East Germany Background Data

HISTORICAL CONTEXT – EAST GERMANY  

By the end of the Second World War, the entire country was in a state of absolute devastation, which contained a seriously damaged economy, and disrupted infrastructure. In August 1945, after the holding of the Yalta Conference, it was officially declared that Germany would essentially be divided into four areas, controlled by the UK, US, France and the Soviet Union. Berlin was also divided between the four countries, and the German Democratic Republic formed. East Germany was essentially a satellite state which belonged to the Soviet Union, and therefore, much of the operational principles and ideology of the country’s top officials was identical to the Soviet Union. The country formed a part of the Eastern Bloc, alongside the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Much of the state was strictly controlled by these top officials, including having a generally negative viewpoint upon the west, which was forced upon the citizens.  

The Berlin Wall was established in 1961, in order to stop and prevent any East German citizens from fleeing to the western areas, where many people were imprisoned, and in most cases, killed at the border, however there were official areas where supervised crossing of the border were allowed, such as Checkpoint Charlie.  

Towards the latter portion of the establishment of East Germany, there was an increasing presence of peaceful protests against the country, and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, which began after the introduction of free elections into the country. The government opened the wall in November 1989, and the famous destruction of the wall began in June 1990, where the Unity Party fell, and the country was re-unified with the rest of Germany.  

THE STASI 

The Stasi was the Ministry for State Security within East Germany, and the operation of the Stasi was controlled by the overall main government body within the country, the Socialist Unity Party, and was primarily set up to solidify and establish their rule. They had an objective to be the ‘secret police’ and to have a watch on what everyone was doing within the country, and to investigate any possible breaches against the country’s regime. They had a significant network of intelligence, ranging from insiders, and wiretapping. Overall, they had intelligence of over a third of the entire country’s population. The organisation was disbanded shortly before the reunification of Germany in February 1990, and the Unified German Parliament passed a law to ensure that East Germans could view their Stasi records.  

LIFE IN EAST GERMANY – ACCESS TO MEDIA, ETC.  

Most of the events within the country were completely state controlled. I.E., the country adopted a centrally planned economy, and the prices and supply of different products, such as food and housing were set by the government, and not through the laws of market forces. The country adopted a very large agricultural economy, as well as working on assembly lines, which was also common in the area.  

The East German media was similar to that of the Soviet Union, essentially meaning that most of it was based around, and contained communist themes. Lots of investment was placed from the central government into the recreation of classical German music. In the 1980s, whilst East Germans were listening to mostly orchestral music, western Germans were listening to more of the popular music at the time, featuring electronic elements and synthesisers.  

Film was also enjoyed in East German, with most home-grown movies also being centred around the theme and idea of communism, and movies about general daily life within a family were largely popular.