Division, the GDR and Reunification

This topic covers the division of Germany after 1945, the GDR (DDR), and reunification. After the Second World War, the Allies divided Germany into occupation zones. In 1949 these became two states: the Federal Republic of Germany in the west and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the east. In 1961 the GDR built the Berlin Wall, which divided East and West Berlin for almost 28 years, until it fell on 9 November 1989. On 3 October 1990 the GDR joined the Federal Republic, and Germany has been reunified since.

For the test, four years matter most: 1949 (founding of both states), 1961 (the wall built), 1989 (the wall falls), and 1990 (reunification). 17 June 1953, the uprising in the GDR, also comes up often.

A common trap: 1989 and 1990 are often confused. The fall of the wall on 9 November 1989 was the symbolic start of the peaceful revolution, but the actual state reunification followed almost a year later, on 3 October 1990. The names of the two states and their political systems are also easy to mix up: the Federal Republic was a parliamentary democracy, while the GDR was a socialist one-party state.