When was gdr formed

According to the first constitution of the GDR, its citizens enjoyed certain basic rights, even the right to strike. In reality, however, there was little freedom. According to the constitution, both the Council of State Staatsrat and the Council of Ministers Ministerrat were elected by and responsible to the Volkskammer. All parties and mass organizations represented in this body were united in the National Front, under the ideological leadership of the SED. The Volkskammer was a mere forum for speeches and mock debates.

Within two years, the number of applications for travel documents doubled from 53, to more than , That said, only a fraction of applicants were in fact allowed to travel outside the country. Read more: A dangerous escape from East Germany. In the Soviet occupying forces turned the former commercial kitchen compound into an internment camp.

The cellar was converted by the prisoners into a remand center. Victims reported that they were tormented by sleep deprivation, beatings, kickings, being forced to stand for hours or subjected to water torture.

Food, clothing, and hygiene standards were terrible. Some 1, people died. In the newly-formed East German secret state police, the Stasi, took over the prison. During the 50s most inmates were those opposed to the communist dictatorship, such as reformers and strike leaders involved in the 17 June uprising. As there was never any daylight in the damp cells, the inmates nick-named the prison 'U-Boot," German for submarine. At the end of the 50s a new building with more than cells and interrogation rooms replaced the old cellar jail.

Physical violence was replaced by psychological torture. After the Berlin Wall was built in most inmates were those who had attempted to escape or leave East Germany, but also writers and civil rights activists. Made to appear outwardly as fish or vegetable delivery vans, these vehicles had five tiny windowless cells, which meant inmates had no idea where they had been taken.

The Stasi succeeded in pressuring 90 percent of inmates to make damning statements in their first interrogation. In prison every inmate was addressed not by name but by their cell number. To socially ostracize them they were often put into isolation cells for months, where even talking to the guards was forbidden. The only human contact was therefore with the interrogator - an insidious way to make inmates talk. Up to three inmates were housed in the different sized cells.

They were unable to see anything through the cell windows, which were made of glass blocks. A mirror and hot water was only made available as of During the day inmates were not allowed to lie on their cots, at night they had to assume the same position: lying on their backs, facing the door with their hands on top of the blanket.

Inmates found being permanently watched in their cells through the spy hole in the door very stressful. Guards would keep a check on the prisoners even when they were washing or using the toilet. At night the lights would be switched on every ten to twelve minutes. Heating and light could only be controlled from outside the cells. This all served to make the inmates feel utterly powerless.

A wire was mounted along the walls of the cell block corridor. When a prisoner was taken from his cell to be interrogated, the guards pulled the wire, which made red warning lights light up. Any inmate in the corridor would then have to face the wall immediately.

This was intended to prevent prisoners encountering one another. The cell block and the interrogation rooms where separated by barred doors. To this day the linoleum floor still smells of the disinfectant used in East Germany. All interrogation rooms were equipped with double padded doors, behind which inmates where subjected to hours of questioning over several months. Prisoners were expected to incriminate themselves so that they could be sentenced.

Stasi police used elaborate psychological interrogation methods. Initially they would threaten the inmate with long prison terms or the arrest of their family members. Panic and uncertainty were intended to wear them down. Those who cooperated were promised an easing of detention conditions: medical attention, a book, or half an hour of yard exercise.

In these cell-like compounds inmates could see the sky and breathe some fresh air. They themselves called the yards "tiger cages. An armed guard was always on patrol above the wire mesh. The fall of the Berlin Wall put an end to the Stasi remand center.

But only few interrogators were ever made accountable for what had happened behind these walls, and none were sent to jail. Four Palestinian terrorists board the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro shortly after it left Alexandria, Egypt, in order to hijack the luxury liner. In the second of four televised debates, Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon turn their attention to foreign policy issues. Three Cold War episodes, in particular, engendered spirited confrontations between Kennedy and Nixon.

On October 7, , Rear Adm. Shigematsu Sakaibara, commander of the Japanese garrison on the island, orders the execution of 96 Americans POWs, claiming they were trying to make radio contact with U.

In late December , the Japanese reinforced existing forces on Despite his inexperience, Schwarzenegger came out on top in the week campaign to replace Gray Davis, who had Live TV.

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