TimeLine of East German History
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Year |
East Germany |
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World |
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1945
Feb 4 - 11 May 1-2 May 8
May 29
June 10
July 1
July 16-Aug 2
Aug 15
Oct 31 |
Yalta Conference Suicide of Hitler Fall of Berlin Nazi Germany surrenders
German Communists, led by Walther Ulbricht arrive in Berlin
antifascist democratic political parties allowed to form in the Soviet zone, elections to be held in Oct of 1946
Germany is divided among the 4 Allies
Postdam Conference
Soviet allow police to re-arm, would become Volkspolizei (Vopo) |
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Japan surrenders
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1946
Oct |
The Communist Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party of Germany, Christian Democratic Union of Germany and Liberal Democratic Party of Germany merged to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). Walter Ulbricht became first secretary |
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1947
March
July
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Former U.S.President Herbert Hoover argues against the Morgenthau Plan to turn Germany into a pastoral state
Marshall Plan starts, aid offered to Soviet Union and its German sector-rejected as 'dollar imperialism' |
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1948
Feb
March
March 7
June
June 12-24
June 25 June 28
Sept 6 |
Soviets place severe travel restrictions on travel through their zone to reach Berlin
Soviets withdraw from the ACC (Allied Control Council)
London Conference: US,UK and France support for fusing the three Western zones of Germany ( trizone) into an independent, federal form of government, and bringing Western zones into the U.S.-led economic reconstruction efforts
US, France and Great Britain announced a new currency, the Deutsche mark
Soviets close autobahn and rail links to Berlin
US and UK Berlin airlift begins Soviet announce currency for East Germany, the ostmark
East German Communists occupied the city council building, A crowd of 500,000 West Germans gathered at the Brandenburg Gate to protest
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1949
May 12
April 4
May 23
Oct 11 |
Agreement reached to end blockade of Berlin
NATO formed
Federal Republic of Germany formed
German Democratic Republic formed with Wilhelm Peck as president |
Wilhelm Pieck president 1949-60
Walter Ulbricht general secretary 1950-71
Walter Ulbricht general secretary 1950-71
Walter Ulbricht general secretary 1950-71
Walter Ulbricht general secretary 1950-71 |
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1950
Feb 8 |
East Germany joins the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) a economic organization of communist states
Stasi founded |
June 5 Korean War Starts |
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1951
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First Five Year Plan 1951-1955 |
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1952 |
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1953
March
May
June 16
June 17 |
Germany reaches pre-war levels of industrial production
East German reparations to Soviet Union finished, est to be $22 million
Stalin dies
GDR announces New Course (Neue Kurs) economic policy to increase the availability of consumer goods
Productivity quotas raised by 10%, if the new quotas were not met then workers would have salaries reduced
Strike by Berlin construction workers leds to 1953 uprising West Berlin radio broadcast news about the strike, helping incite riots throughout East Germany
400,000 protesters gather in East Berlin, many protests throught East Germany, demanding Soviets leave and government be replaced. Volkspolizei and Soviet troops stationed in East Germany suppress the riots |
July 27 Korean War ends |
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1954
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Soviet Union grants East Germany sovereignty, |
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1955
May 9
May 14
Nov 12 |
West Germany joins NATO
Warsaw Pact of USSR, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, and East Germany formed
West German army Bundeswehr formed, in part to provide soldiers against the numerically superior Warsaw Pact forces |
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1956
March 1 |
Second Five Year Plan 1956-60: Ulbricht's leadership confirmed,focus on technological progress, accelerated efforts toward agricultural collectivization
East Germany forms the National People’s Army |
Oct 23-Nov 10 Hungarian Revolution |
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1957
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first nuclear reactor in East Germany |
Oct 4 Sputnik |
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1958
Nov |
Khrushchev announces Allied troops would be given six months to leave Berlin, later backs down |
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1959
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Seven-Year Plan (1959–65) aimed at achieving West Germany's per capita production by the end of 1961 and 85% increase in labor productivity
