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 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110019-3


 * October
 * Judicial system revised in accordance with Soviet system.

1953
 * June
 * Uprising in East Berlin over harsh labor policies spreads throughout East Germany; repressed by Soviet forces.

1954
 * January
 * Reparations to Soviet Union cease; ownership of joint East German-Soviet companies, except for uranium complex in the Ersgebirge, returned to East Germans.

1955
 * January
 * Soviet Union ends state of war with Germany.
 * May
 * East Germany joins Warsaw Pact as provisional member; receives full membership following year.
 * September
 * Soviet Union declares East German regime sovereign; East Germany gives control over border security and communications between West Berlin and West Germany, with U.S.S.R. reserving jurisdiction only over movement of Allied personnel and freight.
 * December
 * West Germany formally implements policy of isolating East Germany diplomatically by proclaiming Hallstein Doctrine, i.e., West Germany will end diplomatic relations with any country except the U.S.S.R. establishing diplomatic ties with East Germany.

1956
 * January
 * East Germany formally establishes armed forces.

1957
 * March
 * U.S.S.R. and East Germany sign agreement on stationing of troops in East Germany.
 * October
 * Yugoslavia recognizes East Germany; first nonbloc state to do so.

1958
 * February
 * Purge begins of leading Communist functionaries who oppose pace of Ulbricht's economic policies; party and government reorganized.
 * November
 * East and West Germany formalize commercial relations by signing Interzonal Trade Agreement, which for years serves as principal official link between them.

1959
 * May-August
 * Big Four foreign ministers meet at Geneva in futile attempt to work out formula for German unification; East and West represented as "advisors."

1960
 * April
 * Government undertakes drive to complete agricultural collectivization.
 * September
 * Upon death of Wilhelm Pieck, office of president abolished; Council of State created as replacement with SED chief Ulbricht elected chairman.

1961
 * July-August
 * East German refugees to West Berlin and West Germany reach highest number since 1953; 33,415 in July and 47,433 in August.
 * August
 * Escapes virtually stopped by erection of Berlin wall and by strengthening of defenses on East-West German demarcation line.

1962
 * January
 * Universal military training law passed.
 * August
 * Would-be defector Peter Fechter shot and allowed to bleed to death at the Berlin wall in highly published instance of East German brutality.

1963
 * June
 * Ulbricht proposes and later (February 1964) spells out New Economic System which places emphasis on such factors as profitability, realistic price-cost relationships, greater outlays for research, material incentives for workers, and increased managerial responsibility.
 * August
 * Nuclear Test Ban Treaty signed by East Germany.
 * December
 * West Berlin and East German authorities conclude first Berlin Pass Agreement whereby West Berlin citizens visit relatives in East Berlin.

1964
 * June
 * Soviet-East German Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance signed.
 * September
 * Premier Otto Grotewohl dies and is succeeded by Willi Stoph.

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110019-3