotewohl as Prime Minister. Although the state was under the responsibility of German communist leaders, Soviet forces remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Berlin remained divided between West and East German authorities, even though it was situated within communist Germany.

 

In East Germany, the economy was centrally planned and increasingly became state-owned. Prices of housing, basic goods and services were heavily subsided and set by central government planners. It became the most successful economy in the Eastern Bloc. Emigration to the West was a significant problem as well, as many of the emigrants were educated young people and weakened the state economically. The government fortified its western borders and built the Berlin Wall to prevent this. Many people attempting to flee were killed by border guards or booby traps such as land mines. East Germany ceased to exist in 1990, when its land and people were absorbed into the democratic Federal Republic of Germany.

 

Want to find out more about the creation of East German? Click here for more information, or here for more about East Germany throughout the Cold War.

Hungarian Revolution request

After a request at Year 12 Induction, here are some suggestions for those who want to take their interest in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 further.
Some of the books available are:
Explosion: the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 - John P C Matthews
One Day that shook the Communist World – Paul Lendvai
Journey to a Revolution: A personal memoir and History – Michael Korda
Twelve Days: Revolution 1956 – Victor Sebestyen (More from Sebestyn here)
If you are keen on film, Children of Glory and Freedom's Fury are definitely worth watching. Here are also some links to the BBC's archive on the event.

If you are interested in Hungary during the Cold War, you may also be curious about Eastern Europe as a whole during the Cold War.
There are some fantastic TV series about this period. For example, The Lost World of Communism series looks at communist society in Czechoslovakia, Romania and East Germany and the lives of ordinary people. The Cold War series (narrated by Kenneth Branagh)is a powerful series which includes a large number of interviews by those who made the political decisions at the time and those involved in the key historical events. Books such as Stasiland by Anna Funder about life in East Germany during the period are also well worth the investment of your time.
Any further recommendations, please add.

PS: Here is a review of 4 accounts of the revolution published to mark the 50th Anniversary in 2006

More on the wall

Here is a Berlin Wall quiz, courtesy of German magazine "Der Spiegel". There is also an interesting interview with Lieutenant-Colonel Harald Jäger, the first border guard to allow East Germans to cross into the west. He explains why he made that decision, revealing the chaos and confusion of the East German government that evening.

Der Spiegel also takes a closer look at the significance of 9 November in German history, which also marks 1918 German Revolution which brought down the Kaiser, Adolf Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, and Kristallnacht in 1938.

PS: 9 November was also the date of the execution Robert Blum, one of the leaders of the 1848 Revolution in Germany, and was the date of the foundation of the SS in 1925. It is therefore referred to in Germany as the "Day of Fate" (Schicksalstag)

PPS: Here's Pravda's take on the anniversary. Apparently the fall of the wall triggered "the largest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th Century"...

East German jokes

West Germany's intelligence service has released a collection of jokes made in East Germany during the Cold War. You can read some of the here, such as,
"If Christmas had happened in East Germany, it would have been cancelled. Mary would't find any napppies for the baby Jesus, Joseph would be called up to the army and the three kings wouldn't get a travel permit."
Or, "What would happen if the desert became communist? Nothing for a while, and then there would be a sand shortage."
The humour is pretty dry, but it reveals the way many East Germans coped with the repressive regime and their dreary surroundings - through cynicism and sarcasm. Of course, the penalty for being caught telling such jokes could be very high. The Stasi had 189,000 informants who reported any criticsm of mockery of the government, and many people were arrested and sent to labour camps.

The report is published by Der Spiegel, a German news magazine, and you can find further coverage (in English) of the events marking the anniversary of 1989 here.