Editing German Democratic Republic (1949–1990)

{{
Infobox country
| name                   = German Democratic Republic
| government_type        = Federal Marxist-Leninist socialist republic (1949–1952)<br />Unitary Marxist-Leninist socialist republic (1952–1989)<br />Unitary parliamentary republic (1989–1990)
| currency               = East German mark
| date_event1            = 9 November 1989
| event1                 = Fall of [[Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart|Anti-Fascist Protection Wall]]
| date_pre               = 8 May 1945
| event_pre              = Soviet liberation of Germany
| event_start            = Constitution adopted
| event_end              = Annexation by West Germany
| date_end               = 3 October
| date_start             = 7 October
| leader_name4           = [[Egon Krenz]]
| leader_title4          = 1989
| leader_name3           = [[Erich Honecker]]
| leader_title3          = 1971–1989
| leader_name2           = [[Walter Ulbricht]]
| native_name            = Deutsche Demokratische Republik
| leader_title2          = 1950–1971
| leader_name1           = [[Wilhelm Pieck]] and [[Otto Grotewohl]]
| leader_title1          = 1946–1950
| population_census_year = 1990
| population_census      = 16,111,000
| mode_of_production     = Socialism
| area_km2               = 108,333
| official_languages     = German
| image_coat             = DDR emblem.png
| capital                = East Berlin
| englishmotto           = Workers of the world, unite!
| motto                  = Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt Euch!
| year_end               = 1990
| year_start             = 1949
| HDI                    = 0.953 (1989)
| drives_on              = right
| GDP_PPP_year           = 1989
| GDP_PPP_per_capita     = $42,004
| GDP_PPP                = $525.29 billion
| cctld                  = .dd
| calling_code           = +37
| legislature            = [[Volkskammer]]
| national_anthem        = "Auferstanden aus Ruinen"<br />"Risen from Ruins"
| image_map              = Map of GDR.png
| population_density_km2 = 149
| today                  = [[Germany]]
| image_flag             = GDR flag.png
}}
The '''German Democratic Republic''' (German: ''Deutsche Demokratische Republik'', abbreviated '''GDR''' or '''DDR'''), sometimes referred to as '''East Germany''', was a country that existed from 1949 to 1990. Western media referred to it as a [[communist state]], but it described itself as a [[Socialist state|socialist]] "[[Proletariat|workers]]' and [[Peasantry|peasants]]' state."<ref>'''Chapter 1, Article 1''' of the ''1968 Constitution of the German Democratic Republic (1974 amendments) [[http://www.documentarchiv.de/ddr/verfddr.html Text (in German)]; [https://web.archive.org/web/20220318151408/http://www.documentarchiv.de/ddr/verfddr.html Archived]]''</ref>

The GDR was formed on 7 October 1949 with the adoption of its first constitution; elections for the Constitutional Assembly were held 5 months earlier, on 15 and 16 May 1949.

The GDR had free medical care and housing, and public transportation was very cheap. Despite spending less money per capita on police, the GDR's crime rate was under a tenth of that of West Germany.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Austin Murphy|year=2000|title=The Triumph of Evil|chapter=A Post-Mortem Comparison of Communist and Capitalist Societies Using the German Case as an Illustration|page=94–102|pdf=https://mltheory.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/austin-murphy-the-triumph-of-evil.pdf|city=Fucecchio|publisher=European Press Academic Publishing|isbn=8883980026}}</ref>

The GDR was annexed by the [[Federal Republic of Germany]], also known as West Germany, on 3 October 1990.

== History ==

=== Soviet liberation ===
[[File:Divided Germany.png|thumb|The Soviet zone (red) is in the northeast.]]
The [[German Reich (1933–1945)|Nazi]] [[Wehrmacht]] surrendered unconditionally on 8 May 1945 after the [[Workers' and Peasants' Red Army|Red Army]] liberated Berlin. Germany was divided into four occupation zones, with the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet]] zone in the northeast. Authorities in the Soviet zone confiscated the property of Nazis, convicted them, and prevented them from holding important positions. About 10,000 businesses were expropriated from [[Bourgeoisie|capitalists]] and became publicly owned. A land reform program began in 1945 to remove land from the [[Feudalism|feudal]] [[nobility]].

As early as June 1945, newly formed [[Anti-fascism|anti-fascist]] and [[Democracy|democratic]] parties were already organizing in the Soviet occupation zone. The [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD) and [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democratic Party]] (SPD) united to form the [[Socialist Unity Party of Germany]] in 1946. The German People's Council was founded in 1947 and established the German Democratic Republic on 7 October 1949.<ref name=":2">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Tricontinental]]|title=Risen from the Ruins: The Economic History of Socialism in the German Democratic Republic|date=2021-04-20|url=https://thetricontinental.org/studies-1-ddr/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220426161306/https://thetricontinental.org/studies-1-ddr/|archive-date=2022-04-26|retrieved=2022-08-12}}</ref>

== Economy ==
From 1951 to 1989, the GDR's GDP grew at an average rate of 4.5% per year, while West Germany's GDP only grew by 4.3%.<ref>{{Citation|author=Karl Mai|year=2009|title=GDR - FRG in an economic-statistical comparison 1950 to 1989 - On new results by Prof. Gerhard Heske|pdf=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613132353/http://www.memo.uni-bremen.de/docs/m3309.pdf|trans-title=DDR – BRD im ökonomisch-statistischen Vergleich 1950 bis 1989 - Zu neuen Ergebnissen von Prof. Gerhard Heske|trans-lang=German}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|+Average Wages of Workers
!Year
!Monthly wage (DDM)<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephen R. Burrant|year=1987|title=East Germany: A Country Study|title-url=https://archive.org/details/eastgermanycount00bura_0/page/154/mode/2up?view=theater&q=755|chapter=The Economy|section=The Consumer in the East German Economy|page=154|publisher=United States Federal Research Division}}</ref>
|-
|1950
|311
|-
|1960
|555
|-
|1970
|755
|-
|1985
|1,130
|}
The GDR had no unemployment. Although people were protected from being fired for not going to work or not working productively, only 0.1% of work time was lost due to unexcused absences.<ref name=":0" />

