Misplaced Pages

#741258

27-422: German Social Union may refer to: German Social Union (East Germany) , a conservative opposition group German Social Union (West Germany) , a Strasserite group Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title German Social Union . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

54-658: A national legislature from the Soviet Military Administration in Germany . This was granted by Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko . The Volkskammer then convened with the Länderkammer to elect Wilhelm Pieck as the first President of East Germany and Otto Grotewohl as the first Prime Minister of East Germany . From its founding in 1949 until the first competitive elections in March 1990 , all members of

81-513: 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. The table below shows an overview of the reported results of all parliamentary elections before 1990, with the resulting disposition of parliamentary seats. In 1976, the Volkskammer moved into

108-542: A nationalistic course, aiming for a position inbetween the centre-right CDU and the far-right Republicans . During the early-1990s, the party received support by the (West German) Neue Rechte ("New Right") movement, in particular by the Criticón magazine of Caspar von Schrenck-Notzing, who also attended DSU meetings. The DSU's image was then characterised by financial misconduct, internal squabbles, resignations, and contacts with far-right groups. The cooperation of DSU and CSU

135-628: A specially constructed building on Marx-Engels-Platz (now Schloßplatz again), the Palace of the Republic ( Palast der Republik ). Prior to this, the Volkskammer met at Langenbeck-Virchow-Haus  [ de ] 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

162-673: The Oder–Neisse line as Germany's eastern border (which was finally laid down in the reunification treaty and the Two Plus Four Agreement ). After German reunification was accomplished on 3 October 1990, eight DSU People's Chamber deputies entered into the Bundestag (federal parliament), where they joined the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. The Alliance for Germany coalition dissolved after that. In Chancellor Helmut Kohl 's third cabinet ,

189-500: The People's Chamber parliament. It achieved its strongest results in the southern districts of Karl-Marx-Stadt , Dresden and Leipzig (that later formed the state of Saxony ), where the DSU polled two-digit percentages. Its most prominent politician was the lawyer Peter-Michael Diestel , who joined the last East German cabinet ( Council of Ministers ) under Lothar de Maizière as minister of

216-504: The office of president . As such, on two occasions, the president of the People's Chamber served as acting president for brief periods in 1949 and 1960. 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. The presidency of the People's Chamber

243-555: The Bavarian CSU aimed for a deal with the CDU to save its East German offshoot from irrelevance: If the CDU had abstained from competing in a few constituencies in Saxony and Thuringia, thus winning the DSU at least three "direct mandates", the small party could have been spared from the five-percent threshold and might have survived as a regional party. However, the CDU under Helmut Kohl insisted on

270-559: The CSU a nationwide "fourth party". On 5 February 1990, DSU joined the Alliance for Germany together with the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the now-defunct Democratic Awakening (DA) to form the Alliance for Germany , a centre-right coalition which ran in the first (and only) free East German general election of 18 March 1990. The DSU polled 6.3% of the votes cast and 25 seats in

297-555: The DSU has a loyal following of voters on the local level, especially in some districts of Saxony. In the western states, the party is virtually nonexistent. The DSU had one member in the Landtag of Saxony from 2006 to 2009, after the NPD parliamentarian Klaus Baier had defected from his party after a series of disputes and joined the DSU. People%27s Chamber The Volkskammer ( German: [ˈfɔlkskamɐ] , " People's Chamber ")

SECTION 10

#1732856173742

324-555: The DSU refers to itself as a conservative , democratic and social party. Ideologically, the party's goals are to preserve and uphold Western - Christian civilization , and to dismantle the welfare state . . The party can thus be seen as right-wing (anti-socialistic) national-conservative. It strongly differentiates itself from the National Democratic Party (NPD) and German People's Union (DVU), who tend more towards national socialism. Its closest ideological ally among

351-522: The DSU was represented by Hansjoachim Walther as federal minister without portfolio from October 1990 to January 1991. In the October 1990 legislative elections in the new German states, the DSU did not pass the five-percent threshold, winning 3.6% in its former stronghold of Saxony and even less in the other states, and thus failed to enter into any Landtag (state legislature). Ahead of the first post-reunification German federal election on 2 December 1990,

378-512: The Federal Republic of Germany. Hansjoachim Walther , a mathematics professor, was elected chairman of the DSU on the first regular party congress in May 1990. Under his leadership, the party took a turn to the right, hosting national-conservative and in some cases even far-right voices. Unlike the other parliamentary parties and a vast majority of the population, numerous DSU members did not accept

405-463: The SED, and were required to accept the SED's " leading role " as a condition of their continued existence. 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

432-529: 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 . Effectively, the SED held control over the composition of the Volkskammer. In any event, the minor parties in the National Front were largely subservient to

459-564: The electoral law was changed to provide for 66 directly elected deputies with full voting rights. After the 1990 election , the disposition of the parties was as follows: 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 ex officio vice president during the existence of

486-497: The interior and deputy prime minister. The DSU also held the ministry of economic cooperation, led by Hans-Wilhelm Ebeling. However, both Diestel and Ebeling left the party in June and July 1990, respectively, Diestel joined the CDU a month later. Of all parties in the People's Chamber, the DSU was the keenest on a swift reunification of East and West Germany. Its delegates repeatedly proposed a motion for East Germany's "immediate accession" to

513-433: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=German_Social_Union&oldid=932843387 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages German Social Union (East Germany) According to its 2006 basic programme,

540-628: The right-wing parties is The Republicans . Historically, and as its name implies, it is modelled after the CSU in Bavaria , the more rightist of the two Union "sister parties" . However, it was not possible for the DSU to join the CSU, as the CDU and CSU do not compete in the same states. In the chaotic world of 1989–1990 East German politics, several long-suppressed cultural and political movements (re)emerged, and numerous small parties sprang up. The German Social Union

567-462: 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. Only one list of candidates appeared on

SECTION 20

#1732856173742

594-444: The unwritten CDU/CSU agreement that the CSU may only run in Bavaria, while all other states are CDU's territory. Many DSU members realised that the party had no future and switched to the CDU. Eventually, DSU achieved 0.2% of nationwide votes, 1.0% in the new states. After this disappointment, the Bavarian CSU reduced its benefits to the DSU, but continued to transfer six-figure sums annually until 1993. The DSU drifted further towards

621-676: 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. In October 1949 the Volksrat ("People's Council"), charged with drafting the Constitution of East Germany , proclaimed itself the Volkskammer and requested official recognition as

648-614: 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 State Council (the GDR's collective head of state), the Council of Ministers (the GDR's government), and the National Defence Council (the GDR's collective military leadership). In practice, however, it

675-610: Was definitely ended after the Spring 1993 party conference, when Roberto Rink was elected chairman of the DSU. In subsequent elections its share of the vote has remained under 1% of the vote in all Landtag elections held in the new states. Electoral coalitions with right-wing parties like the German Party , the Party for a Rule of Law Offensive or the Statt Party led to no avail. Nevertheless,

702-655: Was one of these, then several comprising conservative, Christian-democratic and liberal opposition groups. The party was founded in Leipzig on 20 January 1990 by the St. Thomas Church pastor Hans-Wilhelm Ebeling , modeled loosely on the Christian Social Union of Bavaria ( Christlich-Soziale Union , CSU). Initially, the Bavarian CSU supported the DSU to the tune of millions, wishing to make it its East German branch, and thus revisiting Franz Josef Strauß ' mid-1970s plan to make

729-510: 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 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 of States

#741258