East Germany

The German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was a state which existed from 1949 to 1990. The German Democratic Republic was established in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany on October 7, 1949, following the creation in May 1949 of the Federal Republic of Germany ("West Germany") in the zones occupied by the United States, Britain and France. Berlin (in practice, East Berlin) was claimed as its capital.

The Republic was declared fully sovereign in 1955. The GDR was a member of the Warsaw Pact and a close ally of the Soviet Union. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 and strong popular pressure, free elections were held on March 18, 1990, and the ruling Communist party lost its majority in the Volkskammer (the GDR parliament) soon after. On August 23, the Volkskammer decided that the territory of the Republic would accede to the ambit of the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany on October 3, 1990. As a result of German reunification on that date, the German Democratic Republic officially ceased to exist.