Social Democratic Party in the GDR

The Social Democratic Party in the GDR ( German: Sozialdemokratische Partei in der DDR ) is an opposition political party in the GDR . Established on October 7, 1989 in Schwant near Berlin .

party supporters at a demonstration in Leipzig

The main initiators were evangelical theologians Marcus Meckel and Martin Gutzeit . In April 1989, they wrote the first draft of a call for a party, which they presented in August at the Calvary Church in Berlin. During this event, they met with director Ibrahim Boehme , who was later elected chairman of the party. The Social Democratic Party in the German Democratic Republic consisted mainly of Protestant church leaders.

Elections to the People’s Chamber of the GDR did not produce the expected result. Instead of an absolute majority, the party received only 21.7 percent of the vote. Before the election, information about Ibrahim Boehme’s ties with the Stasi was made public, which was one of the reasons for the sharp decline in popularity of the Social Democrats and led to the exclusion of Boehme from the party.

September 26, 1990 the party became part of the Social Democratic Party of Germany .