Small private companies with ten employees or less could exist in the GDR. Taxation rates for businesses were highly progressive and the most profitable businesses paid 90% of their profit in taxes.<ref name=":0" /> Individuals paid up to 10% of their wages to public insurance that covered healthcare and pensions with a maximum rate of 60 Marks per month for workers.<ref name=":4" />

== Education ==
After the [[Second World War]], teachers who had connections to the [[National Socialist German Workers' Party|Nazi Party]] were fired and 40,000 new teachers were trained in a short time.<ref name=":2" />

=== Daycare and preschool ===
Very cheap daycare was available in the GDR and was open for up to 12 hours per day. 80% of children under three years old attended day care.<ref name=":0" /> In 1985, there were 13,148 preschools in the DDR attended by children from ages three to six. Attendance was not mandatory but 91% of eligible children participated.<ref name=":1" />

=== Primary and secondary education ===
Starting at the age of six, there were ten years of mandatory education. In grades seven through ten, 22% of instruction time was spent on science, 15% on math, and 34% on history, language, and literature. English and Russian were also taught as foreign languages.<ref name=":1" />

=== Higher education ===
After completing the compulsory ten years of education, students could go to a university or vocational school. There were 54 universities and colleges and 963 vocational schools in the country. College was cheap and had no tuition fee,<ref name=":0" /> and many textbooks were available for free.<ref name=":1">{{Citation|author=Stephen R. Burrant|year=1987|title=East Germany: A Country Study|title-url=https://archive.org/details/eastgermanycount00bura_0/page/94/mode/2up?view=theater|chapter=The Society and Its Environment|section=The Educational System|publisher=United States Federal Research Division}}</ref> There was no student debt and students did not need jobs while in college.<ref name=":3">{{Web citation|author=Victor Grossman|newspaper=[[Monthly Review]]|title=My seventy years and the departed GDR|date=2022-08-24|url=https://mronline.org/2022/08/24/my-seventy-years-and-the-departed-gdr/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220825143732/https://mronline.org/2022/08/24/my-seventy-years-and-the-departed-gdr/|archive-date=2022-08-25|retrieved=2022-08-26}}</ref>

== Health care ==
[[File:DDR health care diagram.png|thumb|Organization of the GDR's healthcare system]]
[[File:GDR physicians.png|thumb|In 1970, the GDR had more physicians per capita than [[French Republic|France]], [[Kingdom of Sweden|Sweden]], Britain, or the USA, but less than West Germany.]]
During the late 1940s, disease was widespread because the [[Second World War]] had destroyed many hospitals and universities, preventing new doctors from being trained. 45% of surviving doctors were former Nazis, and many of them fled to West Germany. Soviet authorities established the [[Central Health Administration]] in 1945 and introduced a public health insurance in 1947. The number of doctors tripled to reach 41,000 by 1988 even though thousands illegally crossed the border to West Germany.

The GDR had a highly developed health care system that employed almost 600,000 people or 7% of the total workforce. By 1970, it surpassed the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|UK]] and [[United States of America|USA]] in terms of physicians per capita and had 24 doctors per 10,000 people in 1989. The Kombinat GERMED operated 13 enterprises and three research institutes and produced 80–90% of the country's pharmaceuticals while also exporting to other countries.

Churches retained control of many hospitals after the foundation of the GDR but were integrated into the state planning system. Doctors were required to work in areas with few doctors (usually rural) for the first several years after receiving their license.

The GDR created a system of publicly owned polyclinics to treat a wide variety of diseases. In addition, smaller outpatient centers existed.<ref name=":4">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Tricontinental]]|title=‘Socialism Is the Best Prophylaxis’: The German Democratic Republic’s Health Care System|date=2023-02-14|url=https://thetricontinental.org/studies-2-ddr-health-care-2/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230214134923/https://thetricontinental.org/studies-2-ddr-health-care-2/#_Toc113466469|archive-date=2023-02-14|retrieved=2023-02-26}}</ref>

== Housing ==
Evictions were illegal in the GDR, and rent averaged less than 10% of total income.<ref name=":3" />

== Women's rights ==
80% of women in the GDR between the ages of 18 and 60 were employed. By 1985, half of the university students in the country were women, doubling from a quarter in 1960.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephen R. Burrant|year=1987|title=East Germany: A Country Study|title-url=https://archive.org/details/eastgermanycount00bura_0/page/102/mode/2up?view=theater|chapter=The Society and Its Environment|section=Women and the Democratic Women's League of Germany|page=102|publisher=United States Federal Research Division}}</ref> By the mid-1980s, birth control pills were also available free of charge.<ref>{{Citation|author=Stephen R. Burrant|year=1987|title=East Germany: A Country Study|title-url=https://archive.org/details/eastgermanycount00bura_0/page/94/mode/2up?view=theater|chapter=The Society and Its Environment|section=Institutions and Organs of Society|page=95|publisher=United States Federal Research Division}}</ref>

Six months of paid maternity leave were given for the birth of the first child, a year for the second child, and 18 months for subsequent children.<ref name=":0" />

==References==

<references />
[[Category:Former socialist states]]
[[Category:Socialism in Germany]]