{"slug": "east-germany", "label": "East Germany", "wikipedia": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Germany", "wikidata": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16957", "qid": "Q16957", "description": "1949–1990 country in central Europe, unified into modern Germany", "entries": 24, "years": 13, "span": [1950, 1990], "span_label": ["1950 CE", "1990 CE"], "topics": [{"title": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "count": 6}, {"title": "Crime & Justice", "count": 5}, {"title": "Conflict & Security", "count": 4}, {"title": "Economy & Finance", "count": 3}, {"title": "Technology & Infrastructure", "count": 2}, {"title": "Exploration & Expansion", "count": 2}, {"title": "Disasters & Accidents", "count": 1}, {"title": "Health & Medicine", "count": 1}], "related": [{"slug": "west-germany", "label": "West Germany", "shared": 5}, {"slug": "magdeburg", "label": "Magdeburg", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "cold-war", "label": "Cold War", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "czechoslovakia", "label": "Czechoslovakia", "shared": 2}, {"slug": "germany", "label": "Germany", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "berlin", "label": "Berlin", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "western-europe", "label": "Western Europe", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "soviet-union", "label": "Soviet Union", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "adolf-hitler", "label": "Adolf Hitler", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "erfurt", "label": "Erfurt", "shared": 1}, {"slug": "dresden", "label": "Dresden", "shared": 1}], "items": [{"year": 1950, "year_label": "1950 CE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": "February 19", "text": "February 19 – Konrad Adenauer tries unsuccessfully to negotiate with East Germany, to begin reunification.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371638577#February", "title": "1950", "revid": 1371638577, "section": "Events › February"}}, {"year": 1950, "year_label": "1950 CE", "section": "Crime & Justice", "date": "February 8", "text": "February 8 – The Stasi is founded in East Germany, and acts as a secret police until 1990.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371638577#February", "title": "1950", "revid": 1371638577, "section": "Events › February"}}, {"year": 1952, "year_label": "1952 CE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": "July 13", "text": "July 13 – East Germany announces the formation of its National People's Army.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373187098#July–August", "title": "1952", "revid": 1373187098, "section": "Events › July–August"}}, {"year": 1952, "year_label": "1952 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "May 1", "text": "May 1 – East Germany threatens to form its own army.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373187098#May–June", "title": "1952", "revid": 1373187098, "section": "Events › May–June"}}, {"year": 1953, "year_label": "1953 CE", "section": "Crime & Justice", "date": "January 15", "text": "January 15 – Georg Dertinger, foreign minister of East Germany, is arrested for spying.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371310369#January", "title": "1953", "revid": 1371310369, "section": "Events › January"}}, {"year": 1953, "year_label": "1953 CE", "section": "Economy & Finance", "date": "January 24", "text": "January 24 – Leader of East Germany Walter Ulbricht announces that agriculture will be collectivized in East Germany.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1371310369#January", "title": "1953", "revid": 1371310369, "section": "Events › January"}}, {"year": 1954, "year_label": "1954 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "March 25", "text": "March 25 – The Soviet Union recognises the sovereignty of East Germany. Soviet troops remain in the country.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1369212684#March", "title": "1954", "revid": 1369212684, "section": "Events › March"}}, {"year": 1959, "year_label": "1959 CE", "section": "Crime & Justice", "date": "June 23", "text": "June 23 – Convicted Manhattan Project spy Klaus Fuchs is released after nine years in a British prison and allowed to emigrate to Dresden, East Germany where he resumes a scientific career.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1370221732#June", "title": "1959", "revid": 1370221732, "section": "Events › June"}}, {"year": 1961, "year_label": "1961 CE", "section": "Technology & Infrastructure", "date": "August 13", "text": "August 13 – Berlin Crisis of 1961: Construction of the Berlin Wall begins, restricting movement between East Berlin and West Berlin, and forming a clear boundary between West Germany and East Germany, Western Europe and Eastern Europe (until 1989, when Berlin and Germany both reunified in 1990, following the Fall of the Berlin Wall). On August 22 Ida Siekmann jumps from a window in her tenement building trying to flee to the West, becoming the first of at least 138 deaths at the Wall.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1372676854#August", "title": "1961", "revid": 1372676854, "section": "Events › August"}}, {"year": 1962, "year_label": "1962 CE", "section": "Crime & Justice", "date": "August 17", "text": "August 17 – East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin, leading to mass protests on the Western side.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373095518#August", "title": "1962", "revid": 1373095518, "section": "Events › August"}}, {"year": 1962, "year_label": "1962 CE", "section": "Technology & Infrastructure", "date": "May 5", "text": "May 5 – Twelve East Germans escape to the West via a tunnel under the Berlin Wall.