Founding of the GDR

On 7 October 1949 – four months after the Federal Republic of Germany was created within the three Western occupation zones – the „German Democratic Republic’s“ constitution goes into effect in the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ).

© ddr-geschichte.de Directed celebration on the occasion of the founding of the GDR: torch procession in Berlin on 11 October 1949

Four days later the provisional People’s Chamber and the provisional Chamber of States will elect Wilhelm Pieck, former KPD chairman, as first State President of the GDR. On 12 October Otto Grotewohl, the former chairman of the Eastern SPD, will be appointed first Prime Minister and charged with forming a government. According to the Soviet model, both society and economy of the GDR are to be centrally administered by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED.