National Front of the German Democratic Republic

The National Front of the German Democratic Republic was a coalition of parties and mass organisations from 1950 to 1990 which governed the German Democratic Republic, informally known as East Germany. Although it was presented as a broad alliance, real political authority in the country rested with the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The National Front's primary role was to manage electoral processes through a single list of approved candidates for the Volkskammer. This system was designed to present an appearance of democratic pluralism under a multi-party system.
The National Front developed out of the Democratic Bloc, established in 1945. After the Second World War, the Soviet Union permitted the formation of four parties, but in 1946 the Communist Party forced a merger with the Social Democrats to create the SED. Other parties such as the Christian Democratic Union and the Liberal Democratic Party were gradually brought into line through intimidation and the removal of dissenting leaders. Two additional parties, the Democratic Farmers' Party and the National Democratic Party, were created in 1948 under SED direction to draw support away from existing parties and incorporate former Nazis. These non-SED parties were called Blockpartei.
Mass organisations such as trade unions and women's groups were also part of the National Front and held seats in the Volkskammer. Many of their representatives were SED members, ensuring continued control. All parties and organisations were required to accept the SED's leading role as a vanguard party, and even regional leaders were subject to SED approval. Although the blockpartei were granted significant resources and governmental representation, all ministers operated under the authority of the SED's Central Committee.
In the final months before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, some blockpartei members began to express limited dissent. The National Front was dissolved in February 1990, ahead of the first free elections in East Germany. After reunification, the blockpartei merged with their West German counterparts: the Liberal Democrats and National Democrats joined the Free Democratic Party, while the East German CDU and the DBD merged with the West German CDU. These mergers were controversial due to the blockpartei access to well-developed infrastructure and resources under the SED regime, putting them at a great competitive advantage over newly established parties.

Constituent parties

Party	Ideology	Emblem	Flag	Foundation	Dissolution	Seats in the Volkskammer
Socialist Unity Party SED	Communism Stalinism			21 April 1946	16 December 1989	127
Christian Democratic Union CDU	Christian socialism			26 June 1945	1/2 October 1990	52
Liberal Democratic Party LDPD	Liberal socialism			5 July 1945	27 March 1990	52
Democratic Farmers' Party DBD	Agrarian socialism			17 June 1948	15 September 1990	52
National Democratic Party NDPD	National liberalism German nationalism			5 May 1948	27 March 1990	52

Constituent mass organizations represented in the People's Chamber

Organization	Emblem	Flag	Foundation	Dissolution	Assigned representatives in the Volkskammer
Free German Trade Union Federation FDGB			1946	1990	61
Free German Youth FDJ			1946	exists today	37
Democratic Women's League of Germany DFD			1947	1990	32
Cultural Association of the GDR KB			1945	1990	21
Peasants Mutual Aid Association VdgB			1945	1994	14

Other organizations associated with the National Front

The following organizations, which were part of the NF, did not send elected representatives to the Volkskammer but were active in the performance of its activities.

Organization	Emblem	Foundation	Dissolution
Society for German–Soviet Friendship		1949	1992
People's Solidarity		1945	exists today
Sport and Technology Association		1952	1990
German Gymnastics and Sports Federation		1957	1990
Ernst Thälmann Pioneer Organisation		1948	1990
Writers' Association of the GDR		1945	1990
Association of Gardeners, Settlers, and Animal Breeders		1952	1990
		1966	1990
Union of Journalists		1945	1990
		1946	1990
		1949	1990
Union of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime		1947	banned in East Germany in 1953, exists today
Association of German Consumer Cooperatives		1949	exists today
German Red Cross of the GDR		1952	1991
Committee of Antifascist Resistance Fighters		1953	1991
Solidarity Committee of the GDR		1960	1990
League of Lusatian Sorbs		1912 founded before the creation of the GDR	exists today

History

The National Front was the successor to the Demokratischer Block which had been founded in the Soviet occupation zone. The Front itself was founded on 30 March 1950. It operated through the issuing of a generally consistent proportion of seats submitted in the form of a single list of candidates during each election to the People's Chamber. Seats were awarded on the basis of a set quota rather than vote totals. As voters only had the option of approving or rejecting the list in far-from-secret conditions, it "won" with virtually unanimous levels of support.
Although nominally a broad-based coalition of parties, in practice the SED was the only one with any real power. By ensuring that Communists dominated the lists, the SED essentially predetermined the composition of the People's Chamber.
In 1950-1951, the public rejection of the validity of the list by some German politicians resulted in some of them being imprisoned for "rejecting the electoral law of the German Democratic Republic". Although the SED had already become a full-fledged Stalinist "party of the new type" by the formation of the GDR, the other parties did not completely bend to the SED's will for a time. By the mid-1950s, however, the more courageous members of the constituent parties had been pushed out, and the parties had all been transformed into loyal partners of the SED. By this time, the SED itself had purged its few independent-minded members as well. The Front now took on a character similar to other groupings in the Eastern Bloc. For the next three decades, the minor parties in the Front had to accept the SED's "leading role" as a condition of their continued existence.
On 1 December 1989, the Front was effectively rendered impotent when the Volkskammer deleted the provision of the Constitution of East Germany that gave the SED a monopoly of power. Four days later, the Christian Democratic Union and Liberal Democratic Party, having thrown out their pro-Communist leaderships, withdrew from the Front. On 16 December the SED, having transformed itself into a democratic socialist party, reformed itself into the Party of Democratic Socialism. On 20 February 1990, an amendment to the constitution removed mention of the Front.

Chairmen of the National Front

The National Front, as in institution, was led by a National Council that included representatives from all of its constituent organisations, with the SED being over-represented. The National Council elected a Presidium, whose chairman always was an independent politician. Despite the NF's power on paper, the chairman had almost no influence.

Prof. Erich Correns
Prof. Lothar Kolditz
Electoral history