GDR KT1 Stats

Year the GDR was formally established

1949

GDR joins COMECON

1950

Five Lander replaced by 14 Bezirke (districts)

1952

Creation of the Ministry for State Security (Stasi)

1950

Initial number of Stasi staff (1950)

Approx. 1,000

Number of Stasi staff by 1953

Approx. 14,000

Mielke becomes head of the Stasi

1957

Volkskammer elections begin

October 1949

Total emigrants from GDR to FRG (1949-61)

Over 2.5 million

Peak year for emigration (1953)

331,000 emigrants

Annual emigration in 1949

125,000

Annual emigration in 1960

199,000

Population decline due to emigration (1949-61)

From 18.5 million to just over 17 million

Number of border-crossers (1950s)

Approx. 50,000

Number of GDR citizens imprisoned by mid-1970s for attempted escape

Almost 5,000

People killed trying to cross Berlin Wall (1961-1989)

At least 136 at Wall; over 500 at other GDR borders

Number of successful escape attempts (1961-1989)

Approx. 5,000

First Five-Year Plan duration

1951-1955

Percentage of industry nationalised by 1955

75%

Production target vs actual for coal (1955)

Target: 3,500 -> Actual: 2,700 killotonnes

Production target vs actual for steel (1955)

Target: 3,000 -> Actual: 2,500 killotonnes

Production target vs actual for electricity (1955)

Target: 3.65 million kilowatts -> Actual: 3.31 million kilowatts

Production target vs actual for lignite (brown coal) (1955)

Target: 205,000 -> Actual: 201,000 killotonnes

Production target vs actual for cement (1955)

Target: 2,600 -> Actual: 3,000 killotonnes

Private enterprise share of industrial production by 1960

Only 9%

Second Five-Year Plan

1956-1959

First nuclear reactor activated

1957

Launch of Seven-Year Plan

1959

Planned increase in consumer goods under Seven-Year Plan

Nearly 200%

Planned increase in worker productivity under Seven-Year Plan

85%

Start of collectivisation campaign

1952

Number of collective farms (1952)

1,900

Collective farms by 1960

19,300

Farmland collectivised in 1952

2%

Farmland collectivised by 1960

85%

Fall in crop yields (1960-61)

30% decrease

Food rationing reintroduced

1961

Farmers emigrating due to collectivisation (early 1950s)

Approx. 15,000

Junker landowners dispossessed

Estates over 100 hectares confiscated

Land redistributed through reforms

One-third of farmland

Number of beneficiaries from land reform

Over 500,000

Homes with central heating in the 1950s

Only 3%

Homes with a bath in the 1950s

22%

Homes with a toilet in the 1950s

30%

Homes with central heating by mid-1970s

20%

Homes with bath/shower by mid-1970s

50%

Proportion of homes with only 1-2 rooms in 1950s

Over 50%

Housing destroyed during WWII in GDR

Approx. 14%

Hoyerswerda founded (brown coal town)

1955