From Economic Plan to Economic Collapse

Overview

Having risen from the ruins, Germany was a trophy in the struggle between the new powers after two world wars. The introduction of a system of economic planning began in East Germany soon after the end of the Second World War. In 1951, the East German parliament passed the first five-year-plan and, in 1952, a party conference proclaimed that "the basis for socialism in the GDR should be methodically established". This episode follows the development of the GDR's planned economy from its beginnings to its failure, from economic plan to economic failure.