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This is What Life was Like in Communist East Germany

Tim Flight December 18, 2019 25 min

Berlin Wall - Checkpoint Charlie — A man peers over the newly-built Berlin Wall in August 1961. The Guardian

39. East Germany was officially known as the German Democratic Republic

In 1949, the Soviet Union named its part of Germany Deutsche Demokratische Republik (‘German Democratic Republic‘, or GDR). The GDR was ruled by the Socialist Union Party of Germany (SED). This came from a merger of the German Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party of Germany. The SED had a difficult task: to marry German traditions to Soviet Communism. They also had to eliminate the relics of the Prussian aristocracy, and forge a new identity for 19 million citizens. Thus the SED tore down certain statues, monuments, and mansions, creating a strange new world.

Written by

Tim Flight

I am a freelance historical and literary writer based in West Yorkshire, UK. I read for a funded PhD in English at the University of Oxford (Magdalen College) and graduated in 2016. I am a former lecturer in Medieval English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London. My publications include peer-reviewed articles in academic publications, and pieces in mainstream magazines such as History Today and Fortean Times. For more information, please see www.drflight.co.uk