143,000 flee East Germany |
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1960
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199,000 flee East Germany |
May 5 U-2 spy plane shot down over USSR |
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1961
Aug 13
Oct 21 |
Construction starts on Berlin Wall
Tank standoff in Berlin |
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1962 |
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Cuban Missle Crisis |
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1963
June |
Ulbricht adopts Soviet economist Evsei Liberman's reforms in the New Economic System (NES), allowing for some decentralization in decision making
Kennedy visits Berlin, makes Ich bin ein Berliner speech |
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1964 |
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Oct 14 Leonid Brezhnev removes Khrushchev from power, becomes General Secretary of the Soviet Union |
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1965 |
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March Nicolae Ceausescu becomes leader of Romaina |
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1966 |
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1967 |
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1968
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Economic System of Socialism (ESS) 1968-70, focus on high-tech, centralized planning was reintroduced, managers given more freedom to decide material and labor needs, factories were taxed on assets, managers required to repay government loans
East German troops sent into Czechoslovakia during Rrague Spring rebellion |
Jan 5-Aug 21 Prague Spring rebellion in Czechoslovakia Nov Brezhnev reiterates the Soviet policy to use force against hostile to Communism-Brazhnev Doctrine |
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1969 |
Willy Brandt becomes Chancellor of West Germany, starts policy of Ostpolitik to improve relations with East Germany |
Sino-Soviet clash on border-leads to detente to prevent a US-China alliance |
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1970
Aug 12 |
Treaty of Moscow between West Germany and the USSR, GDR recognized, Allies to leave Germany, Soviet troops to leave by end of 1994, no foreign troops or nuclear weapons in East Germany, Germany renounces claims to territory former German territories east of the Oder-Neisse line |
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1971
May 3
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Ulbricht forced to resign, replaced by Erich Honecker
Honecker introduces Main Task economic policy, re-emphasizing Marxism-Leninism with more centralized state planning. Attention paid to produce more consumer goods
direct telephone service between East and West Germany restored |
Erich Honecker general secretary 1971-89
Erich Honecker general secretary 1971-89
Erich Honecker general secretary 1971-89
Erich Honecker general secretary 1971-89 |
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1972
Dec |
Basic Treaty between East and West Germany, each ecognized each other as sovereign states for the first time |
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1973
Sept 18 |
Both East and West Germany admitted to the UN |
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1974
April
Dec |
Günter Guillaume, Willy Brandt's personal assistant, arrested as a Stasi agent, Brandt resigns
East Germany defeats West Germany at the World Cup
Diplomatic relations established with the US |
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1975 |
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April 30, end of Vietnam War |
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1976 |
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1977 |
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Soviets move SS-20s to East Germany |
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1978
Aug |
Sigmund Jähn, first German cosmonaut, flew to Soviet space station Salyut 6 |
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1979 |
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Dec 7 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan-end of détente era, with the imposition of a grain embargo by the U.S |
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1980 |
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Solidarity formed in Poland Reagan becomes president, takes strong stance against Soviet Union, Cold War escalates |
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1981 |
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Dec Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland |
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1982 |
Christian Democrat conservative Helmut Kohl comes to power in West Germany, new conservative approach to the GDR, American missiles deployed despite protests |
Nov 10 Brezhnev dies, succeeded by Yuri Andropov |
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1983 Aug |
SS-23 nuclear missiles deployed in East Germany |
March Regan starts SDI program-Evil Empire speech Sept 1 Korean Air flight 007 shot down by Soviet jets Nov KGB reports that US may be planning sudden nuke strike with Able Archer military exercise closest to war since Cuban missile crisis |
