How did the SED establish, maintain and ultimately lose control of the German Democratic Republic between 1949 and 1990?
Paper 2 Option 2A.1 The German Democratic Republic 1949 to 1990: the establishment and consolidation of the SED state, life in the GDR, the role of the Stasi, and the collapse of the regime.
An Edexcel A-Level History Paper 2 depth guide to the German Democratic Republic 1949 to 1990. Covers the establishment of the SED state, the 1953 uprising and the Berlin Wall, the role of the Stasi, economic and social life, and the collapse of the regime in 1989 to 1990, with the AO2 primary-source skills the depth paper rewards.
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What this dot point is asking
Edexcel Paper 2 is a depth study: detailed knowledge of a shorter period, opening with a primary-source question (AO2, Section A) followed by essays (AO1, Section B). For the GDR you study how the SED built, held and lost control of East Germany from 1949 to 1990, and you must be able to evaluate sources (Stasi files, party documents, memoirs) in their immediate context.
The answer
Establishing and consolidating the SED state
How the regime kept control
Control rested on several interlocking pillars, and the strongest essays rank them rather than listing them:
- The Stasi. The Ministry for State Security (founded 1950) ran mass surveillance through around 91,000 full-time officers and perhaps 170,000 unofficial informers (IMs) by the 1980s, penetrating workplaces, families and churches.
- Soviet backing. Soviet military power underpinned the regime, decisively in June 1953. Its withdrawal under Gorbachev proved fatal in 1989.
- The Wall and welfare. The Berlin Wall ended mass emigration, while subsidised housing, guaranteed employment and consumer provision under Honecker after 1971 bought a degree of consent. Economic strain and indebtedness to the West nonetheless mounted through the 1980s.
Life in the GDR
Daily life combined relative security (employment, childcare, low rents) with pervasive surveillance, restricted travel, consumer shortages and the suppression of dissent. The Protestant Church became a partial refuge for opposition, and the peace and environmental movements of the 1980s grew under its umbrella.
Collapse, 1989 to 1990
The regime lost its Soviet guarantee, faced growing protest (the Leipzig Monday demonstrations reached hundreds of thousands by October 1989), and dissolved as East Germans first voted with their feet through Hungary and Czechoslovakia, then at the ballot box in the March 1990 elections.
Historiography
Mary Fulbrook (Anatomy of a Dictatorship, 1995; The People's State, 2005) argues the GDR was a "participatory dictatorship" in which ordinary citizens were enmeshed in the system, not simply its victims. Others stress repression and the artificiality of a state propped up by Soviet bayonets. Weighing these readings of how the regime survived for forty years is the AO3 skill the course rewards.
Examples in context
A model essay paragraph on the 1953 and 1989 turning points would argue that the regime's survival depended above all on Moscow: Soviet tanks saved it in 1953, and Gorbachev's refusal to intervene doomed it in 1989, ranking Soviet power above even the Stasi.
Try this
Q1. How far do you agree that the collapse of the GDR in 1989 to 1990 was caused mainly by the withdrawal of Soviet support? [20 marks]
- What the marker wants. An AO1 depth essay weighing Soviet withdrawal against internal factors (economic strain, mass protest, the example of reform elsewhere), with dated evidence and a judgement.
Q2. Why was the Berlin Wall built in 1961? [2 marks]
- Cue. To stop the large-scale flight of skilled workers and citizens from the GDR to West Germany through Berlin, around 2.7 million having left by 1961.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of Pearson Edexcel exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
Edexcel 201820 marksHow far was the Stasi the main reason the SED kept control of the GDR in the years 1949 to 1989?Show worked answer →
A Section B depth essay (AO1) focused on one explanation, weighed against others. Level 5 ranks the factors with dated evidence and a judgement.
For. The Ministry for State Security (Stasi) ran a vast network (around 91,000 full-time staff and perhaps 170,000 unofficial informers by the 1980s) that suppressed dissent through surveillance and intimidation.
Against. The Berlin Wall (built 13 August 1961) stopped the haemorrhage of skilled workers (around 2.7 million had fled by 1961); Soviet military backing underpinned the regime (decisively in June 1953); and social provision (subsidised housing, full employment) bought consent under Honecker after 1971.
Level 5 ranks the Stasi against the Wall, Soviet power and welfare, reaching the top level with a supported judgement.
Edexcel 202020 marksAssess the value of Source 1 for revealing the methods of the Stasi and popular attitudes to surveillance in the GDR. Explain your answer using the source, the information given about it and your own knowledge of the historical context.Show worked answer →
The Section A source question (AO2). Level 5 evaluates content and provenance against own knowledge of the context, not comprehension alone.
Content. Identify what the source reveals about surveillance methods or citizens' responses, and link it to the enquiry.
Provenance. Weigh nature, origin and purpose. A Stasi internal file is valuable evidence of methods precisely because of its bureaucratic purpose; a dissident's later memoir is valuable for attitudes but shaped by hindsight.
Own knowledge. Set it against the scale of the informer network and the Gauck files opened after 1990. Level 5 judges the source's value for the specific enquiry.
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Sources & how we know this
- Pearson Edexcel A-Level History (9HI0) specification — Pearson Edexcel (2015)