National Front of the German Democratic Republic

Not to be confused with Nationalist Front (Germany), a short-lived minor neo-Nazi group of the 1980s.

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
Chairman	Erich Correns (1950–1981) Lothar Kolditz (1981–1990)
Founded	30 March 1950
Dissolved	20 February 1990
Preceded by	Democratic Bloc
Headquarters	East Berlin, German Democratic Republic
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism Stalinism (until 1956)
Political position	Far-left
Politics of East Germany Elections

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 Democratic Union and the Liberal Democratic Party. 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 Democratic Union and the Liberal Democratic Party, were initially independent. The SED, with the help of the Soviet occupation authorities, intimidated these parties, removed and sometimes deported their leaders and forced them to get on course. Finally, the occupying authorities allowed two new parties to be founded: the Democratic Farmers' Party (DBD) and the National Democratic Party (NDPD) (1948). Both parties were founded by the SED, their first leaders even being former SED and Communist party functionaries respectively. 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.

All parties and mass organisations in the National Front had to officially accept the SED's leading role as a condition of their existence. The SED had significant control over these parties, with their leadership even at a regional level being subject to approval by the Friendly Parties Department of the SED Central Committee. The parties were afforded a large amount of infrastructure, including party buildings, newspapers and companies and were represented in the East German government by several ministers each, though as all ministers, they were de jure bound to directives issued by their responsible Central Committee Secretary. 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.

The Liberal Democratic Party and National Democratic Party eventually merged with the West German Free Democratic Party, whereas the Christian Democratic Union and the Democratic Farmers' Party merged with the West German Christian Democratic Union. This saw controversy at the time because the elaborate infrastructure that the SED had afforded the bloc parties put them at a great competitive advantage over newly established parties.

Constituent parties

Party	Emblem	Flag	Foundation	Dissolution	Seats in the Volkskammer (1986)
Socialist Unity Party SED			21 April 1946	16 December 1989	127
Christian Democratic Union CDU			26 June 1945	1/2 October 1990	52
Liberal Democratic Party LDPD			5 July 1945	27 March 1990	52
Democratic Farmers' Party DBD			17 June 1948	15 September 1990	52
National Democratic Party NDPD			5 May 1948	27 March 1990	52

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			1946	1990	61
Free German Youth FDJ			1946	exists today	37
Democratic Women's League of Germany DFD			1947	1990	32
Cultural Association of the DDR KB			1945	1990	21
Peasants Mutual Aid Association VdgB			1945	1994	14

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 Friendship		1949	1992
People's Solidarity		1945	exists today
Sport and Technology Association		1952	1990
German Gymnastics and Sports Federation		1957	1990
Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation		1948	1990
Writers' Association of the GDR		1945	1990
Association of Gardeners, Settlers, and Animal Breeders		1952	1990
Association of Theatre Professionals		1966	1990
Union of Journalists		1945	1990
Chamber of Engineering		1946	1990
Peace Council of the GDR		1949	1990
Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime		1947	banned in East Germany in 1953, exists today
Association of German Consumer Cooperatives		1949	exists today (Zentralkonsum eG)
German Red Cross of the GDR		1952	1991
Committee of Antifascist Resistance Fighters		1953	1991
Solidarity Committee of the GDR		1960	1990
League of Lusatian Sorbs		1912 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. 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.

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.

Chairmen of the National Front

The National Front, as in institution, was led by a National Council that included representatives from all of its constituent organisations, with the SED being over-represented. The National Council elected a Presidium, whose chairman always was an independent politician. Despite the NF's power on paper, the chairman had almost no influence.

• Prof. Erich Correns (1950–1981)
• Prof. Lothar Kolditz (1981–1989)

Electoral history

Volkskammer elections

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

See also

• Politics of East Germany
• List of Volkskammer members (9th election period)
• Vietnamese Fatherland Front
• Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland
• Polish Committee of National Liberation/Front of National Unity
• National Front
• Fatherland Front
• People's Democratic Front/Front of Socialist Unity and Democracy
• Lao Front for National Construction
• National United Front of Kampuchea

External links

• Die Transformation der DDR-Blockparteien während und nach der politischen Wende