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Politics of East Germany
Constitution 1949 1968
Leadership Socialist Unity Party General Secretary President(1949–1960) State Council(1960–1990) Head of State Council of Ministers Head of Government
Legislature President Chamber of States
Elections Referendums Constitutional Assembly 1949 General elections 1950 1954 1958 1963 1967 1971 1976 1981 1986 1990 Referendums 1951 1954 1968
Political parties Christian Democratic Union Democratic Farmers' Party Liberal Democratic Party National Democratic Party
Administrative divisions East Berlin(independent) Cottbus Dresden Erfurt Frankfurt Gera Halle Karl-Marx-Stadt Leipzig Magdeburg Neubrandenburg Potsdam Rostock Schwerin Suhl Leaders
Other countries
v t e

These arelists of political office-holders in East Germany. The political leadership ofEast Germany was distributed between several offices. However, until theVolkskammer removed a section in theEast German constitution guaranteeing their monopoly on political power on 1 December 1989, theSocialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) held ultimate power and authority over state and government. Thus, the head of the SED'sPolitburo of the Central Committee was the de facto leader of the country.

The political leadership of East Germany was distributed between several offices. TheSocialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) and its leader held ultimate power and authority over state and government.

Prior to the proclamation of an East German state, theSoviets established theGerman Economic Commission (DWK) in 1948 as a de facto government intheir occupation zone. Its chairman wasHeinrich Rau.

On 7 October 1949 an East German state, called theGerman Democratic Republic (GDR), was proclaimed and took over governmental functions from the DWK, largely with the same leading figures.

Until 1 December 1989, the most important position in the GDR was that of theLeader of theSocialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), first titled chairman from 1946 to 1950, then as the First Secretary between 1950 and 1976 and finally titled General Secretary. The first article of the GDR's constitution contained a section granting the SED a monopoly on power, making the SED's leader the de facto leader of the country. He and the partyPolitburo, which he headed, set all policy, with both cabinet, state council and parliament acting as a rubber stamp implementing their decisions.

The formalhead of state was originally thePresident of the German Democratic Republic. After the death of incumbentWilhelm Pieck in 1960, the office was replaced by a collective body as head of state, theState Council. The position of chairman was the de factohead of state and commonly held by the party leader.

Thegovernment was headed by theCouncil of Ministers and its chairman, sometimes colloquially called Prime Minister. However, all the decisions were made by the party, with the cabinet implementing them. Indeed, the SED Central Committee had committees mirroring the cabinet departments.

Other institutions included theVolkskammer, the legislature whose sessions were chaired by aPresident, and, since 1960, theNational Defense Council, which held supreme command of the GDR'sarmed forces and had unlimited authority over the State in time of war. The Council was composed exclusively of members of the SED'sCentral Committee andPolitburo, with the party leader serving asChairman of the National Defense Council.

The political landscape was completely changed by thePeaceful Revolution in late 1989, which saw the SED having to relinquish its monopoly on political power in favour of the Council of Ministers, the National Defense Council and the State Council being abolished. The remaining institutions were thePeople's Chamber, whose President became head of state by default for the remainder of the GDR's existence, and the Council of Ministers, both soon constituted on basis of the country's first and only democraticelections in March 1990. The GDRjoined theFederal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990

