Departments of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany

Agriculture in Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt in August 1984 The Agriculture Department () set agricultural policy. It controlled the Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry and Food, which in turn oversaw the country's agricultural production cooperatives (LPGs), the Academy of Agricultural Sciences of the GDR in Berlin and the mass organizations Peasants Mutual Aid Association (VdgB) and Association of Gardeners, Settlers, and Animal Breeders (VKSK), all of which were led by SED cadres. By the mid-1950s, the department already employed 45 political and 7 technical staff. The Agriculture Department was already set up in August 1945 in the Central Committee of the KPD and existed almost continuously with the exception of 1950 to 1951, when it was a sector of the Economic Policy Department. Most large newspapers were under direct ownership of the party as Zentralorgan of the Central Committee (the Neues Deutschland) or the Bezirk party leaderships (for example the Lausitzer Rundschau was the Bezirk Cottbus SED's newspaper), or were published by SED-dominated mass organizations (the most notable ones being the Free German Youth's Junge Welt and the FDGB's Tribüne) but the Agitation Department also oversaw the Association of Journalists of the GDR, the Deutscher Fernsehfunk, the Rundfunk der DDR, and the Allgemeiner Deutscher Nachrichtendienst (ADN), These "Donnerstag-Argus" were first introduced by department head Hans Modrow, editors-in-chief previously getting instructions via telegram. The bloc parties' newspapers (i. e. the Der Morgen was the newspaper of the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany) were controlled indirectly through the Council of Ministers' Press Office, The department consisted of the sectors print media, radio and television, and mass agitation by 1968. An additional sector responsible for foreign journalists was established later. The print media sector was the largest with ten political employees, whereas the radio and television sector only had four. That being said, the department mainly exerted its indirectly through choosing ideologically reliable cadres for the media apparatus, and less through direct control of their work, which would not have been possible on the scale of East German media. The Agitation Department was originally created in 1946 as Press, Broadcasting and Information Department, renamed Advertising, Press and Radio Department the next year. In March 1949, the department was split into the Mass Agitation (later Agitation) Department and the Press and Radio Department. These departments were merged and separated several times throughout the early 1950s, ultimately forming the Agitation, Press and Radio Department in 1955. It was merged with the Propaganda Department in 1957, but reverted to being a separate Agitation Department in 1961. both as deputy heads responsible for the Rundfunk der DDR and the Deutscher Fernsehfunk, Klaus Raddatz (1977–1984), Peaceful Revolution After Egon Krenz came to power during the Peaceful Revolution, Günter Schabowski, the new Central Committee Secretary responsible for Agitation, The last Argus was held on 26 October 1989, but this did not come to pass before the Central Committee's collective resignation in December 1989. The former department's responsibilities thereafter went to Lothar Bisky, In late January 1990, many former high-ranking Agitation Department officials, including department head Geggel and deputy department head Fensch, were expelled from the Association of Journalists of the GDR as the people responsible for "abuse of the media". Cadre Affairs The Department for Cadre Affairs () was responsible for the selection, development and training of the roughly 92,000 nomenklatura cadres. The department's work was strongly shaped by longtime department head Fritz Müller, known as "Kadermüller" among employees of the Central Committee, Deputy department heads include Gerhard Heidenreich (1950), Horst Wagner (1957–1969), and Horst Conrad (). The GDR's churches were only allowed to interact with the government through the State Secretary for Church Affairs. The working group originated as the Churches and Religious Sects Sector in the State Administration Department (which later became the State and Legal Affairs Department) and became its own department in November 1954. Despite being renamed to "Church Affairs Working Group" in 1957, it retained full department rank. The Culture Department was originally created in 1946 as Culture and Education Department. This department was merged with the Party Training Department to form the Party Training, Culture and Education Department in 1950, which in turn was split again in 1952. Despite its name, the resulting Culture Department was still responsible for education. In November 1952, the Fine Literature