The GDR and the Warsaw Pact – united invincible
The Warsaw Pact as a response to NATO
On 14 May 1955, representatives of eight socialist states signed the »Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance« in the Polish capital Warsaw. Otto Grotewohl, then Prime Minister of the GDR, signed the document on behalf of the GDR. The members of the newly founded Warsaw Pact were the Soviet Union, the GDR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania.
The founding of the military alliance was a direct response to the rearmament of the Federal Republic of Germany and its accession to NATO on 9 May 1955. The Warsaw Pact saw itself as a defensive alliance against the perceived threat from the West. In fact, the two blocs remained irreconcilably opposed until the end of the Cold War. The omnipresent danger of nuclear escalation, as also addressed in the permanent exhibition of the DDR Museum, accompanied this confrontation.
The National People's Army (NVA) as part of the Warsaw Pact
For the GDR, membership in the Warsaw Pact meant profound military, political and social integration into the socialist alliance system. The National People's Army (NVA), founded in 1956, was modelled on the Soviet army and established as an integral part of the pact. The Soviet Union claimed undisputed supremacy within the alliance.
On the 20th anniversary of the founding of the NVA, the GDR military publishing house released the illustrated book »Vereint unbesiegbar. Die Nationale Volksarmee der DDR – untrennbarer Bestandteil der Vereinten Streitkräfte des Warschauer Vertrages« (»United Invincible. The National People's Army of the GDR – an inseparable part of the United Armed Forces of the Warsaw Pact«). It states: »The sons of our people in the honourable uniform of the NVA protect the achievements of socialist construction in close combat community with the Soviet Army and the other brother armies.«
With the participation of the »brother armies«, large-scale manoeuvres were regularly held on the territory of the member states. These served not only to improve operational readiness, but also had a demonstrative function vis-à-vis NATO. The GDR was also a venue for such military exercises.
The phrasebook from the GDR Museum's collection, used during the »Waffenbrüderschaft 80« (»brotherhood of arms 80«) manoeuvre to mark the 25th anniversary of the Warsaw Pact, containing idioms and military terms, illustrates the practical challenges of cooperation between the socialist brother states.
A military alliance for peace?
In official propaganda, the Warsaw Pact was always portrayed as a »bulwark of peace and socialism«. It was seen as a counter-model to the »aggressive« NATO, which was regularly denounced as a »warmonger« in the GDR's state communications.
The joint declaration by the Warsaw Pact countries on the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 also fitted into this picture. The military securing of the border with West Berlin was legitimised as a protective measure against external threats. Responsibility for tensions was attributed solely to the West, while the East presented itself as the guarantor of peace.
The Warsaw Pact also played a role in civilian life. Posters such as this one from our collection conveyed a thoroughly positive image of the alliance. Under the slogan »Klassenbrüder – Waffenbrüder« (»Class brothers – brothers in arms«), the GDR population was convinced of the necessity and benefits of military cooperation. However, one event exposed the true nature of the pact.
One for all, all against one! – The Prague Spring of 1968
Despite its official defensive character, the Warsaw Pact was also used to enforce political interests within the Eastern Bloc. A striking example of this is the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968. The reform movement under Alexander Dubček in Czechoslovakia was seen by the Soviet Union as a threat to the unity of the socialist bloc.
On 20 August 1968, troops from the Soviet Union, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria marched into Czechoslovakia. Although the GDR was involved in the planning, it did not send its own soldiers. For historical reasons, the invasion of Prague by German troops was to be avoided. The military intervention marked a turning point in the history of the Warsaw Pact.
Decline and dissolution of the Warsaw Pact
By the time Mikhail Gorbachev took office in 1985 and introduced his reforms of »glasnost« and »perestroika«, tensions that had already emerged in the 1970s had become impossible to ignore. In particular, many member states were increasingly seeking greater autonomy. At the same time, the Soviet Union became more reluctant to use force internally. As a result, the Warsaw Pact also lost its power to enforce its will.
In 1989, peaceful revolutions in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and the GDR led to a fundamental change in the alliance system. In the course of reunification, the GDR withdrew from the Warsaw Pact in 1990. The remaining member states decided to dissolve the military structures in March 1991. On 1 July 1991, the alliance was officially terminated. This marked the end of a central chapter in the Cold War.
The lasting effects of the military alliance
For the two German states, being embedded in two opposing military alliance systems during the Cold War had serious consequences. In the event of war, not only would one of the central lines of conflict have run through Germany and Berlin. East and West German soldiers would also have faced each other as enemies. After 3 October 1990, the NVA was finally absorbed into the Bundeswehr and reunified Germany remained a member of NATO.
In the years that followed, the security policy map of Europe shifted fundamentally. With NATO's eastward expansion, former Warsaw Pact member states such as Poland, Hungary, Czechia and later Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltic states joined the Western alliance. New players, changed alliances and geopolitical shifts have shaped the European security order ever since – with long-term effects that continue to this day.
