As early as 10 June 1945, earlier than the Western Allies in their sectors, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) had permitted the establishment of anti-fascist democratic parties in the Soviet occupation zone in order to influence the party formation process in Germany via the party headquarters in Berlin.
The CDU Saxony was founded on 21 July 1945, in Dresden as the Christian Social People's Party. On21 August, at the request of the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD), it was renamed the Christian Democratic Union of Germany and licensed as a state party. Hugo Hickmann was elected as its first chairman, with Friedrich Koring and Otto Freitag[de] as his deputies. The first regular party congress took place on 23-24 February 1946. Hickmann and his deputies were confirmed, and Franz Jensch[de] was elected as an additional deputy chairman.
In its early days, the CDU in Saxony, like its sister parties in the West, pursued a Christian-social policy aimed at parliamentary democracy. It advocated for German reunification and was in constant conflict with the KPD/SED and its claim to leadership, which was supported by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD).
On 13 June 1946, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) appointed a Consultative Assembly[de] as a preliminary parliament. The CDU in Saxony was allocated only 10 of the 70 seats. The majority were held by members of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).
The Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) systematically hindered the party's development and its recruitment efforts. While the CDU was permitted to participate in the local elections of spring 1946, its organizational base was noticeably weakened by the delayed approval of local and district branches. Sergei Ivanovich Tyulpanov, head of the SMAD's censorship and propaganda department, issued a secret order instructing the SMAD's regional departments "not to formally prohibit the establishment of bourgeois party groups." Instead, "various formal pretexts" were to be found "to continue limiting their number". The effect of this policy was evident in the development of the CDU's local branches in Saxony. Although the establishment of CDU local branches was largely completed by the end of 1946, a significant number were not allowed to engage in political activity.
Year
Number of local groups
Number of registered
Number not registered
December 1945
272
August 1946
1,019
592
427
December 1946
1,345
753
592
December 1947
1,219
801
318
December 1947
1,342
The CDU was only able to field candidates in 20% of municipalities for the 1946 local elections, while the SED was permitted to participate nationwide. The democratic parties were also clearly disadvantaged with regard to the allocation of paper and printing capacity. This affected leaflets and posters, but especially the CDU newspaper Die Union[de], whose circulation was artificially kept low through paper allocations.[citation needed]
This policy continued in the Saxont state elections on 20 October 1946. Nevertheless, the CDU received 23.3% of the vote and 28 seats in the Landtag of Saxony[de]. Given the circumstances of the election, the fact that the SED did not achieve an absolute majority was considered a serious defeat.[citation needed]
Substantive party work was subject to monitoring by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). A prerequisite for registration was the willingness to cooperate within the Democratic Bloc. This bloc had been established at the state level in Saxony on 29 August 1945, and comprised the four registered parties. The bloc served to coordinate the political positions of the parties and acted as an instrument by which the SMAD prevented effective opposition to the SED. The SMAD was also represented by liaison officers at all meetings of the CDU parliamentary group in the state parliament. Confidential consultation was thus impossible.[citation needed]
The SMAD also influenced the personnel policy of the party. For example, the CDU Saxony's state manager, Hermann Voigt, was forced to resign in October 1946 under pressure from the SMAD.[citation needed]
Cooperation between the CDU state associations was also limited. At the level of the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ), the Christian Democratic Union of Germany ( CDU) existed in East Germany. However, a unified German CDU was not possible due to the licensing regulations of the occupying powers. Until the Gleichschaltung (coordination) of the East German CDU, the nationwide coordination of the Union's political work took place in the "Zonal Liaison Committee." CDU representatives from the SBZ were prevented from participating in this committee by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD).[citation needed]
Gleichschaltung and Block Party
Invitation poster for the state party conference 1952Election advertisement for a CDU candidate of the National Front, 1961
With the removal of Jakob Kaiser as chairman of the CDU in the Soviet occupation zone, the possibilities for party work in Saxony were further restricted. From February 1948 onward, only CDU meetings were permitted in Saxony, and only after the Soviet Military Administration (SMAD) had approved the speeches and statements beforehand. This was intended to prevent expressions of solidarity with Kaise. Hickmann pursued a policy of concessions and compromises, attempting to utilize the party's diminishing freedoms. Nevertheless, the Saxon CDU emphasized its independence. For example, in 1948, the CDU in the Landtag rejected the nationalization of cinemas and demanded free elections for 1949.