and Art Department was formed, which from September 1953 was called the Art, Literature and Cultural Mass Work Department. That department briefly merged with the General Education Department in March 1957 to again form a Culture and Education Department, splitting again at the end of the year. Deputy department heads include Karl Strohbusch (1949–1952), Hans Schlösser, future DEFA general director Joachim Mückenberger (1955–1957), Günter Schröder, Heinz Kimmel (), Arno Röder (), Gerd Rossow (), Kurt Löffler (), Ursula Ragwitz (1973–1975), Rudolf Raupach (appointed 1973) and Franz Hentschel (appointed 1976). Foreign Information The so-called Foreign Information Department () was primarily responsible for the promotion of the GDR abroad. "foreign information" was originally the responsibility of a sector of the Agitation Department. It was spun off as an independent working group on 27 March 1963 and was elevated to a department on 29 March 1967. the department did not have any known deputy heads thereafter. The department originated in the State Administration Department (which later became the State and Legal Affairs Department), before becoming a sector of the newly created LOPMO Department in 1953. In March 1955, the sector was spun off as a working group under the Politburo, getting full department status in 1972. primarily providing translation and interpreter services for the party. All of its heads were Soviet emigrants. After being demoted to the "General Department Working Group" in 1981, the General Working Group was abolished in 1984 and integrated into the International Relations Department as interpreter/translator sector. Stephan hanged herself shortly afterwards. The department should not be confused with the General Department at the Party Executive of the SED-PDS, which existed briefly in December 1989 and was set up to dissolve the Office of the Politburo. Werner Albrecht briefly served as deputy department head from 1971 to 1972, when he was made department head. In cooperation with the Ministry of Health led by Ludwig Mecklinger, the department was complicit in pharmaceutical companies, especially West German ones, testing drugs on GDR citizens without their informed consent and selling their blood, gathering foreign exchange currency for the KoKo. The Health Policy Department was originally created in 1946 and integrated into the Economic Policy Department in 1950. Upon the department's dissolution in 1952, the responsibility for health policy went into the Labor, Social Security, and Health Department, which in turn became the Trade Unions, Social and Health Services Department in 1955. The Health Policy Department was spun off again as an independent department in 1959. especially on issues of disarmament. Its directors were Herbert Häber (1971–1973) and Max Schmidt (1973–1990), both former deputy heads of the West Department. Deputy department heads include future department head Herbert Häber (1965), Max Schmidt (), Günter Pötschke (1966–1974; responsible for agitation and later deputy department head of the Agitation Department), Reinhard Klassen (at least from 1976 to 1984), Karl Wildberger (1981–1989), future department head Gunter Rettner (1983–1985), especially the relations with the 140 communist, socialist and social democratic parties. By the 1980s, it had about 100 employees. formerly a deputy head of the Agitation Department, KPD (1951–1971) The KPD Work Office () was responsible for controlling the West German KPD, keeping track of the meetings of its Central Committee and Politburo as well as organizational, ideological and cadre issues. The KPD Work Office was created in January 1951 from the dissolved West Commission at the Politburo. It should not be confused with the SED-KPD Working Group in the SED Party Executive Committee, a working group existing from 1947 to 1949 tasked with expanding the SPD and KPD's merger into the SED in the western occupation zones. It had a full-time political employee, an instructor, assigned to every one of the 15 Bezirke, among other things responsible for elections. the department was merged with several others to form the Leading Organs of the Party and Mass Organizations Department () (LOPMO). Propaganda ", party school of the Bezirk Erfurt SED, in 2018 As "propaganda" in communist terminology mostly meant "elite education", the Propaganda Department () had the aim of "cultivating a socialist consciousness" and was primarily responsible for training cadres through the SED's broad network of party schools from the "Karl Marx" Party Academy in Berlin and the 15 Bezirk party schools to 255 district and 478 workplace schools. The Propaganda Department was originally created in 1946 as Recruitment and Training Department, from which the Party Training Department emerged in January 1947, which in October of that year was merged into the Party Training, Culture and Education Department. In 1949, the