National Front of the German Democratic Republic

The National Front of the German Democratic Republic (German: Nationale Front der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik) was officially an alliance of parties and mass organisations (1950-1990). In fact, only one party held power in the GDR, namely the communist SED. The National Front was an instrument to exercise control over the other parties and organisations. The precursor of the National Front was the Democratic Bloc (since 1945).

National Front of the German Democratic Republic
Nationale Front der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik
ChairmanErich Correns (1950–1981)
Lothar Kolditz (1981–1990)
Founded30 March 1950
Dissolved20 February 1990
Preceded byDemocratic Bloc
HeadquartersEast Berlin, German Democratic Republic
Ideology
Political positionFar-left

The main task of the National Front was to draw up a common electoral list ("Einheitsliste") in elections to the East German parliament, the Volkskammer ("People's Chamber"). This "unity list" was the only list that citizens could vote for. Other parties or lists were prohibited. The National Front system was intended to give to the outside world the impression that there was a democracy with a multi-party system in the GDR.

After the Second World War, the Allies initially allowed four parties: the Communists, the Social Democrats, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals. In the Soviet Occupation Zone, the Communist Party forced the Social Democrats to merge (1946). Thus the communist-dominated Socialist Unity Party (SED) was formed.

The other two parties, the Christian Democrats and Liberals, were initially independent. The SED, with the help of the Soviet occupation authorities, intimidated these parties and forced them to get on course. Finally, the occupying authorities allowed two new parties to be founded: the Peasants' Party and the National Democratic Party (1948). Both parties were founded under the secret leadership of the Communist Party. Their task was to poach voters from the Christian Democrats and Liberals. The National Democrats were also supposed to be a collecting ground for former National Socialists. The parties that were not the SED were called Blockpartei.

Finally, there were so-called mass organisations in the Soviet occupation zone and then in the GDR. Some of them were represented on the electoral list, such as the trade union and the women's organisation. Nearly all of these MPs were members of the SED. Therefore, although the SED faction in parliament did not have an absolute majority, most MPs were nevertheless SED members.[1]

All parties and mass organisations in the National Front had to officially accept the SED's leading role as a condition of their existence. Only in the last weeks prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall (November 1989), some politicians of non-SED parties started to moderately criticize SED dominance. The Front disbanded in February 1990, a month before the first free elections in the GDR.

Constituent parties

Party Emblem Flag Foundation Dissolution Seats in the Volkskammer (1986)
Socialist Unity Party
SED
21 April 194616 December 1989127
Christian Democratic Union
CDU
26 June 19451/2 October 199052
Liberal Democratic Party
LDPD
5 July 1945[2]11 August 199052
Democratic Farmers' Party
DBD
17 June 194815 September 199052
National Democratic Party
NDPD
5 May 1948[3][4]27 March 199052

Constituent mass organizations represented in the People's Chamber

The volunteering campaign "Nice towns and communities. Take part!"
Organization Emblem Flag Foundation Dissolution Assigned representatives in the Volkskammer (1986)
Free German Trade Union Federation
FDGB
1946199061
Free German Youth
FDJ
1946exists today37
Democratic Women's League of Germany
DFD
1947199032
Cultural Association of the DDR
KB
1945199021
Peasants Mutual Aid Association
VdgB
1945199414

Other organizations associated with the National Front

The following organizations, which were part of the NF, did not send elected representatives to the Volkskammer but were active in the performance of its activities.

