The State Council building of the GDR – symbol of power
When Berlin lay in ruins in 1945, the historic centre of the city was also largely destroyed. The area between Lustgarten, Berlin Cathedral and the City Palace, which was initially still intact, was barely recognisable. With the demolition of the Berlin Palace in 1950 – largely driven by Walter Ulbricht – an urban void of particular symbolic significance was created. For the SED leadership, it was clear that the centre of East Berlin needed to be redesigned as the socialist power and representation centre of the GDR.
The first opportunity to implement this plan arose in 1960 with the death of Wilhelm Pieck. Pieck, a close associate of Ulbricht, had been the first and last president of the GDR, performing primarily representative duties. Due to the destruction of the city centre, he resided outside the city centre in Niederschönhausen Palace. His death offered Ulbricht the opportunity to restructure the state order and at the same time manifest this reorganisation architecturally
From President to State Councillor of the GDR
Ulbricht abolished the office of president without further ado and replaced it with the State Council. Officially conceived as a collective head of state, this body actually served to further concentrate power. Although the Chairman of the State Council was the head of state under international law, authority remained with the ruling SED party and its chairman – and thus with Ulbricht himself, who combined both functions.
With the State Council, Ulbricht established an additional power structure alongside the party and state administration. He deliberately filled it with young technocrats who were to implement his vision of »modernising socialism«. This new institution required a location with appropriate symbolic significance.
The State Council building in the centre of East Berlin
The commission to design such a building was awarded to a collective of architects led by Roland Korn. Between 1962 and 1964, the new State Council building was constructed in a remarkably short time. It was the first new socialist government building to be erected right in the heart of East Berlin.
The building, with its clean lines and large windows, combined elements of socialist modernism with deliberately placed historical references. Particularly striking is the main façade, which is interrupted by the so-called Portal IV. Its structural core actually came from the demolished City Palace. The portal was secured before the demolition and later integrated into the State Council building – given a new, ideologically charged meaning.
The balcony myth surrounding Karl Liebknecht
The inclusion of the palace portal was not a reference to the Prussian monarchy, but was understood as part of a revolutionary tradition. According to the official GDR narrative, Karl Liebknecht proclaimed the socialist republic from this balcony on 9 November 1918. This account is one of the most famous historical myths of the GDR.
In fact, the sources on the exact course of this eventful day are much more ambiguous. It is historically certain that Liebknecht did not deliver his speech, in which he also called for a world revolution, from this balcony. Nevertheless, almost every schoolchild learned this version of history. Historical facts were deliberately simplified and mixed together; the portal thus became supposed proof of a constructed historical legitimacy.
Governing in the State Council building of the GDR
Under Ulbricht, the State Council building was not merely a place of representation, but a real centre of power and work. This functional building combined political control, technocratic planning and state self-representation. Monumental entrance gates, spacious staircases and Walter Womacka's stained glass windows in the style of socialist realism in the reception hall conveyed optimism about progress and historical continuity, making it clear that this was much more than just an administrative building.
At the same time, the building remained strictly off-limits. Despite its apparent openness, the State Council building was inaccessible to the vast majority of the GDR population until 1990. After Ulbricht was removed from power in 1971, the State Council quickly lost its political influence. The new head of state, Erich Honecker, consistently shifted power back to the party apparatus and reduced the State Council to a largely representative function. With the opening of the Palace of the Republic in 1976 in the immediate vicinity, the State Council building lost further significance.
From symbol of the GDR to place of remembrance
It came into the public eye one last time on 24 October 1989, when demonstrators chanted »Come out onto the balcony!« after Egon Krenz was elected as the new Chairman of the State Council. But the building remained dark, a symbolic moment marking the approaching end of SED rule.
After reunification, the building underwent a surprising change: from 1999 to 2001, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder used the building as his temporary official residence until the new Federal Chancellery was completed. Today, the State Council building is a listed building and is used by a private business school; parts of the building are open to the public.
The State Council building is thus a place steeped in history. Hardly any other place in Berlin combines so many layers of political and architectural significance. The episode »The State Council of the GDR – Architecture of Power« from the film series »Orte Ost« traces the history of this building and shows how architecture was deliberately used as an expression of power.
