Ostzone

Ostzone, or the Soviet Occupation Zone, was one of the four Allied occupation zones established in 1945 after World War II to administer Germany. It covered the eastern part of the country, including the territories that would later become the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, as well as the eastern sector of Berlin. From 1945 to 1949 it was governed by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD). The term is commonly used to describe the area that ultimately developed into the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

Following the Potsdam Conference, the Ostzone pursued denazification and rapid social and economic restructuring under Soviet influence. Politically, the zone saw the consolidation of power by communist and left-leaning groups, including the 1946 merger of the Socialist Democratic and Communist parties to form the Socialist Unity Party (SED), which became the ruling party of East Germany. Economically, the zone began extensive nationalization and restructuring toward a planned, socialist economy, with land reform and the consolidation of heavy industry under central control.

The currency and economic decisions of the late 1940s intensified the division between the Soviet zone and the Western zones. In 1948, the Western Allies introduced the Deutsche Mark in their zones, while the Ostzone issued its own East German mark, contributing to the Berlin Blockade and the widening split between East and West. The Ostzone culminated in the establishment of the German Democratic Republic in 1949, forming the core of East Germany.

After German reunification in 1990, the territories of the former Ostzone became part of a single federal republic. The term Ostzone remains a historical designation used in discussions of postwar origins of East Germany and Cold War-era division.