The German Democratic Republic (GDR), often known in English as East Germany, was founded in 1949 and was absorbed into the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990. Its original constitution was written in 1949. It was heavily based on the "Weimarer Reichsverfassung", such that the GDR would be a federal and democratic republic. Because the original version did not accurately reflect the actual political climate of the GDR, it was decided in the late 1960s to replace the old constitution with a new version.
The new constitution of the German Democratic Republic was ratified in 1968 and better reflected the communist roots of the GDR as well as the political rule of the Socialist Unity Party.
Section 1 of this constitution begins with the lines, "The German Democratic Republic is a socialist state of workers and farmers. It is the political organization of the workers in city and country under the leadership of the working class and their Marxist-Leninist party."
EastGermany, formally known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR) (German Deutsche Demokratische Republik (DDR)), was a Communist satellite state of the former Soviet Union which, together with West Germany, existed from 1949 to 1990 in Germany.
EastGermany was heavily under the influence of the Soviet Union, becoming a Stalinist-style socialist country, and part of the Warsaw Pact.
Many who had come to EastGermany as anti-fascists who were opposed to the quick reinstatement of Nazi functionaries and industry in the west found themselves captives of a dogmatic and economically weak state which, alone, was forced to pay reparations to the Soviet Union.
The German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in East Berlin on October 7, 1949 in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany, following the proclamation in May 1949 of the Federal Republic of Germany ("West Germany") in the zones of Germany formerly occupied by the United States, Britain and France.
In Imperial Germany and later during the time of the Weimar Republic, territory that would become EastGermany was situated in the center of the state.
EastGermany adopted a socialist republic and became part of the Warsaw Pact, while West Germany became a liberal parliamentary republic and part of NATO.
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