Name (Lifespan)	Portrait	Period	Congress(es)	Political offices	Premier	President	Policies
Walter Ulbricht (1893–1973)		25 July 1950 ↓ 26 April 1971	3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th	First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party[a] Chairman of the State Council (1960–1973) Chairman of the National Defense Council (1960–1971) First Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers[b](1949–1960)	Otto Grotewohl Willi Stoph	Wilhelm Pieck himself	Stalinism •Construction of Socialism (1950–54) •Farm collectivization (1952–61) •Ten Commandments of Socialist Morality and Ethics (1958–76) •New Economic System (1963–68) •Economic System of Socialism(1968–70)
		Ever since themerger of the KPD and SPD, Ulbricht was one of the leading figures in theSocialist Unity Party, largely due to his good relationship with the Soviets. Originally ledde jure in parity by former SPD Central Committee Co-ChairmanOtto Grotewohl and senile former KPD leaderWilhelm Pieck, Ulbricht was electedFirst Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party on 25 July 1950, solidifying his leading role of both country and party.
Erich Honecker (1912–1994)		26 April 1971 ↓ 17 October 1989	8th 9th 10th 11th	General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party[c] Chairman of the State Council (1976–1989) Chairman of the National Defense Council	Willi Stoph Horst Sindermann Willi Stoph	Walter Ulbricht Willi Stoph himself	•Unity of Economic and Social Policy(1971–89) •Rapprochement(1971–89)
		The failure of Ulbricht'sEconomic System of Socialism to raise the GDR's economic competitiveness and his bad relationship with new Soviet leaderLeonid Brezhnev opened an opportunity for Honecker, formerly Ulbricht's protégé and powerfulCentral Committee Secretary, to depose him. After assembling a majority of the Politburo against him, he finally received Brezhnev's approval in the spring of 1971, thereafter driving to Ulbricht's Döllnsee summer residence on 26 April and forcing him to resign .
Egon Krenz (1937–)		17 October 1989 ↓ 1 December 1989	—	General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party Chairman of the State Council Chairman of the National Defense Council	Willi Stoph Hans Modrow	himself	•Glasnost •Perestroika
		By the late 1980s, the GDRs economy was in crisis, with the unsustainable debt burden rising every year to finance the country's generous welfare system. By summer 1989, an opposition movement had formed that the ruling class was unable to deal with. In addition, Honecker's health was failing and he became increasingly oblivious to the situation in the country. On 17 October 1989, Egon Krenz, Honecker's protégé and youngestPolitburo member, deposed Honecker in the Politburo. Honecker announced his resignation a day later in theCentral Committee, citing his failing health, and proposed Krenz as his successor.
Hans Modrow (1928–2023)		1 December 1989 ↓ 12 April 1990	—	Chairman of the Council of Ministers	himself	Egon Krenz Manfred Gerlach Sabine Bergmann-Pohl(interim)	Round Table •Democratization
		On 7 November 1989,Willi Stoph resigned asChairman of the Council of Ministers. His replacement, former First Secretary of theSocialist Unity Party inBezirk Dresden Modrow, stressed his independence towards the SED's leadership upon his election by theVolkskammer on 13 November. After theVolkskammer removed the section in the GDR's constitution guaranteeing their monopoly on political power on 1 December 1989, Modrow became thede facto leader of the GDR, Krenz resigning as head of state a few days later.
Lothar de Maizière (1940–)		12 April 1990 ↓ 2 October 1990	—	Minister-President	himself	Sabine Bergmann-Pohl(interim)	German reunification •Privatization
		The1990 Volkskammer election, the first and only free elections of the GDR, saw a victory for theAlliance for Germany electoral coalition and chiefly theChristian Democratic Union, led by de Maizière. TheVolkskammer elected him as Minister-President on 12 April 1990.

No.	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Party
Joint Chairmen of the Socialist Unity Party Vorsitzende der Sozialistischen Einheitspartei Deutschlands
.		Pieck, WilhelmWilhelm Pieck (1876–1960)	22 April 1946	25 July 1950	4 years, 94 days	SED
.		Grotewohl, OttoOtto Grotewohl (1894–1964)	22 April 1946	25 July 1950	4 years, 94 days	SED
General Secretary of the Central Committee (First Secretary of the Central Committee 1953–1976) Generalsekretär/Erster Sekretär des Zentralkommitees
1		Ulbricht, WalterWalter Ulbricht (1893–1973)	25 July 1950	3 May 1971	20 years, 282 days	SED
2		Honecker, ErichErich Honecker (1912–1994)	3 May 1971	18 October 1989	18 years, 168 days	SED
3		Krenz, EgonEgon Krenz (born 1937)	18 October 1989	6 December 1989	49 days	SED
(Honorary) Chairman of the Central Committee Vorsitzender des Zentralkommitees
1		Ulbricht, WalterWalter Ulbricht (1893–1973)	3 May 1971	1 August 1973 †	2 years, 90 days	SED

On 1 December 1989, thePeople's Chamber removed the section of the East German Constitution granting the SED a monopoly of power—thus ending Communist rule in East Germany. Before the month was out, the SED transformed from aLeninist cadre party into ademocratic socialist party, renaming itself first to Socialist Unity Party — Party of Democratic Socialism and later in the same year, toParty of Democratic Socialism (PDS). Hence, the party's three subsequent leaders —Gregor Gysi (1989–1993),Lothar Bisky (1993–2000; 2003-2007), andGabi Zimmer (2000–2003) — were no more leaders of East Germany than the leaders of other parties.

