Volkskammer
People's Chamber Volkskammer | |
---|---|
German Democratic Republic | |
Type | |
Type | |
History | |
Founded | 7 October 1949 |
Disbanded | 3 October 1990 |
Preceded by | Reichstag (Nazi Germany) 1933–1945 Länderkammer (East Germany) 1949–1958 |
Succeeded by | Bundestag |
Leadership | |
President | |
Vice President/Deputy President | (first presidium) Hermann Matern Gerald Götting Ernst Goldenbaum Heinrich Homann Vincenz Müller (last presidium) Reinhard Höppner Käte Niederkirchner Jürgen Schmieder Wolfgang Ullmann Dieter Helm Stefan Gottschall |
Seats | 400 |
Elections | |
Direct elections | |
First election | 15 October 1950 |
Last election | 18 March 1990 |
Meeting place | |
Palace of the Republic, Berlin | |
Constitution | |
Constitution of East Germany |
The Volkskammer (German: [ˈfɔlkskamɐ], "People's Chamber") was the supreme power organ of East Germany. It was the only branch of government in the state, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs were subservient to it.
The Volkskammer was initially the
In practice, however, it was a rubber stamp parliament that did little more than ratify decisions already made by the SED Politburo. By the 1970s and before the Peaceful Revolution, the Volkskammer only met two to four times a year.[1]
Membership
In October 1949 the Volksrat ("People's Council"), charged with drafting the
From its founding in 1949 until the first
The members of the People's Chamber were elected in multi-member constituencies, with four to eight seats. To be elected, a candidate needed to receive half of the valid votes cast in their constituency. If, within a constituency, an insufficient number of candidates got the majority needed to fill all the seats, a second round was held within 90 days. If the number of candidates getting this majority exceeds the number of seats in the respective constituency, the order of the candidates on the election list decided who got to sit in the Volkskammer. Candidates who lost out on a seat because of this would become successor candidates who would fill casual vacancies which might occur during a legislative period.[5]
Only one list of candidates appeared on a ballot paper; voters simply took the ballot paper and dropped it into the ballot box. Those who wanted to vote against the National Front list had to vote using a separate ballot box, without any secrecy.[6] The table below shows an overview of the reported results of all parliamentary elections before 1990, with the resulting disposition of parliamentary seats.
Election | Turnout | Agree | Distribution of parliamentary seats | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SED | CDU | LDPD | DBD | NDPD
|
FDGB
|
FDJ | KB
|
DFD | SPD | VdgB | VVN
| |||
1950 | 98.53% | 99.9% | 110 | 67 | 66 | 33 | 35 | 49 | 25 | 24 | 20 | 6 | 12 | 19 |
1954 | 98.51% | 99.4% | 117 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 53 | 29 | 29 | 18 | 12 | ||
1958 | 98.90% | 99.9% | 117 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 53 | 29 | 29 | 18 | 12 | ||
1963 | 99.25% | 99.9% | 127 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 68 | 40 | 35 | 22 | |||
1967 | 99.82% | 99.9% | 127 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 68 | 40 | 35 | 22 | |||
1971 | 98.48% | 99.5% | 127 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 68 | 40 | 35 | 22 | |||
1976 | 98.58% | 99.8% | 127 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 68 | 40 | 35 | 22 | |||
1981 | 99.21% | 99.9% | 127 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 68 | 40 | 35 | 22 | |||
1986 | 99.74% | 99.9% | 127 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 68 | 37 | 21 | 32 | 14 |
In 1976, the Volkskammer moved into a specially constructed building on Marx-Engels-Platz (now
Initially, voters in East Berlin could not take part in elections to the Volkskammer, in which they were represented by indirectly elected non-voting members, but in 1979 the electoral law was changed to provide for 66 directly elected deputies with full voting rights.[7]
After the 1990 election, the disposition of the parties was as follows:
Party/Group | Acronym | Members |
---|---|---|
Alliance for Germany | DA, DSU
|
192 |
Social Democratic Party in the GDR | SPD | 88 |
Party of Democratic Socialism
|
PDS, former SED | 66 |
Association of Free Democrats | DFP, FDP, LDP | 21 |
Alliance 90 | B90 | 12 |
Green Party and Independent Women's Association | Grüne, UFV | 8 |
National Democratic Party of Germany | NDPD | 2 |
Democratic Women's League of Germany | DFD | 1 |
United Left | VL | 1 |
Presidents of the People's Chamber
The president of the People's Chamber was the third-highest state post in the GDR (after the chairman of the Council of Ministers and the chairman of the State Council) and was the
The presidency of the People's Chamber was held by a bloc party representative for most of that body's existence to keep up the appearance that the GDR was led by a broad coalition. Only one SED member ever held the post.
Name | Entered office | Left office | Party |
---|---|---|---|
Johannes Dieckmann | 7 October 1949 | 22 February 1969 | LDPD
|
Gerald Götting | 12 May 1969 | 29 October 1976 | CDU |
Horst Sindermann | 29 October 1976 | 13 November 1989 | SED |
Günther Maleuda | 13 November 1989 | 5 April 1990 | DBD |
Sabine Bergmann-Pohl | 5 April 1990 | 2 October 1990 | CDU |
See also
- Elections in East Germany
- Presidium of the People's Chamber
- Show election
Notes
- ^ Lower house of bicameral legislature until 8 December 1958
References
- ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ Naimark, Norman M. The Russians In Germany: a History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945-1949. E-book, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1995
- ^ Kurt Sontheimer & Wilhelm Bleek. The Government and Politics of East Germany. New York: St. Martin's Press. 1975. p. 66.
- ^ Andreas Malchya: Der Ausba des neuen Systems 1949 bis 1961, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, last retrieved 2022-07-28.
- ^ "German Democratic Republic" (PDF). Chron. XX (1985-1986). Inter-Parliamentary Union. pp. 75–77. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-375-42532-5.
- ISBN 9781317884231.