Publisher's Synopsis
In the series "Socialist Power in the GDR", selected files of the GDR from the 'Stiftung Archiv der Parteien und Massenorganisationen der DDR im Bundesarchiv' are published on microfiche. The reports, minutes, manuscripts, notes, speeches, texts, letters and other documents represent a wealth of material for the study of the history of the SED and ist executives and executive bodies, the domestic and foreign policies of the GDR, the country's international relations, and the modus operandi of state control. Key source material for research on the history of the SBZ/GDR and its political elites are the Minutes of the Central Secretariat of the SED and the Politbureau of the Central Committee of the SED from 1946 to 1989, published completely for the first time in Part 3 of this series. The Central Secretariat and, from 1949, the Politbureau of the ZK of the SED were the political nerve centres of the evolving GDR and later fully established state. Both committees were not only responsible for all the important political decisions, but had considerable influence on the economic, social and cultural life of the SBZ and DDR. The protocols of and excerpts from resolutions, submittals and attachments from the meetings of both these political establishments published here provide unique evidence about the development of the GDR from the post-war period to the fall of the Berlin wall. Each part-edition includes an index with synopses and an index of names. The finding aids can also be researched online in the Federal Archives.
