The Two Germanies 1963-89
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- Created by: ellie garrett
- Created on: 27-05-13 12:39
Economic changes in the GDR 1970s
- Honecker removed most of New Economic System - aimed to increase industrial production and raise living standards
- Unity of Social and Economic Policy - wanted to improve effieciency and use technological progress to lead to developed socialist society
- 1970 - GDR 10th >est economy - economic miracle - no help from Marshall Aid and disadvantaged by ********* of resources
- 1970 - became USSR's main trading partner & trade with COMECON >ing
- Shortage of labour 1970s - took on guest workers - 600,000 Vietnamese
- 1/3 of GDR's trade was with FRG - had to get loans
- 1970s - self-sufficient
- Shortage of materials led to economic downturn 1973
- Balance of trade got worse 1970s
- UESP led to refusal to balance books & underinvestment in industry
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Economic changes in the GDR 1970s
- 1971 - minimum wage >ed
- Full employment
- 1976- pensions >ed
- Living standards highest in Eastern Bloc
- 1980s - most houses had a car
- Living standard low compared to FRG
- Mid 80s - Telephones ownership highest rate in Eastern bloc at 10% - nearly 100% in FRG
- Wider range of products in FRG
- Many goods lower quailty in GDR
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Economic inequalities in the GDR
- 1962 - Intershops introduced - sold western goods but only accepted western currency - illegal for GDR to possess til 1974- often staffed by Stasi
- 800 by 1980
- Aimed to reduced resentment - >ed resentment - showed the range of products in FRG
- Exquist & Delikat - accepted Eastern currency but prices were too high
- Wandlitz - home of SED members- isolated from society - justified on security grounds
- Better facilities than rest of GDR - shopping, health and sports facilities
- 1983 - nuclear bunker - best in Eastern bloc - 200 rooms - could 400 people
- 1959 - Vilm island sealed off from public as holiday resort for government members
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Economic changes in the GDR 1980s
- Honecker had borrowed money - heavy debts
- Mid 80s - industrial growth & incomes falling
- Took many consumer goods off market to increase exports
- Borrowed from FRG - 1983 - DM1 billion
- Cut domestic spending - living standards decreased
- tried to trade military expertise with raw materials with Algeria, Angola, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Syria & Zimbabwe
- Sold 1500 political prisoners a year 1980-85
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Social factors
- Niche society - people showed outward support of socialism but kept thier thoughts to themselves and developed self-interests in family and friendship groups
- Fullbrook - Honecker did not win over the hearts and minds of the people
- 1949-1989 - population fell - 18 million - 17 million
- 1970s - 505 population working age
- 1972 - extensions of welfare provisions - encoauraged women to have more children - >er maternity benefit & >er birth allowances
- 1976 & 1984 - gave women a year maternity leave - 1 1/2 for 3rd child >
- Provision of pre-school care & afterschool clubs
- Universities made provision for student mothers
- late 80s - 90% women employed
- tended to end up in low-skilled jobs
- late 70s - 50% doctors, teachers & dentists women - rarely senior postition
- only Margot Honecker got high position in politcs
- 1971 - aimed to build 4 million by 1989
- <2 million homes built 1971-88
- Most were tower blocks or rows of houses
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Political factors - Relationship with west
- 1974 - constitution declared GDR 'Republic of Workers'
- Portrayed FRG as Americanised
- Wrote made in GDR on goods
- 1972 - Basic Treaty - acknowleged FRG's existence
- Honecker announced those who had emigrated were not guilty of flight from republic
- 1973 - not illegal to watch FRG TV or listen to western radio station
- 1970 - telephone lines between them
- motor way connected Berlin to Hamburg
- 1975 - Helsinki Accords - allowed more free travel - only pensioners allowed to travel freely to FRG- few visas issued
- Nov 1973 - Honecker doubled exchange rate between eastern and western currency
- 1983 - US deployed nuclear weapons in FRG 1983 - futher increase to exchange rate - fall in western vistors
- 1980s - travel restrictions <ed - 1 million vistied the GDR
- Mid 80s - 100,000 applied to emigrate - watched by Stasi
- 1984 - 40,000 emigrated
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Relationship with west
- Accepted into UNs
- 1969-74 - 90 countries accepted existence
- 1974 - GDR beat FRG in World Cup
- Honecker visted Austria 1980
- Visited Italy 1985
- State visit to FRG 1987
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Political factors - Relations with East
- Erected war memorial at Tretpower Park - 5000 soviet soldiers buried there
- Saw USSR as oppresive occupying force
- signed Friendship Treaty with USSR 1975
- Society for German-Soviet Friendship- 6 million members1988
- Reluctance to allow Polish workers into GDR - friction between Germans and Poles
- Poles brought consumer goods in GDR during shortages
- Brought in controls - RM200 exchange for Poles entering GDR
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Political factors - The Church
- Honecker showed more acceptance of Protestant Church
- relationship between state and Church written into 1978 constitution
- March 1978 - church agreed to work within socialist society & SED allowed religious broadcasts.
