The German Democratic Republic (GDR; German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, DDR; more commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Communist state that originated from the Soviet Zone of occupied Germany and the Soviet sector of occupied Berlin. The German Democratic Republic existed from 7 October 1949 until 3 October 1990, when its re-established states acceded to the adjacent Federal Republic of Germany, thus producing the current form of Germany. During its existence, the GDR was a member of the Eastern Bloc of eastern European nations that were aligned with the Soviet Union (USSR).
In 1955, the USSR declared that the GDR was fully sovereign. However, Soviet occupation troops remained in East German territory, based on the four-power Potsdam Agreement, while American, British, Canadian, and French forces remained in the Federal Republic of Germany in the West. Berlin, completely surrounded by East German territory, was similarly divided with British, French and U.S. garrisons in West Berlin and Soviet forces in East Berlin. Berlin in particular became the focal point of Cold War tensions. East Germany was a member of the Warsaw Pact and a close ally of the USSR.
Following the initial opening of sections of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 1989, new elections were held on 18 March 1990, and the governing party, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, lost its majority in the Volkskammer (the East German parliament) soon after. On 23 August 1990, the Volkskammer recreated the five pre-war states (which had been dissolved in 1952), which would later join the Federal Republic of Germany on 3 October 1990. As a result of reunification on that date, the German Democratic Republic ceased to exist.
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