Hickmann's questioning of the SED's leading role in the Saxon state executive committee on 6 January 1950, and his warning that the SED's policies would lead to the division of Germany, triggered fierce attacks against him. The SED denounced him as a "lackey of the West German CDU" and of "Anglo-American imperialism." On 23 January 1950, the pressure intensified: SED members occupied the CDU's state headquarters in Dresden and threatened to murder Hickmann. On 30 January 1950, Hickmann resigned from his party offices. Many delegates and executive committee members subsequently fled to the West, including the state association's treasurer, Walter Bergmann; the head of the CDU training center in Blankenburg/Harz, Josef Bock; the state parliament member Carl Günther Ruland[de]; and Finance Minister Gerhard Rohner. Other board members, such as Bernhard Singer, remained in East Germany but lost their party offices and mandates. In the summer of 1950, Hickmann was expelled from the Saxon CDU, which by then had been largely brought into line with Nazi ideology.[citation needed]
The CDU members who fled from Saxony organized themselves in the West in the Landsmannschaft Sachsen der Exil-CDU (Association of Exiled CDU Members of Saxony). Ernst-Günter Haß was the spokesman for the Landsmannschaft from 1950 to 1962.[citation needed]
With Rudolph Schulze (supply and agriculture) and Carl Ulbricht[de] (finance minister), the CDU Saxony, which had become a bloc party, continued to provide two ministers in the Saxon cabinet.[citation needed]
The fall of the Berlin Wall enabled the East German CDU to act independently from the bloc party and resume politics. On 3 March 1990, the Saxony state association was re-established at its first state party conference in Dresden, and Klaus Reichenbach was elected chairman with 82% of the delegates' votes. His opponent, Arnold Vaatz, received 18%.
The Saxon state association of Democratic Awakening, founded on 23 June 1990, and chaired by Horst Rasch[de], was merged into the CDU by a resolution of the majority faction of the Saxon Democratic Awakening on 28 July and by a resolution of the CDU's second state party conference on 1 September 1990. The state association of the Democratic Farmers' Party (DBD) was also merged into the CDU on the same day.
In the state election on 14 October 1990, the CDU won an absolute majority of the votes and 92 seats in the Landtag of Saxony. On 27 October, Kurt Biedenkopf was elected Minister-President by the state parliament. As of May 2020, Biedenkopf's successors were also exclusively CDU politicians (list here). Biedenkopf was also chairman of the CDU Saxony from 1991 to 1995.
In the state election on 11 September 1994, the CDU received 58.1% of the vote and 77 of the 120 seats in the Landtag of Saxony. This was their best result to date in Saxony and their best result in any state election in Germany. Biedenkopf remained Minister-President; in 1995, he relinquished the state chairmanship of the CDU to Fritz Hähle[de].[citation needed]
With over 60 percent of the seats, the CDU in Saxony was the largest CDU parliamentary group in a state parliament in Germany (relative to the total number of seats) in both the second and third legislative periods.
On 15 September 2001, Georg Milbradt became chairman of the CDU Saxony at a special party conference. Biedenkopf had favored Agriculture Minister Steffen Flath[de]; Milbradt won the contested election against Flath. On 16 January 2002, Biedenkopf announced his resignation as Minister-President, effective 18 April 2002. In March 2002, the CDU Saxony nominated Milbradt as its candidate for the office of Minister-President; on 18 April 2002, Milbradt was elected by the state parliament (→ First Milbradt cabinet[de]).
The state executive committee is, alongside the state party conference, the second governing body of the CDU Saxony. It manages the state association. Its members, elected by the state party conference, include the state chairman , three deputy chairmen, the general secretary, the treasurer, and 20 additional members. There are also other members by virtue of the statutes and those with an advisory function.
Heiko Petzold, State Chairman of the organization Lesbians and Gays in the UnionMathias Kretschmer, State Chairman of the Catholic Working Group
At the state level, there are currently nine state-level expert committees that support the substantive work. They are appointed by the state executive committee for the duration of a legislative period[de].
The CDU Saxony is structured according to the administrative structure of the Free State of Saxony into 13 district[de] associations, which in turn are made up of city, municipal and local associations.
Currently, three major programmes describe the goals and positions of the CDU Saxony.
The political programme “Serving Saxony – Securing the Future. Innovation, Prosperity, Justice” describes the principles and program of the CDU Saxony and was adopted on 26 November 2011 at the 26th state party conference in Plauen.
The government program “With Courage. With Foresight. Together” for the years 2014–2019 was adopted at the 29th state party conference on 28 June 2014, in Dresden. It was the election program of the CDU Saxony for the state election on 31 August 2014.
Following the 2014 Saxony state election, the CDU found a coalition partner in the SPD Saxony for the 2014–2019 legislative period. Both parties agreed on the joint coalition agreement "Shaping Saxony's Future." The CDU membership approved the agreement unanimously at its 5th special party conference on 7 November 2014, in Radebeul, with two abstentions. The agreement was signed on 10 November 2014, at the State Parliament building in Dresden by the CDU state chairman and Minister-President Stanislaw Tillich, the CDU parliamentary group chairman Frank Kupfer[de], and the then SPD state and parliamentary group chairman Martin Dulig.
In addition to these three major programmes, the state executive committee and the state party conference adopt papers on current political issues at irregular intervals.
In the 8th Saxon State Parliament (legislative period 2024–2029), the CDU Saxony holds 41 of the 120 seats. For a complete list of members, see List of members of the Saxon State Parliament (List of members of the 6th Landtag of Saxony (2024–2029)[de]).
Michael Richter[de]: Die Ost-CDU 1948–1952. Zwischen Widerstand und Gleichschaltung (= Forschungen und Quellen zur Zeitgeschichte. Bd. 19). Droste, Düsseldorf 1990, ISBN978-3-7700-0899-5. (2. Edition 1991)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
