List of leaders of administrative divisions of East Germany

Politics of East Germany
Constitution 1949 1968
Leadership Socialist Unity Party General Secretary President (1949–1960) State Council (1960–1990) Head of State Council of Ministers Head of Government
Legislature President Chamber of States
Elections Referendums Constitutional Assembly 1949 General elections 1950 1954 1958 1963 1967 1971 1976 1981 1986 1990 Referendums 1951 1954 1968
Political parties Christian Democratic Union Democratic Farmers' Party Liberal Democratic Party National Democratic Party
Administrative divisions East Berlin (independent) Cottbus Dresden Erfurt Frankfurt Gera Halle Karl-Marx-Stadt Leipzig Magdeburg Neubrandenburg Potsdam Rostock Schwerin Suhl Leaders
Other countries
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This article lists the leaders of administrative divisions of East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR). GDR was a country that existed from 1949 to 1990, when the eastern portion of Germany was part of the Eastern Bloc during the Cold War.^[1]

Until 1952,^[2] GDR was divided into 5 states (German: Länder), from north to south: Mecklenburg, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia.

From 1952 until 1990,^[2] GDR was divided into 14 districts (German: Bezirke), each named after their capitals, from north to south: Rostock, Neubrandenburg, Schwerin, Potsdam, Frankfurt, Magdeburg, Cottbus, Halle, Leipzig, Erfurt, Dresden, Karl-Marx-Stadt (named Chemnitz until the 1953 Karl Marx Year^[3]), Gera and Suhl.

Due to its special status, East Berlin (German: Ost-Berlin) was originally not counted as a Bezirk. In 1961, after the Berlin Crisis of 1961 and the construction of the Berlin Wall, East Berlin came to be recognised in GDR administration as the Bezirk Berlin, though it retained a special status until the adoption of the revised 1968 Constitution.^[4]