The German Democratic Republic (GDR; German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik [ˈdɔʏtʃə demoˈkʀaːtɪʃə ʀepuˈbliːk] or DDR), known as East Germany (German: Ostdeutschland), was a socialist state established by the USSR in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city. The GDR had an area of 107,771 km2 (41,610 mi2), bordering Czechoslovakia to the south, West Germany to the south and west, Poland to the east, and the Baltic Sea to the north. East Germany was dissolved upon joining the institutions of West Germany in the German reunification, on 3 October 1990.
East Germany was one of the satellite states of the Soviet Union. Many East Germans saw the state as illegitimate, artificial, and a Stalinist puppet regime, and they opposed the single-party state of the Socialist Unity Party while viewing the state of West Germany as more attractive. Many East Germans regularly referred to the Socialist Unity Party as "the Russian party". The combination of the state's perceived illegitimacy by East Germans with economic problems resulted in 2.7 million East Germans violating the DDR ban on leaving the country by going to West Germany in the 1950s. Frontier barriers were constructed to prevent further depopulation of East Germany being caused by people violating DDR laws against emigration. These barriers held no military value beyond migration control as they were too weak to withstand a potential NATO invasion. The most prominent frontier barrier was the Berlin Wall, completed in 1961, that was designed to prevent East German emigration from East Berlin to West Berlin; people attempting to violate the DDR laws against emigration were shot on the spot. In 1989 a non-violent revolution called for the end of the East German communist government. The Soviet Union, under the reformist leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, refused to intervene on the basis of his policy to de-escalate the Cold War and let East Germany resolve its own crisis, the revolution toppled the communist government and the country soon reunited with West Germany, and is now part of Germany.
The German Democratic Republic (GDR; German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik [ˈdɔʏtʃə demoˈkʀaːtɪʃə ʀepuˈbliːk] or DDR), known as East Germany (German: Ostdeutschland), was a socialist state established by the USSR in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city. The GDR had an area of 107,771 km2 (41,610 mi2), bordering Czechoslovakia to the south, West Germany to the south and west, Poland to the east, and the Baltic Sea to the north. East Germany was dissolved upon joining the institutions of West Germany in the German reunification, on 3 October 1990.
East Germany was one of the satellite states of the Soviet Union. Many East Germans saw the state as illegitimate, artificial, and a Stalinist puppet regime, and they opposed the single-party state of the Socialist Unity Party while viewing the state of West Germany as more attractive. Many East Germans regularly referred to the Socialist Unity Party as "the Russian party". The combination of the state's perceived illegitimacy by East Germans with economic problems resulted in 2.7 million East Germans violating the DDR ban on leaving the country by going to West Germany in the 1950s. Frontier barriers were constructed to prevent further depopulation of East Germany being caused by people violating DDR laws against emigration. These barriers held no military value beyond migration control as they were too weak to withstand a potential NATO invasion. The most prominent frontier barrier was the Berlin Wall, completed in 1961, that was designed to prevent East German emigration from East Berlin to West Berlin; people attempting to violate the DDR laws against emigration were shot on the spot. In 1989 a non-violent revolution called for the end of the East German communist government. The Soviet Union, under the reformist leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev, refused to intervene on the basis of his policy to de-escalate the Cold War and let East Germany resolve its own crisis, the revolution toppled the communist government and the country soon reunited with West Germany, and is now part of Germany.