Making of the GDR, 1945-53

The Making of the GDR 1945-53is a groundbreaking analysis of the Stalinization of East Germany. Whereas most traditional accounts have explained the creation of the GDR in terms of high politics and of Soviet foreign policy, this book focuses on the social roots of the emerging dictatorship. These were located above all in the traditions of the German labor movement and the history of the anti-Nazi resistance.The GDR was not imposed on the East German people at the point of Russian bayonets; it emerged out of the interaction between Soviet occupation policy and the politics of the East German working class. This book also tells a powerful human story, in which the aspirations of antifascists and Socialists were manipulated and ultimately betrayed by Stalinism. Based on extensive research, this book will be of interest to those concerned with the division of Germany, the nature of the GDR, and the whole trajectory of post-war German politics.

Gareth Pritchard is Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Wales, Swansea.

Introduction: The two traditions * Eastern Germany at 'Zero Hour' * Antifascist committees and factory councils * The rebirth of the KPD and SPD * Denazification and Reconstruction * The Socialist Unity Party * Between popular politics and communist dictatorship * The Stalinisation of the SED * Workers party versus Working Class * Conclusion