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1984 |
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Feb 4 Yuri Andropov dies,succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko Reagan reelected Soviets plan 45 percent increase in military spending into its next five-year plan |
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1985
March |
March 10, Konstantin Chernenko dies
Mikhail Gorbachev starts policy of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) |
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1986 |
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Reykjavik summit, Gorbachev and Reagen come close to agreeing to remove all nuclear weapons from Europe, but Reagen refuses to halt SDI . |
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1987
June 12 Sept |
Regan makes ' Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!' speech at Berlin Honecker visits West Germany |
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1988
Nov |
East German police raid Zion Evangelical Church in Berlin, Honecker begins moving against dissidents |
Gorbachev renounces Brezhnev Doctrine Nov George H Bush elected |
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1989
Aug
Sept 4
Oct 7 Oct 8
Oct 17
Oct 18
Sept 1 Nov 4
early Nov
Nov 7
Nov 9
Nov 29
Dec 7
Dec 15
Dec 19 |
Hungary removeds its border restrictions, thousands begin to leave East Germany
Monday demonstrations begin in Leipzig, Wir sind das Volk! - "We are the people!"chants
GDR 40th anniversary celebration with Gorbachev as guest of honor Erich Mielke chief of the Stasi, tells agents to prepare 'Day X' when thousands of dissidents would be arrested, the large size of the demonstrations made this impossible
Honecker orders Leipzig police to use force if necessary, orders not obeyed
Politbüro forces Honecker to resign, replaced by Egon Krenz
Krenz meets with Gorachev in Moscow, declare there will be no reunification Czechoslovakia opens borders to East Germans wanting to go to West Germany, in a few days 50,000 leave via this route
massive demonstrations in Berlin of up to half a million people
East German cabinet resigns, Hans Modrow, mayor of Dresden made new prime minister
Politburo member Günter Schabowski, due to a misunderstanding, announces all the borders to be open, leading to a mass exodus, opening the Berlin Wall and reulting in the fall of the SED
Stasi ordered to stop spying on East Germans
Egon Krenz forced to resign, Manfred Gerlach becomes last head of East Germany till 1990
SED renames itself the Party of Democratic Socialism, Open elections scheduled for May, 1990, then moved up to March
Chancellor Helmut Kohl visits East Germany |
Feb 15, Soviet troops leave Afghanistan
April Solidarity wins elections in Poland
June 3-4 Tiananmen massacre, hundreds killed
Solidarity wins majority against Communists in Polish elections
Nov 16-Dec 29 Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, overthrow of Communist government
Oct Communist in Hungary agree to free elections in 1990
Dec 16 Timisoara uprising against Nicolae Ceausescu
Dec 25 Ceausescu executed |
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1990
Jan 15
Jan 30
Feb 10 March 19
April 7
July 1
July 14 Sept 12
Oct 3
Dec 2 |
over 100,000 demonstrate at Stasi headquarters on Normannen Street in Berlin and break in
East German PM Modrow declares some sort of confederation will happen Gorbachev gives his assent to reunification In early 1990 Kohl campaigns for Christian Democrats in east Germany, Willy Brabdt for the Eastern Social Democrats
Election day, pro unification Alliance for Germany wins
the new Volkskammer admits East Germany's share of the responsibility f the Holocaust. Lothar de Maiziere made prime minister
Deutsche mark becomes offical currency of East and West Germany
Gorbachev agrees to reunification within NATO Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany
East and West Germany officially reunited
first all German election since 1932, Kohl and Christian Democrats win overwhelming victory |
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Dec Walesa becomes president of Poland, ending Communist rule |
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1991
March 14
July 1 |
Trabant stops production unemployment in East Germany at 40%
Honecker flown by Soviet jet to Moscow
Warsaw Pact dissolved |
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July Boris Yeltsin become president of Russian Federation
Aug 18 Soviet coup attempt fails
Aug 24 Ukraine declares independence
Sept 6 Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.declare independence
Des 26 Gorbachev resigns, Soviet Union dissolved |
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1992
July 22
Aug
Nov 12
Jan 13 |
Treuhandandanstadt 'Trusteeship' privatizes over 9,000 east German businesses
Stasi files opened to individuals
Russians hand Honecker to Germans
Attacks on foreigners
Honecker's trial begins
Honecker ruled too ill to stand trial, allowed to go to Chile with family, |
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1993 |
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1994
May 29 |
Honecker dies in Chile |
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