East Germany
Cold War state
East Germany was the Soviet-aligned communist state occupying the eastern portion of Germany from 1949 to 1990, officially called the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
It was separated from West Germany by the Iron Curtain, with Berlin divided by a wall.
My grandfather escaped from East Germany in 1961.
The country ceased to exist upon German reunification.
Cold War partition
- Iron CurtainCold War's political divide
- borderOuter edge or limit
- checkpointInspection station on route
- Checkpoint CharlieEast-West Berlin transit point
death strip · no man's land · watchtower · barbed wire · fortification · border guard · patrol · demarcation
East German secret police
- secret policeClandestine state security apparatus
- informantsPeople providing secret intelligence
- interrogationFormal, probing examination
- wiretappingCovert phone surveillance
political prisoners · file · dossier · repression · censorship · dissident · IM · state security
Moscow-controlled territorial dominion
- Warsaw PactSoviet-led military alliance
- Eastern BlocUSSR-aligned European nations
- satellite stateNation subordinate to another
- Soviet influenceCommunist superpower's political reach
espionage · KGB · arms race · Brezhnev Doctrine · containment · détente · superpower rivalry · proxy
Communist party's governing body
- GDREast Germany abbreviation
- socialist republicMarxist single-party nation
- state socialismGovernment owns production means
- Marxism-LeninismState-led revolutionary socialism
planned economy · collectivization · nationalization · central committee · party congress · ideology · propaganda · atheism
Final Cold War year
- peaceful revolutionNonviolent political transformation
- LeipzigMajor Saxon metropolis
- October 3Specific autumn calendar date
- integrationCombining into a whole
economic transition · unemployment · migration · transformation
Berlin Wall
Cold War partition
- Iron CurtainCold War's political divide
- borderOuter edge or limit
- checkpointInspection station on route
Checkpoint Charlie · death strip · no man's land · watchtower · barbed wire · fortification · border guard · patrol · demarcation · fence
Stasi
East German secret police
- secret policeClandestine state security apparatus
- informantsPeople providing secret intelligence
- interrogationFormal, probing examination
wiretapping · political prisoners · file · dossier · repression · censorship · dissident · IM · state security · denunciation
Soviet occupation
Moscow-controlled territorial dominion
- Warsaw PactSoviet-led military alliance
- Eastern BlocUSSR-aligned European nations
- satellite stateNation subordinate to another
Soviet influence · espionage · KGB · arms race · Brezhnev Doctrine · containment · détente · superpower rivalry · proxy · ideological warfare
Politburo
Communist party's governing body
- GDREast Germany abbreviation
- socialist republicMarxist single-party nation
- state socialismGovernment owns production means
Marxism-Leninism · planned economy · collectivization · nationalization · central committee · party congress · ideology · propaganda · atheism
1989
Final Cold War year
- peaceful revolutionNonviolent political transformation
- LeipzigMajor Saxon metropolis
- October 3Specific autumn calendar date
integration · economic transition · unemployment · migration · transformation
memorabilia
Collected items of significance
- collectiblesItems people amass
- retroEvoking recent past
- Cold War EndBerlin Wall fall, Soviet collapse, German reunification, Gorbachev, perestroika
- Cold War GermanyBerlin Wall, German reunification, Berlin Airlift, Checkpoint Charlie, GDR
- Former RepublicsRoman Republic, Dutch Republic, Weimar Republic, Soviet Union, USSR
- GermanyBerlin, Munich, Hamburg, German, Cologne
- Directional PlacesNorth Korea, South Korea, North America, South America, West Virginia
- Easteastern, eastbound, easterly, eastward, Orient