Organization Emblem Foundation Dissolution
Society for German–Soviet Friendship19491992
People's Solidarity1945exists today
Sport and Technology Association19521990
German Gymnastics and Sports Federation19571990
Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation19481990
Writers' Association of the GDR19451990
Association of Gardeners, Settlers, and Animal Breeders19521990
Association of Theatre Professionals19661990
Union of Journalists19451990
Chamber of Engineering19461990
Peace Council of the GDR19491990
Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime1947banned in East Germany in 1953, exists today
Committee of Antifascist Resistance Fighters19531991
League of Lusatian Sorbs1912
founded before the creation of the GDR
exists today

History

Pavilion of the National Front in Leipzig, 1953
The Nationale Front election poster from 1950

The National Front was the successor to the Demokratischer Block which had been founded in the Soviet occupation zone. The Front itself was founded on 30 March 1950. It operated through the issuing of a generally consistent proportion of seats (divided between the Front's parties and SED-controlled mass organisations) submitted in the form of a single list of candidates during each election to the People's Chamber. Seats were awarded on the basis of a set quota rather than vote totals.[5] As voters only had the option of approving or rejecting the list in far-from-secret conditions, it "won" with virtually unanimous levels of support.[6]

Although nominally a broad-based coalition of parties, in practice the SED was the only one with any real power. By ensuring that Communists dominated the lists, the SED essentially predetermined the composition of the People's Chamber.

In 1950-1951, the public rejection of the validity of the list by some German politicians resulted in some of them being imprisoned for "rejecting the electoral law of the German Democratic Republic" (as in the case of LDPD leader Günter Stempel). Although the SED had already become a full-fledged Stalinist "party of the new type" by the formation of the GDR, the other parties did not completely bend to the SED's will for a time. By the mid-1950s, however, the more courageous members of the constituent parties had been pushed out, and the parties had all been transformed into loyal partners of the SED. By this time, the SED itself had purged its few independent-minded members as well. The Front now took on a character similar to other groupings in the Eastern Bloc. For the next three decades, the minor parties in the Front had to accept the SED's "leading role" as a condition of their continued existence.

On 1 December 1989, the Front was effectively rendered impotent when the Volkskammer deleted the provision of the Constitution of East Germany that gave the SED a monopoly of power. Four days later, the Christian Democratic Union and Liberal Democratic Party, having thrown out their pro-Communist leaderships, withdrew from the Front. On 16 December the SED, having transformed itself into a democratic socialist party, reformed itself into the Party of Democratic Socialism. On 20 February 1990, an amendment to the constitution removed mention of the Front.[7]

Chairmen of the National Front

Electoral history

Volkskammer elections

Election Votes % Seats +/– Position Government
1950 12,088,745 99.6%
466 / 466
Increase 136 Steady 1st Sole legal coalition
1954 11,828,877 99.46%
466 / 466
Steady Steady 1st Sole legal coalition
1958 11,689,110 99.87%
466 / 466
Steady Steady 1st Sole legal coalition
1963 11,533,859 99.25%
434 / 434
Decrease 32 Steady 1st Sole legal coalition
1967 11,197,265 99.93%
434 / 434
Steady Steady 1st Sole legal coalition
1971 11,207,388 99.5%
434 / 434
Steady Steady 1st Sole legal coalition
1976 11,245,023 98.58%
434 / 434
Steady Steady 1st Sole legal coalition
1981 12,235,515 99.9%
500 / 500
Increase 66 Steady 1st Sole legal coalition
1986 12,392,094 99.94%
500 / 500
Steady Steady 1st Sole legal coalition

See also

References

  1. Andreas Malchya: Der Ausbau des neuen Systems 1949 bis 1961, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, last retrieved 2019-05-01.
  2. "Aufruf der Liberal-Demokratischen Partei Deutschlands an das deutsche Volk vom 5. Juli 1945" (PDF) (in German). Archived from the original (PDF; 1,0 MB) on 2018-10-25. Retrieved 2017-10-20. Digitalisat des Archivs des Liberalismus
  3. "DDR-Lexikon: NDPD". www.ddr-wissen.de.
  4. "Domains – Iportale".
  5. Eugene Register-Guard October 29, 1989. p. 5A.
  6. Kurt Sontheimer & Wilhelm Bleek. The Government and Politics of East Germany. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1975. p. 66.
  7. Peter E. Quint. The Imperfect Union: Constitutional Structures of German Unification. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. 1997. p. 37.
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