departments were separated. The Party Propaganda Department was created, which was merged with the Science and Universities Department in 1954 to form the Science and Propaganda Department. Separated again, from 1957 to 1960, it formed the Agitation and Propaganda Department together with the Agitation, Press and Radio Department. future ADN deputy general director Günter Siemund (1965–1969), Heinz Puder (at least from 1968 to 1984), Otto Reinhold (1956–1961) and, briefly in 1961, Kurt Tiedke were deputy heads of the Agitation and Propaganda Department, Tiedke becoming head of the demerged Propaganda Department later that year. This effectively neutered the department. Deputy department heads include Isolde Oschmann (1952–1955), Sonja Müller (from 1958 to at least 1972), Between the 1956 KPD ban and the 1968 DKP founding, the department set up the Deutscher Freiheitssender 904, a clandestine radio station. Since autumn 1953, the department's employees were armed. formerly a deputy head of the International Relations Department, By the 1980s, it had about 27 political employees. Arwed Kempke (), Gregor Schirmer (1977–1989), and Kurt Rätz (at least from 1981 to 1984). Additionally, the department oversaw the paramilitary mass organization Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik (GST). The department also edited the list of citizens who were allowed to emigrate before being given to the General Secretary for final approval. The department's control over the Ministry of National Defence and Stasi was, however, curtailed by the fact that their respective ministers were members of the Politburo. Deputy department heads were Walter Borning (1957–1959), who took over as acting department head in November 1956 before even being made deputy department head, After the Peaceful Revolution, longtime department head Rudolf Hellmann was convicted of 137 counts of complicity to cause bodily harm for his involvement in the widespread doping of East German athletes. Despite sport's growing importance for the GDR's international recognition, the department was fairly small compared to others, even after being elevated from a working group, with only 5 political and 2 technical employees in the 1980s. It thus had to rely more on cordial relationships with the DTSB and others to assert its positions, helped by overlapping personnel. State and Legal Affairs speaking at a session of the State Council on local politics in February 1970 The State and Legal Affairs Department () was primarily responsible for establishing, then controlling the GDR's state administration and judiciary on all levels of government, additionally overseeing the Volkskammer's legislative work, as well as the Council of Ministers' apparatus, including the administrative Office of the Council of Ministers. In December 1961, two peasants were sentenced to death on the proposal of Sorgenicht for opposing forced collectivization. Sorgenicht was additionally complicit in preparing the electoral fraud in the 1989 local elections. He was later tried for manslaughter and deprivation of liberty, but was unable to stand trial for health reasons. The department was originally created in June 1950 through the merger of the Municipal Politics Department, the State and Provincial Politics Department and the Judiciary Department. In the spring of 1955, the resulting State Administration Department was reorganized into the State Organs Department, which was restructured again in 1959 to form the State and Legal Affairs Department. The DFD received the smallest budget of all mass organizations and was largely insignificant, even compared to other mass organizations. The Women Department, women furthermore being mostly excluded from the SED's most powerful positions, was thus one of the least influential. The Women Department was originally created in 1946 and briefly was part of the newly created LOPMO Department from 1952 to 1955. From 1956 to 1966, it only held the rank of a working group. also sitting on the DFD's presidium and the Central Auditing Commission. Youth The Youth Department () formulated the SED's policy on youth issues (together with the Youth Commission at the Politburo) and controlled their implementation, especially working with the Free German Youth (FDJ). It was involved in the organization of the World Festival of Youth and Students in 1951 and 1973 and the all-German Deutschlandtreffen der Jugend, later the Pfingsttreffen der FDJ. By the 1980s, it had about 18 political employees. ==Economic departments==

