|
East Germany Christian Democratic Union
The CDU is the only party in East Germany with a counterpart
of the same name in West Germany; both parties have the same
roots. Originally CDU members came from the ranks of farmers,
craftsmen, small manufacturers, and Christians, both Protestants
and Roman Catholics. At the time of its formation in 1945, the
CDU was an independent political party representing middle-class
interests. By 1948, however, the original CDU leadership had been
removed or suppressed, and the party had lost its independent
status. Since that time, Western observers have considered the
CDU an auxiliary of the SED, useful for its appeal to the
Christian, middle-class constituency. Since the CDU's Sixth Party
Congress in 1952, when it embraced socialism and affirmed that a
socialist society affords the best opportunity to practice
Christianity, the party has been modeled on the SED's
organizational pattern.
Gerald Goetting, chairman of the CDU in 1987, has held that
post since May 1966 and has been active in the party since the
immediate post-World War II period. Goetting has been a deputy in
the People's Chamber and a member of the Presidium of the
National Front since 1950. Since 1960 Goetting has been a deputy
chairman of the Council of State, and he was president of the
People's Chamber until he was replaced in 1976 by Horst
Sindermann. At that time, Goetting was moved to the presidency of
the League for Friendship Among Peoples (Liga für Volker
Freundschaft), which oversees the activities of twenty-five or
thirty individual friendship committees involved in international
relations.
Data as of July 1987
|