- Church ran 50 hospitals and old people's homes - received support
- Church support those deemed enemy to the state - alchoholics, drug addicts & gay people
- 1978 - allowed open discussion of politics in church meetings - trusted the church to listen and surpress
- Stolpe was in charge of the Church - Stasi officer
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Political factors - State repression
- Ministry of State Security set up in 1950
- Became Stasi in 1953
- mid 70s - 180,000 offiicers
- 20% population worked for Stasi as IMs
- 3/4 population under survailence
- phone line tapped and letters opened
- Would break into houses to steal clothes and collect people's smell
- 1951 - 1989 - used Hohenschonhausen to keep political prisoners
- Critics of the GDR & prominent writers expelled
- December 1975 - Western journalists expelled
- April 1979 - severe restrictions on foreign journalists
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Ostpolitik
- introduced by Brandt in 1969
- wanted to develop relationship between FRG & GDR with rapprochement - diplomacy and agreement
- Possible due to < in tension between US & USSR after Cuban missile crisis and detente
- 1970 - Brandt met Minister of Council of Ministers Will Stoph - GDR cheered for Brandt
- Treaty of Moscow 1970 - FRG & USSR settle territorial disputes
- Treaty of Warsaw 1970 - FRG respected Poland's western border
- Four-Power Treaty 1971 - GDR allowed access to West Berlin from FRG and West Berliners could visit East Berlin
- The Basic Treaty 1972 - FRG & GDR acknowledge each other's exisistence
- Reduced conflict over Berlin
- increased international recognition of GDR
- FRG & GDR could join UN 1973
- Working towards reunification during height of Cold War
- Germany's division had been accepted
- Gave GDR economic advantage - DM15 billion loans 1972-89
- Still ideological divide
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Economy under Erhard
- 1964 - 8% growth
- CDU gained 47.6% of vote
- 850,000 unfilled jobs
- 2.5% > in living standards
- 19 September - SPD 202 votes - FDP 49
- launched economic programme
- 1965 - reccesion in Ruhr - excess in public
- green plan - wanted to subsidise argiculture - costly
- wages rose faster than production - inflation 4% 1966
- forced to cut spending 10%
- suggested increasing working day by 1 hour - resistance
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Politics under Erhard
- tried to buy USSR's support for reunification by giving them $25 million loan
- 1964 - USSR didn't need loans anymore
- wanted to unite Europe with economic unity
- Supported Vietnam war in hope of gaining more support from US - led to protests
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Social factors under Kiesinger
- APO - left wing students
- 1966 - 90% Bundestag controlled by Grand Coalition - strikes and demonstrations
- membership declined in 1960s
- SDS set up as student section of SPD 1946
- 1961 - SPD excluded them from joining party1965 - led by Rudi Dutschke
- mid 1960s - protested against Vietnam war and former Nazi holding key positions in coalition
- 1967 - protest against Shan of Iran state visit - Benno Ohnesorg shot dead - protests
- Membership peaked 1968
- 1968 - 80,000 protested against Emergency Laws
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Political factors under Kiesinger
- Kiesinger was an ex-Nazi - protests from students
- Grand coalition - too much power - no opposition
- Ex-Nazis were in important positions
- 1968 Emergency Laws - government with two thirds majority could have extra powers in time of state emergency - people worried about Keisinger gaining too much power
- West German Communist Party set up 1968
