GDR - 1.1

when the Yalta conference happened?

February 1945

what was decided at the Yalta conference?

france, ussr, uk and usa will each get a sector of the Germany as it will be divided into 4 zones as well as Berlin

when was the Potsdam conference?

July 1915 after Germany surrender

what was decided at the postdam revolution?

that the superpowers will be allowed to take reparations for the damage Germany has caused to them.

how many roads, railways and air corridors were created to link western zones to Berlin?

4 roads, 3 railways and 2 air corridors

why did ussr take so much reparations and why it was an issue?

the ussr suffered huge losses such as 25 million lives were taken away and they justified the amounts they took by this. additionally, this was an issue because this weakened the states economy due to a lack of resources.

when and why did the communist group led by Walter ulbricbht arrive to Germany?

on the 30 th of April 1945 in order to create a communist party that would be string enough to rule the state. they have been in the exile in Moscow during the Third reigh

what was the problem they faced at the very beginning?

SPD was way more popular than KPD in that summer.

why Spd was more popular?

at the time there was a strong anti-soviet propaganda during the nazi regime due to the behavior such as raping German women at the last few months of the war.

what happened in April 1946?

600,000 KPD members merged with nearly 700,000 SPD in order to create SED ( Socialist Unity party of Germany)

what happened the very next day?

the first edition of the SED Neues Deutchland was published.

what caused this merger despite the strong anti-soviet propaganda at the time?

the soviet pressure to disband SPD and multiple left wing parties. in addition, many germans believed that it would be better given that in early 1930s SPD and KPD couldn’t rule properly together which led to a rise of the nazi regime.

how did SED ensured it was communist dominant?

there was a purge of former politicians and supporters of the WW2 who were in SPD.

how many SPD members were arrested and sent to the soviet prisons by 1950?

around 5,000 Spd members.

why there were tensions between the east and the west after the Potsdam post war conference?

the heads of the uk, usa and the ussr met there and disagreements between the west and soviets were a root for the tensions. this was also partially due to the death od Roosevelt in 1945simce his successor, Truman, was more anti-communist which led to tensions.

what was one disagreement?

USSR reparations were foo extreme and were disliked by the west as they believed that weak economy and poor living standards could lead to the rise of communism.

what was another disagreement?

germany-poland border as it would give Poland territory with millions of displaced germans. the decision was never taken until 1990s.

what was bizonia?

in 1947 after all secret negotiations the UK and the USA decided to merge their zones into one and called it bizonia.

why this led to tensions with the ussr?

stalin regarded to it as an independent move to turn the state into the independent capitalist state and that all decisions like this should be discussed beforehand with the ussr and France.

what was the containment policy?

the foreign policy of the usa to prevent the spread of communist after ww2 given the increasing influence of the communist ussr over the eastern European countries and the parts of Asia like china and Africa.

what was the Truman doctrine?

in 1947 Truman announced the policy of helping economically to the democratic nations under the threat of communism.

what was the marshal plan?

the embodiment of the Truman doctrine. in 1948 the usa allocated money to help the western countries to recover after the war and in total they spent around 13$ billion and beloved that prosperity would prevent the spread of communism. this also greatly contributed to the west Germany’s post war recovery.

what was introduced in June 1948?

a new currency for the west Germany and the western sectors of Berlin — DM Deutchmark. it was created in order to boost trade and improve economy.

why DM was seen in the negative light by the USSR?

they said it was an act of aggression and undermining the soviet authority by not discussing this with them beforehand and disrupting the united economy in Berlin.

how did Stalin respond to this?

on 23rd June he blocked all the roads and railways and canals aiming to coerce the west to surrender their zones in Berlin to him

why it was huge problem to the west?

because they didn’t have an opportunity to supply medicine and food to almost 2 million population

what did this lead to the west to do?

Berlin airlift as this was the only way to provided food and supplies.

when did it begin?

on 26th June (3 days after Stalin beloved the railways, canals and roads)

how often did the planes land?

every 90sec

how many supplies did they bring every day?

8,000 tones every day.

when did Stalin call off the blockade?

in may 1949 after 277,000 flights and 5million packs of supplies delivered he called off the blockade.

how did this lead to the NATO formation?

the Berlin airlift became a symbol of the west commitment to help and support and the nations united.

after how many mouths of the creating of the frg the gar was formed?

after 4 months

when did ulbrichs become the first secretary of the gdr?

in oct 1949 and he held the most powerful position in the state.

what and when did Stalin sent to the west 3 years after the 3rd came into existence?

he sent the Stalin note in April 1949 which included the idea of uniting two states together again. he got rejected.

why was the original 1949 GDR constitution written similarly to the one in the FRG?

in case if the Germany would reunite it would be easier to create a government.

how the voting was there?

by a secret ballot and proportional representation

what was the proportional representation?

deciding the number of MPs in each political party based on the proportion of votes they receive.

who was the head of state in the gdr in 1949?

Wilhelm Pieck

what was the point of being a head of state?

it was merely a ceremonial role and all he had to do is to represent the country internationally and speak to the public

what happened to this role after his death in 1969?

it was passed to the Staatrat and was chaired by the sed leader.