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 known as the German Democratic Republic, was a country in Central Europe 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 described itself as a socialist "workers' and peasants' state". The economy of the country was centrally planned and state-owned. Although the GDR had to pay substantial war reparations to the Soviets, its economy became the most successful in the Eastern Bloc.
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 in 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.
The Deutsche Reichsbahn or DR(German Reich Railways) was the operating name of state owned railways in the East Germany, and after German reunification until 1 January 1994.
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.
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.
Throughout their existence East Germany and the Soviet Union maintained close diplomatic relations. The Soviet Union was the chief economic and political sponsor of East Germany.
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 East German branches of 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.
Ilko-Sascha Kowalczuk is a German historian and author. His work is focused on the German Democratic Republic and its Ministry for State Security.
Hermann Weber was a German historian and political scientist. He has been described as "the man who knew everything about the German Democratic Republic".
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.
The Foreign policy of East Germany was characterized by the close ties of East Germany to the Eastern Bloc. During its existence, the most important partner was the Soviet Union (USSR), which acted as a protecting power and most important trade and economic partner, which is why the GDR was often called a satellite state. The GDR remained closely linked to the other socialist states through organizations such as the Warsaw Pact and Camecon. While the GDR was relatively isolated outside the communist world in the first two decades of its existence due to the Hallstein Doctrine of West Germany, a change took place in the 1970s with the rapprochement with West Germany under Chancellor Willy Brandt's new Ostpolitik. As a result, the GDR was able to gain international status and establish diplomatic relations with almost 130 countries. While the Marxist-Leninist state ideology played a major role in the foreign policy of the East German government, it was however also influenced by their own economic and political interests. From the 1970s onwards, the GDR increasingly emancipated itself from the Soviet Union and pursued an independent policy towards West Germany, as loans from the West had become vital for the GDR's survival. In the 1980s, Erich Honecker refused to implement liberalizing reforms, which alienated the GDR from the USSR under Mikhail Gorbachev. After the revolutions of 1989, the Eastern Bloc collapsed and Germany was reunified, ending the period of an independent East German foreign policy.
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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