Volkskammer

The Volkskammer (German: [ˈfɔlkskamɐ], People's Chamber) was the unicameral legislature of the German Democratic Republic (popularly called East Germany).

People's Chamber Volkskammer
Legislature of German Democratic Republic (East Germany)
Type
Type	Unicameral parliament (lower house before 1958)
History
Established	1949
Disbanded	1990
Preceded by	Reichstag (1933–1945)
Succeeded by	Bundestag (1990–present)
Seats	400
Elections
Last election	18 March 1990
Meeting place
Palast der Republik

The Volkskammer was initially the lower house of a bicameral legislature. The upper house was the Chamber of States, or Länderkammer, but in 1952 the states of East Germany were dissolved, and the Chamber was abolished in 1958. Constitutionally, the Volkskammer was the highest organ of state power in the GDR, and both constitutions vested it with great lawmaking powers. All other branches of government, including the judiciary, were responsible to it. By 1960, the chamber appointed the Council of the State, the Council of Ministers, and the National Defence Council.

Membership

From its founding in 1949 until the first competitive elections in March 1990, all members of the Volkskammer were elected via a single list from the National Front, a popular front/electoral alliance dominated by the SED. In addition, seats were also allocated to various organizations affiliated with the SED, such as the Free German Youth.

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.[1]

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.[2] Seats were apportioned based on a set quota, not actual vote totals.[3] By ensuring that its candidates dominated the list, the SED effectively predetermined the composition of the Volkskammer. In any event, the minor parties in the National Front were largely subservient to the SED, and were required to accept the SED's "leading role" as a condition of their continued existence. The table below shows an overview of the reported results of all parliamentary elections before 1990, with the resulting disposition of parliamentary seats.

Election date	Participation	Agree	Distribution of parliamentary seats
			SED	CDU	LDPD	DBD	NDPD	FDGB	FDJ	KB	DFD	SDA^1	VdgB	VVN
19 October 1950	98.53%	99.9%	110	67	66	33	35	49	25	24	20	6	12	19
17 October 1954	98.51%	99.4%	117	52	52	52	52	55	29	29	18		12
16 November 1958	98.90%	99.9%	127	52	52	52	52	55	29	29	18		12
20 October 1963	99.25%	99.9%	127	52	52	52	52	68	55	35	22
2 July 1967	99.82%	99.9%	127	52	52	52	52	68	55	35	22
14 November 1971	98.48%	99.5%	127	52	52	52	52	68	55	35	22
7 October 1976	98.58%	99.8%	127	52	52	52	52	68	55	35	22
14 June 1981	99.21%	99.9%	127	52	52	52	52	68	55	35	22
8 June 1986	99.74%	99.9%	127	52	52	52	52	68	37	21	32		14

¹Eastern Bureau of the Social Democratic Party of Germany

In 1976, the Volkskammer moved into a specially-constructed building on Marx-Engels-Platz (now Schloßplatz again), the Palast der Republik (Palace of the Republic). Prior to the opening of the Palast der Republik the Volkskammer meet at Langenbeck-Virchow-Haus in the Mitte district of Berlin.

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.[4]

Protestor, January 1990

Ballot for the 1990 elections (written text reads "Sample")

After the 1990 election, the disposition of the parties was as follows:

Party/Group	Acronym	Members
Alliance for Germany	CDU, DA, DSU	192
Social Democratic Party of Germany	SPD	88
Party of Democratic Socialism	PDS, former SED	66
Association of Free Democrats	DFP, FDP, LDP	21
Alliance 90	B90	12
East German 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 presidency of the People's Chamber was held by a non-Communist for most of that body's existence; only one SED member ever held the title. 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 ex-officio vice president of the country. As such, on two occasions, the president of the People's Chamber served as acting president for brief periods in 1949 and 1960.

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

The last president of the People's Chamber, Sabine Bergmann-Pohl, was also interim head of state during the last six months of East Germany's existence due to the State Council having been abolished.

See also

• Elections in East Germany
• Presidium of the People's Chamber
• Show election

References

1. "German Democratic Republic" (PDF). Chron. XX (1985-1986). Inter-Parliamentary Union. pp. 75–77. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
2. Sebetsyen, Victor (2009). Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire. New York City: Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-0-375-42532-5.
3. "Thousands Rally in Easy Germany". Eugene Register-Guard. Associated Press. 29 October 1989. p. 5A.
4. Webb, Adrian (9 September 2014). Longman Companion to Germany since 1945. p. 244. ISBN 9781317884231.

External links

• A Successful Policy Seared to the Needs of the People "Deliberations" of the Volkskammer on nuclear disarmament, 1981.