Even before the forced merger of SPD and KPD, there was a Department for Economic and Cooperative Affairs, later just Economics Department, in the KPD Central Committee, which then became the Economics Department of the SED Central Committee. The department, renamed to Economic Policy Department () in 1950, was responsible for establishing the German Economic Commission and the implementation of SED policies in the various economic sectors in the Soviet occupation zone and the early years of the GDR. After the founding of the GDR, it was subdivided into the areas of planning and finance, basic and heavy industry, other industrial sectors, transport and postal services, trade and supply, labor and health and cadre work. On 5 November 1951, the department was abolished and its responsibilities were spun off into several new departments, namely the Planning and Finance Department, the Industry Department and the Trade and Transport Department. The department originated in the Economic Policy Department, created in 1946, where it was formally organized as heavy industry sector from November 1951 to January 1953, when it was established as an independent department. The department was initially created as Metallurgy, Mining, Chemistry and Energy Department, short "Basic Industries Department". The working group was originally created on 22 October 1974 from the International Economic Relations sector of the Planning and Finance Department, the sector head since December 1971, Horst Tschanter, continuing as working group head. The department was created in January 1953 as a spin-off of the Economic Policy Department. It was very briefly abolished to again form a "super department" for economic policy in for a few months in 1957 and 1958. The department originated in the Economic Policy Department. In November 1952, the responsibilities went into the Trade, Supply and Light Industry Department as light industry sector and food industry sector, local industry went into the Planning and Finance Department as local industry and craft sector. In March 1955, all of these responsibilities were spun off into a new Light, Food and Locally Managed Industry Department, very briefly abolished to again form a "super department" for economic policy in for a few months in 1957 and 1958 and renamed to Light, Food and Bezirk-led Industry Department in 1966. The department's importance only grew in the second half of the 1980s due to the massive investments aimed at establishing a semiconductor industry. The department was established in January 1953 as Mechanical Engineering and Metallurgy, Mining, Chemistry and Energy Department and for a few year was a sector of the Industry Department. In May 1958, the department was reestablished as Mechanical Engineering and Metallurgy Department, the sectors of mining, chemical and energy forming a recreated, smaller Basic Industries Department. It had broad responsibilities covering all sectors of the East German economy, With 35 employees, it was also the largest economic department and its employees held privileged access to economic data. Deputy department heads include Walter Halbritter (1960–1961), future department heads Gerhard Schürer (1958–1960), Siegfried Böhm (1961–1963), Karl Hengst (1963–1966), Erich Wappler (1967–1969), and Günter Ehrensperger (), as well as Harry Brettschneider (1970s), The working group got full department rank in 1967. Longtime Central Committee Secretary for economics Günter Mittag also came to delegate various other miscellaneous tasks to the department. served as deputy department head for most of the department's history, from at least March 1970 to 1989. Trade, Supply and Foreign Trade '' department store in Dresden in April 1974. The department oversaw Konsum's parent, the Association of German Consumer Cooperatives. The Trade, Supply and Foreign Trade Department () oversaw and set prices for domestic trade in consumer goods and services as well as foreign trade, closely working with the State Planning Commission. The department was created on 5 November 1951 as Trade and Transport Department as a spin-off of the Economic Policy Department. In November 1952, it was reorganized as Trade, Supply and Light Industry Department, before the responsibility for light industry went to the Light, Food and Local Industry Department in March 1955. labor law and occupational safety, the social security system and for formulating the SED's social policy, in particular regarding wages and pensions. The department was already set up in June 1945 in the Central Committee of the KPD as Labor and Social Welfare Department. It was abolished in June 1950 and integrated into the Economic Policy Department as labor and trade union sector, which was later transferred to the newly created LOPMO Department. In November 1952, the Politburo created a Labor, Social and Health Services Department, which absorbed the labor and trade union sector in January 1957, creating the Trade Unions, Social and Health Services Department. In 1959, this department was split into the Health Policy Department and the Trade Unions and Social Policy Department. The department originated in the Economic Policy Department. In November 1952, the Transport and Communications Department was created from the former Transport Sector in the Trade and Transport Department. It was renamed to Railway, Transport and Communications Department. It was very briefly abolished to again form a "super department" for economic policy in for a few months in 1957 and 1958. After further renaming, the department was again called Transport and Communications Department since 1972. and Hubert Egemann (1960–1962), as well as Manfred Calov (1962–1972) and Dieter Zobel (). ==Internal departments==