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373095518#May", "title": "1962", "revid": 1373095518, "section": "Events › May"}}, {"year": 1966, "year_label": "1966 CE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": "February 1", "text": "February 1 – Around 2,600 political prisoners are released by East Germany, in return for \"donations\" worth approximately $10,000 a head from West Germany.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1370246126#February", "title": "1966", "revid": 1370246126, "section": "Events › February"}}, {"year": 1967, "year_label": "1967 CE", "section": "Disasters & Accidents", "date": "July 6", "text": "July 6 – Langenweddingen level crossing disaster: A level crossing collision between a train loaded with children and a tanker-truck near Magdeburg, East Germany, kills 94 people, mostly children.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1370160888#July", "title": "1967", "revid": 1370160888, "section": "Events › July"}}, {"year": 1970, "year_label": "1970 CE", "section": "Crime & Justice", "date": "April 4", "text": "April 4 – Fragments of burnt human remains believed to be those of Adolf Hitler, Eva Braun, Joseph Goebbels, Magda Goebbels and the Goebbels children are crushed and scattered in the Biederitz river at a KGB center in Magdeburg, East Germany.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1370420699#April", "title": "1970", "revid": 1370420699, "section": "Events › April"}}, {"year": 1970, "year_label": "1970 CE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": "March 19", "text": "March 19 – Ostpolitik: The leaders of West Germany and East Germany meet at a summit for the first time since Germany's division into two republics. West German Chancellor Willy Brandt is greeted by cheering East German crowds as he arrives in Erfurt for a summit with his counterpart, East German Ministerpräsident Willi Stoph.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1370420699#March", "title": "1970", "revid": 1370420699, "section": "Events › March"}}, {"year": 1974, "year_label": "1974 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "April 24", "text": "April 24 – Guillaume Affair: exposure of an East German spy Günter Guillaume within the West German government, leading to the resignation of West German Chancellor Willy Brandt.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1372602919#March–April", "title": "1974", "revid": 1372602919, "section": "Events › March–April"}}, {"year": 1989, "year_label": "1989 CE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": "December 1", "text": "December 1 – Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the Communist-dominated Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) its monopoly on power. Egon Krenz, the Politburo and the Central Committee resign two days later.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1369557705#December", "title": "1989", "revid": 1369557705, "section": "Events › December"}}, {"year": 1989, "year_label": "1989 CE", "section": "Exploration & Expansion", "date": "November 1", "text": "November 1 – The border between East Germany and Czechoslovakia is reopened.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1369557705#November", "title": "1989", "revid": 1369557705, "section": "Events › November"}}, {"year": 1989, "year_label": "1989 CE", "section": "Exploration & Expansion", "date": "November 3", "text": "November 3 – East German refugees arrive at the West German town of Hof after being allowed through Czechoslovakia.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1369557705#November", "title": "1989", "revid": 1369557705, "section": "Events › November"}}, {"year": 1989, "year_label": "1989 CE", "section": "Geopolitics & Diplomacy", "date": "November 7", "text": "November 7 – Cold War: The Communist government of East Germany under prime minister Willi Stoph resigns, although SED leader Egon Krenz remains as head of state.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1369557705#November", "title": "1989", "revid": 1369557705, "section": "Events › November"}}, {"year": 1989, "year_label": "1989 CE", "section": "Health & Medicine", "date": "October 3", "text": "October 3 – The government of East Germany closes the country's border with Czechoslovakia to prevent further emigration to the West.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1369557705#October", "title": "1989", "revid": 1369557705, "section": "Events › October"}}, {"year": 1990, "year_label": "1990 CE", "section": "Economy & Finance", "date": "April 24", "text": "April 24 – Cold War: West Germany and East Germany agree to merge currency and economies on July 1.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1366571855#April", "title": "1990", "revid": 1366571855, "section": "Events › April"}}, {"year": 1990, "year_label": "1990 CE", "section": "Economy & Finance", "date": "July 1", "text": "July 1 – German reunification: East Germany and West Germany merge their economies, the West German Deutsche Mark becoming the official currency of the East also. The Inner German border (constructed 1945) also ceases to function.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1366571855#July", "title": "1990", "revid": 1366571855, "section": "Events › July"}}, {"year": 1990, "year_label": "1990 CE", "section": "Conflict & Security", "date": "June 13", "text": "June 13 – Cold War: The destruction of the Berlin Wall by East Germany officially starts, 7 months after it was opened the previous November.", "cite": {"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1366571855#June", "title": "1990", "revid": 1366571855, "section": "Events › June"}}]}