No.	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Party
President of the Republic Präsident der Republik
–		Dieckmann, JohannesJohannes Dieckmann (1893–1969) Acting	7 October 1949	11 October 1949	4 days	LDPD
1		Pieck, WilhelmWilhelm Pieck (1876–1960)	11 October 1949	7 September 1960 †	10 years, 332 days	SED
–		Dieckmann, JohannesJohannes Dieckmann (1893–1969) Acting	7 September 1960	12 September 1960	5 days	LDPD
Chairman of the State Council Vorsitzender des Staatsrats
1		Ulbricht, WalterWalter Ulbricht (1893–1973)	12 September 1960	1 August 1973 †	12 years, 323 days	SED
–		Ebert Jr., FriedrichFriedrich Ebert Jr. (1894–1979) Acting	1 August 1973	3 October 1973	63 days	SED
2		Stoph, WilliWilli Stoph (1914–1999)	3 October 1973	29 October 1976	3 years, 26 days	SED
3		Honecker, ErichErich Honecker (1912–1994)	29 October 1976	24 October 1989	12 years, 360 days	SED
4		Krenz, EgonEgon Krenz (born 1937)	24 October 1989	6 December 1989	43 days	SED
5		Gerlach, ManfredManfred Gerlach (1928–2011)	6 December 1989	5 April 1990	120 days	LDPD
President of the People's Chamber[d] Präsident der Volkskammer
–		Bergmann-Pohl, SabineSabine Bergmann-Pohl (born 1946)	5 April 1990	2 October 1990	180 days	CDU

No.	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Party
Minister-President Ministerpräsident
1		Grotewohl, OttoOtto Grotewohl (1894–1964)	12 October 1949	8 December 1958 (office renamed)	9 years, 57 days	SED
Chairman of the Council of Ministers Vorsitzender des Ministerrats
1		Grotewohl, OttoOtto Grotewohl (1894–1964)	8 December 1958	21 September 1964 †	5 years, 288 days	SED
2		Stoph, WilliWilli Stoph (1914–1999)	21 September 1964	3 October 1973	9 years, 12 days	SED
3		Sindermann, HorstHorst Sindermann (1915–1990)	3 October 1973	29 October 1976	3 years, 26 days	SED
(2)		Stoph, WilliWilli Stoph (1914–1999)	29 October 1976	13 November 1989	13 years, 15 days	SED
4		Modrow, HansHans Modrow (1928–2023)	13 November 1989	12 April 1990	150 days	SED PDS
Minister-President Ministerpräsident
5		de Maizière, LotharLothar de Maizière (born 1940)	12 April 1990	2 October 1990	173 days	CDU

No.	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Party
President of the People's Chamber Präsident der Volkskammer
1		Dieckmann, JohannesJohannes Dieckmann (1893–1969)	7 October 1949	22 February 1969 †	19 years, 138 days	LDPD
2		Götting, GeraldGerald Götting (1923–2015)	12 May 1969	29 October 1976	7 years, 170 days	CDU
3		Sindermann, HorstHorst Sindermann (1915–1990)	29 October 1976	13 November 1989	13 years, 15 days	SED
4		Maleuda, GüntherGünther Maleuda (1931–2012)	13 November 1989	5 April 1990	143 days	DBD
5		Bergmann-Pohl, SabineSabine Bergmann-Pohl (born 1946)	5 April 1990	2 October 1990	180 days	CDU

No.	Portrait	Chairman of the National Defence Council Vorsitzender des Nationalen Verteidigungsrates	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Party
1		Ulbricht, WalterWalter Ulbricht (1893–1973)	10 February 1960	3 May 1971	11 years, 82 days	SED
2		Honecker, ErichErich Honecker (1912–1994)	3 May 1971	18 October 1989	18 years, 168 days	SED
3		Krenz, EgonEgon Krenz (born 1937)	18 October 1989	6 December 1989	49 days	SED
Chairman of the State Council Vorsitzender des Staatsrats[e]
–		Gerlach, ManfredManfred Gerlach (1928–2011)	6 December 1989	5 April 1990	120 days	LDPD
President of the People's Chamber Präsident der Volkskammer[d]
–		Bergmann-Pohl, SabineSabine Bergmann-Pohl (born 1946)	5 April 1990	2 October 1990	180 days	CDU

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