| |||||||
| Anthem | "Auferstanden aus Ruinen" | ||||||
| Capital | East Berlin | ||||||
| Language official |
German | ||||||
| others | Sorbian (only in parts of Dresden and Cottbus districts) | ||||||
| Religion main |
Atheism | ||||||
| others | Christianity (Protestant Churches • Roman Catholicism • Other) | ||||||
| Demonym | German (local) East German (colloquial) | ||||||
| Government | Marxist–Leninist one-party socialist state | ||||||
| Legislature | Volkskammer | ||||||
| General Secretary | Egon Krenz (SED) | ||||||
| Chairman of the State Council | Hellmut Liesching (SED) | ||||||
| Chairman of the Council of Ministers | Ernst Schall (SED) | ||||||
| Area main |
123,433 km² | ||||||
| water (%) | 2.2% | ||||||
| Population | 16,871,000 (2014 estimate) | ||||||
| Established | Holy Roman Empire (February 2, 962) German Confederation (June 8, 1815) German Empire (January 18, 1871) Weimar Republic (August 11, 1919) Constitution Adopted (October 7, 1949) | ||||||
| Currency | East German Mark (M) (DDM)
| ||||||
| Time Zone | (UTC+1) | ||||||
| summer | (UTC+2) | ||||||
| Calling Code | +37 | ||||||
| Internet TLD | .dd | ||||||
| Organizations | COMINTERN • UN | ||||||
East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR; German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik; DDR) is a Marxist–Leninist single-party state in Central Europe. Comprised of 17 administrative districts, it covers an area of 123,433 square kilometres (47,658 sq mi) with mostly temperate continental climate. It has 16.9 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is East Berlin with 1.5 million residents. The Inner German Border marks the boundary between East Germany and West Germany.