The Soviet Control Commission (German : Sowjetische Kontrollkommission, SKK) was a monitoring and management committee established by the Soviet Union in order to oversee the leadership of the German Democratic Republic. It was active from 10 October 1949 and 20 September 1955 and it was legitimated by the Potsdam Agreement between the Allies.
In 1949, the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD), which had been previously the main authority in the Soviet occupation zone, transferred its powers to the German administrative institutions in sight of the foundation of an independent republic in East Germany. When the German Democratic Republic was proclaimed in October 1949, the SMAD was dismantled and reorganized as the Soviet Control Commission, giving more independence to the GDR government.
As Supreme Commander of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany and SMAD leader, General Vasily Chuikov oversaw the establishment of the SKK and he became head of it shortly thereafter.
After the death of Joseph Stalin, the Commission became known as the "High Commission of the USSR in Germany". The former political adviser to General Chuikov, Vladimir Semyonov, was appointed as the High Commissioner. The apparatus of the High Commissioner had a decisive role in suppressing the anti-government protests which began in East Berlin and covered the entire territory of the German Democratic Republic in June 1953 (see East German uprising of 1953).
The USSR abolished the commission on 20 September 1955 after the recognizing of the "full sovereignty" of the GDR. [1] However, the Soviet government had continued to exercise its political influence through its embassy in East Berlin and the presence of Red Army troops in the East German territory. [2]
If the decisions made by the GDR government were considered against Soviet directives or Marxist–Leninist principles, the SKK was authorized to overrule each decision. Local officials had little revision power on the decisions. The Soviet Control Commission had controlled both the federal government of the GDR and each local state government, and it had been considered as the ultimate authority in both the Soviet zone and in the former East Germany. [3]
The SKK monitored the implementation of the Potsdam agreements and of the other Allied decisions in the GDR. Members of the Soviet Control commission had to represent the interests of the Soviet Union in the GDR, but at the same time they also supported the leading Socialist Unity Party of Germany in its actions against internal and external political opponents.
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic, was a country in Central Europe that existed from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally viewed as a communist state, and it described itself as a socialist "workers' and peasants' state". Before its establishment, the country's territory was administered and occupied by Soviet forces with the autonomy of the native communists following the Berlin Declaration abolishing German sovereignty in World War II; when the Potsdam Agreement established the Soviet-occupied zone, bounded on the east by the Oder–Neisse line. The GDR was dominated by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), a communist party, from 1949 to 1989, before being democratized and liberalized under the impact of the Revolutions of 1989 against the communist states, helping East Germany be united with the West. Unlike West Germany, the SED did not see its state as the successor of the German Reich (1871–1945) and abolished the goal of unification in the constitution (1974). The SED-ruled GDR was often described as a Soviet satellite state; Western scholars and academics described it as a totalitarian regime.
The National-Democratic Party of Germany was an East German political party that served as a satellite party to the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) from 1948 to 1989, representing former members of the Nazi Party, the Wehrmacht and middle classes. It should not be confused with the far-right National Democratic Party of Germany, which was a party in West Germany and continues as a minor non-governmental party in the modern united Germany.
Otto Emil Franz Grotewohl was a German politician who served as the first prime minister of the German Democratic Republic from its foundation in October 1949 until his death in September 1964.
The Soviet Military Administration in Germany was the Soviet military government, headquartered in Berlin-Karlshorst, that directly ruled the Soviet occupation zone of Germany from the German surrender in May 1945 until after the establishment of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in October 1949.
The Soviet occupation zone in Germany was an area of Germany that was occupied by the Soviet Union as a communist area, established as a result of the Potsdam Agreement on 1 August 1945. On 7 October 1949 the German Democratic Republic (GDR), commonly referred to in English as East Germany, was established in the Soviet occupation zone.
Rundfunk der DDR was the collective designation for radio broadcasting organized by the State Broadcasting Committee in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) until German reunification in 1990.