Management of Party Enterprises The Management of Party Enterprises Department () mainly provided services for the Central Committee such as property management, catering, guest houses, the polyclinic, the childcare facilities and the transport service. The department was also responsible for the procurement of office materials and the provisioning of office spaces. The department answered to the head of the Politburo's Office. Financial Management and Party Businesses The Financial Management and Party Businesses Department () oversaw the party's finances and, together with the KoKo, controlled the vast amount of commercial venues of the SED. The SED was one of the richest party in Europe at the time, operating the printing house VOB Zentrag, which had a near-monopoly on printing, Karl Brauer (1950–1979), and Wolfgang Langnitschke (1987–1989). Telecommunications (1957–1986) The Telecommunications Department () was responsible for the Central Committee's telecommunications and telex centers as well as encryption and news operations service. The department answered to the head of the Politburo's Office. Longtime department head Heinz Lübbe was a Major in the Stasi. The department originated in the May 1949 merger of the Telex station in the Office of the Small Secretariat (predecessor of the Office of the Politburo) and the Telephone switchboard in the Enterprise Department. In September 1957, the resulting Telecommunications control center became its own department, reverting to a sector of the Office of the Politburo in 1986. and Tilo Fischer (at least from 1979 to 1981). ==Department-level institutions==

Dietz The Dietz Publishing House () was the central party publishing house of the SED. The publications primarily included works by the classics of Marxism–Leninism (especially the Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe), as well as speeches and essays by leading SED officials, publications on philosophical, economic and party history topics and propaganda pamphlets. Fiction was also published. The Dietz Publishing House was founded on 18 June 1946 through the merger of the KPD publishing house "Neuer Weg" and SPD publishing house "Vorwärts". The publishing house, which since 1965 was legally incorporated as an organization-owned business () (OEB) of the SED, had department rank for most of its existence, but was controlled to a significant degree by other departments: The Propaganda Department exercised ideological control and the Financial Management and Party Businesses Department handled Dietz's economic affairs. From 1957 to 1960, it was organized as a sector of the Agitation and Propaganda Department. Einheit was first published in February 1946, as a joint publication of the KPD and SPD, the journal's subheading at the time being "Monthly magazine for the preparation of the Socialist Unity Party". Neuer Weg was first published in January 1946 with the subheading "Monthly magazine for current issues of the labor movement" by the Central Committee of the KPD. Throughout its existence, the editorial office largely had the status of a department of the Central Committee, but was always closely linked to the Party Organs Department, the editorial office generally receiving information on party life from the department's Party Information Sector. For a time in the 1960s, it was even organizationally subordinate to this department. ==As ranks==

"Department Head of the Central Committee" and "Deputy Department Head of the Central Committee" were also used as ranks for political employees in the Central Committee apparatus outside of departments and department-level institutions. For example, KoKo head Alexander Schalck-Golodkowski held the rank of a Central Committee department head in addition to his – inferior – ministerial rank of state secretary. as did full-time employees of other Politburo commissions, as well as the personal assistants to the Politburo members. Owing to the strict hierarchy within the Central Committee apparatus, being a department head or deputy department head came with a number of privileges. Compared to basic political employees and sector heads, department heads and deputy department heads for example had access to an à la carte restaurant as opposed to the canteen. A deputy department head had a salary of 2,500 East German mark, around double that of an average East German worker, and had access to a company car, as well as the GDR's elite government hospital. == See also ==