- neo-Nazi NDP party had gained seats in Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein & Rhineland - never got 5% of vote
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Political factors under Brandt
- Munich Olympics 1972 - Palestinian Liberation Organisation broke into Olympic complex and held members of Israeli team hostage
- Attempt at rescue failed - all hostages killed and 3 terrorists survived
- Security increased and conter-terrorist force GSG9 created but Brandt looked weak
- Implimented Ostpolitik in early 1970s
- Guilliame Affair 1974 - discovered in that Brandt 's personal adviser Gunter Guilliame was a spy for the GDR and had been passing state secrets to GDR - Brandt resigns
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Social factors under Brandt
- Red Army Faction or Baader-Meinhof gang created 1968 - left-wing millitant group
- trained by the PLO in Palestien - lead to bombings and armed robberies
- 1970s - 15% population supported them
- Brandt unable to stop them - appeared weak
- Baader, Meinhof and Enslinn are arrested 1972 - didn't stop terrorism - made Brandt look weak
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Economy under Brandt
- 1969-1972 - education budget doubled & welfare expenditure DM17 billion - DM22 billion
- 1973 Oil Crisis - Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries put embargo on oil to US - had supplied Israel with weapons during Yom Kippur - tripled prices of oil
- 1974 - 5% inflation & 3 miilion unemployed
- High employment = <ing revenue from taxes, >ing public spending & >ing taxes
- Post war baby boom - demand for 100,000 jobs a year
- Car free sundays & speed limits on motor ways
- 1973 - banned guest workers
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Economy under Schmidt
- Effects of oil crisis decreased
- high level of exports maintained - demand due to high quality
- advertising meant goods had international market
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Political factors
- Worked with French President Giscard d'Estaing to develop European Monetary system - developed closer links with EEC
- 1977 - Morgadishu incident - PLO hijacked plane travelling from Majorca to Frankfurt
- Landed in Rome and demanded the release of RAF leaders - took of and landed in Morgadishu in Somalia
- Schmidt managed to send elite counter-terrorist force in unnoticed to storm the plane- killed 3 terrorists and saved all passengers unharmed
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Social factors under Schmidt
- 1975 - 2 staff from West German embassy murdered - Schmidt had refused to give in to thier demands
- 1975 - trial of RAF leaders
- 1976 - Meifhof commited suicide
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Social and Political factors under Kohl
Social
- Two thirds society - only 2/3 cared for by government
- 1/3 society in long term unemployment
- guest workers neglected
Political
- Bitburg affair 1985 - Reagan to attend 40th memorial of the end of WWII - took place at Bitburg cemetary - Kohl knew 49 ** officers were buried there but did not do anything - seen as distasteful
- 1983 - nuclear weapon deployed in FRG - candlelit processions and petitions
- Green Party reentered Bundestag - centre of oppostion gained minority
- 1984 - missiles deployed in GDR
- 1985 - FRG endorsed USAs Star Wars project & agreed to use technolgy and research to develop NATO weapons
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Economy under Kohl
- Late 70s - falling unemployment & rising wages
- Recession after second Oil Crisis in 1979
- Unemployment rose - 2/3 society
- Kohl cut welfare expenditure
- Inflation fell to 2% by 1983
- End of second oil crisis - drop in oil prices
- allowed recovery - not down to Kohl's actions
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