Republikflucht was the colloquial term in the German Democratic Republic for illegal emigration to West Germany, West Berlin, and non-Warsaw Pact countries; the official term was Ungesetzlicher Grenzübertritt. Republikflucht applied to both the 3.5 million Germans who migrated legally from the Soviet occupation zone and East Germany before the Berlin Wall was built on 13 August 1961, and the thousands who migrated illegally across the Iron Curtain until 23 December 1989. It has been estimated that 30,000 people left the GDR per year between 1984 and 1988, and up to 300,000 per year before the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961.
Hilde Benjamin was an East German judge and Minister of Justice of the German Democratic Republic. She is most notorious for presiding over the East German show trials of the 1950s, which drew comparisons to the Nazi Party's Volksgericht show trials under Judge Roland Freisler. Hilde Benjamin is particularly known for being responsible for the politically motivated prosecution of Erna Dorn and Ernst Jennrich. In his 1994 inauguration speech German President Roman Herzog cited Hilde Benjamin as a symbol of totalitarianism and injustice, and called both her name and legacy incompatible with the German Constitution and with the rule of law.
Heinrich Gottlob "Heiner" Rau was a German communist politician during the time of the Weimar Republic; subsequently, during the Spanish Civil War, he was a leading member of the International Brigades and after World War II a leading East German statesman.
The Border Troops of the German Democratic Republic was the border guard of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from 1946 to 1990.
The Institute of Contemporary History in Munich was conceived in 1947 under the name Deutsches Institut für Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Zeit. Founded by the German government and the State of Bavaria at the suggestion of the Allied Forces, it was established in 1949 and renamed in 1952. Its purpose is the analysis of contemporary German history.
NKVD special camps were NKVD-run late and post-World War II internment camps in the Soviet-occupied parts of Germany from May 1945 to January 6, 1950. They were set up by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) and run by the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs MVD. On 8 August 1948, the camps were made subordinate to the Gulag. Because the camp inmates were permitted no contact with the outside world, the special camps were also known as silence camps.
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the German Democratic Republic was a government body of the German Democratic Republic that existed from 1949 to 1990. It had its seat at Schinkelplatz in Berlin-Mitte. A new building was constructed in 1964-1967 and used by the foreign ministry, but demolished in 1996 after German reunification.
The German People's Congress were a series of congresses held in Germany. They consisted of members of the Socialist Unity Party, the SED, and other political parties and mass organizations. Delegates from all over Germany gathered for the first time on 6 December 1947. Their main demand was the establishment of a German government.
The Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) merged to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) on 21 April 1946 in the territory of the Soviet occupation zone. It is considered a forced merger. In the course of the merger, about 5,000 Social Democrats who opposed it were detained and sent to labour camps and jails.
Mass surveillance in East Germany was a widespread practice throughout the country's history, involving Soviet, East German, and Western agencies.
Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk is a German historian and author. His work is focused on the German Democratic Republic and its Ministry for State Security.
The State of Brandenburg was a subdivision of the Soviet occupation zone and state of East Germany which corresponds widely to the present-day German state Brandenburg. The state was originally formed as administrative division Province of March Brandenburg by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD) in July 1945, a re-establishment of the Prussian Province of Brandenburg, excluding the Eastern parts behind the Oder–Neisse line to Poland. With the abolition of Prussia in February 1947, it was named State of March Brandenburg but in June 1947 the SMAD forced to change the name to State of Brandenburg. In August 1945, a transfer of territory was ruled out between Allied-occupied Berlin. Compared to the administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, it comprised the Western part of the Gau March Brandenburg and small parts of Berlin.
Inner German relations, also known as the FRG-GDR relations, East Germany-West Germanyrelations or German-German relations, were the political, diplomatic, economic, cultural and personal contacts between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, at the period of the West-East division in German history from the founding of East Germany on 7 October 1949 to Germany's reunification on 3 October 1990.
Cambodia–Germany relations are diplomatic relations between Cambodia and Germany. Diplomatic relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and Cambodia were established on October 3, 1993. The GDR had already maintained diplomatic relations with Cambodia since 1962.
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