# Departments of the SED Central Committee

The approximately 40 departments of the Central Committee of the SED were the center of the policymaking of East Germany.
The departments were assigned to around ten Central Committee Secretaries. Each department was headed by a department head and his deputy. Each department was in turn divided into sectors with sector heads, (political) employees and instructors. While the departments had around 1,000 employees in 1970, by 1987 there were already 2,000 employees.$^{:11}$
The Central Committee Secretaries had the authority to issue legally binding orders to the respective Ministry,$^{:98–100}$ but in practice, the department and sector heads made the decisions.$^{:73}$
During the Peaceful Revolution, the Presidium of the Party Executive of the SED-PDS dissolved the departments of the Central Committee of the SED, effective 31 December 1989.

## Policy departments
### Agriculture

The Agriculture Department (German: Abteilung Landwirtschaft) 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 lead by SED cadres. It was one of the most powerful departments, as the SED made substantial changes to East Germany's agricultural sector, namely expropriating landowners, the forced collectivization and the separation of animal and plant production. 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 Department for Economic Policy.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Rudolf Reuter | 1945–1949 |
| Ernst Hansch | 1950 |
| integrated into the Department for Economic Policy ||
| reestablished ||
| Walter Krebaum | 1951 |
| Albert Schäfer | 1951–1953 |
| Fritz Hecht | 1953–1954 |
| Franz Mellenthin | 1954–1958 |
| Wolfgang Parske | 1958–1959 |
| Karl Götz | 1959 |
| Bruno Kiesler | 1959–1981 |
| Bruno Lietz | 1981–1982 |
| Helmut Semmelmann | 1982–1989 |

### Agitation

The Agitation Department (German: Abteilung Agitation) ("agitation" in communist terminology having a similar meaning to "propaganda" colloquially, namely "mass influence") was mainly tasked with aligning East German press with the political line of the SED.
Most large newspapers were under direct ownership of the party as organs of the Central Committee (i. e. Neues Deutschland) or the Bezirk party leaderships (i. e. the Lausitzer Rundschau was the newspaper of the Bezirk Cottbus SED), but the Agitation Department also oversaw the Deutscher Fernsehfunk, the Rundfunk der DDR and the Allgemeiner Deutscher Nachrichtendienst (ADN),$^{:103f.}$ the later often directly publishing Central Committee statements.$^{:103f.}$
The most important way the Agitation Department controlled and censored the press was with the so-called "argumentation sessions" (German: Argumentationssitzungen) (Argus), held every Thursday in the Central Committee building, where the editors-in-chief were instructed on how to report.$^{:100}$ 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 Press Office of the Council of Ministers, a representative of which was a permanent Argus guest.$^{:100}$
Another important avenue of the Agitation Department's control over East German press was that it assigned graduates of the journalism section at the Karl Marx University, the only university course for training as a journalist in the GDR, to the different newspapers.$^{:101f.}$
By the 1980s, the SED's control over East German press had increased to a point where Erich Honecker and Agitation Secretary Joachim Herrmann regularly edited East German press in minute detail, rewording headlines and rearranging pictures in Neues Deutschland, writing anonymous opinion columns and rearranging news segments in Aktuelle Kamera, the flagship television newscast.$^{:102f.,107f.}$$^{:53}$ The most famous example of this is came on the brink of the Peaceful Revolution, when Honecker personally added "One should therefore not shed a tear for them" to an ADN opinion column on the wave of refugees in the summer of 1989.
The Agitation Department was originally created in 1947 as Department for Press, Broadcasting and Information. It was renamed Department for Advertising, Press and Radio in 1947 and from which the two independent departments for Mass Agitation (later Agitation) and Press and Radio emerged in March 1949. A year later, the two were merged, but separated again in 1952. In 1955, the two organizational units were merged again to form the Agitation, Press and Radio Department, into which the Propaganda Department was also incorporated from 1957 to 1960 and which was then called Agitation and Propaganda. From 1961 to 1989, a separate Agitation Department existed.
During the Peaceful Revolution, the Agitation Department was set to be reconstituted as Department of Information Policy, but this did not come to pass before the Central Committee's collective resignation in December 1989.
| Department Head | Department Head | Tenure |
| Bruno Köhler | Heinz Brandes | 1946–1947 |
| Otto Winzer | Heinz Pohlmeier | 1947–1949 |
| Robert Korb | Robert Korb | 1949–1951 |
| Erich Glückauf | Erich Glückauf | 1951 |
| Loni Günther | Loni Günther | 1951–1953 |
| merged into Department of Propaganda and Agitation |||
| Peter Prieß | Peter Prieß | 1953–1955 |
| Horst Sindermann | Horst Sindermann | 1955–1963 |
| demerged |||
| Rudi Singer | Rudi Singer | 1963–1966 |
| Werner Lamberz | Werner Lamberz | 1966–1971 |
| Hans Modrow | Hans Modrow | 1971–1973 |
| Heinz Geggel | Heinz Geggel | 1973–1989 |

### Cadre Affairs

The Department for Cadre Affairs (German: Abteilung für Kaderfragen) was responsible for the selection, development and training of the roughly 92,000 nomenklatura cadres.$^{:63}$ This included all SED cadres from the First Secretaries in the districts upwards, including other department heads, as well as the chairmen of the bloc parties, university and institute heads, the head of ADN and so on.$^{:62f.}$
This made it one of the most powerful departments, though the department's personnel choices hinged on a security check by the Stasi, which could reject appointments based on something as simple as having family in the West.$^{:55,64}$
The department additionally was responsible for selecting who gets the GDR's awards, which were not awarded based on merit but on seniority and fulfilling quotas.$^{:64f.}$ In the early years, an important focus additionally was the review of the political activities of SED members in the period before 1945.
The department's work was strongly shaped by longtime department head Fritz Müller, known as "Kadermüller" among employees of the Central Committee,$^{:41f.}$ a former Nazi of austere and servile demeanor.$^{:28,37}$ Müller's influence was strengthened by the fact that, since April 1979, he additionally was the First Secretary of the Central Committee party organization.$^{:37}$
In addition to the department, there was a Cadre Commission of the Central Committee Secretariat from June 1952 to 1989, which was responsible for the deployment and dismissal of political employees in the party apparatus and their delegation to educational institutions of the SED.
The Cadre Affairs Department was originally created in 1946 as Personnel Policy Department. It was briefly part of the newly crted LOPMO Department as cadre registry sector from January 1953 to early 1957, when it was reinstated as an independent department.
| Department Head | Department Head | Tenure |
| Grete Keilson | Alexander Lösche | 1946–1948 |
| Philipp Daub | Philipp Daub | 1948–1950 |
| Ewald Munschke | Ewald Munschke | 1950–1952 |
| merged into LOPMO Department |||
| reestablished |||
| Josef Stadler | Josef Stadler | 1957–1958 |
| Heinz Wieland | Heinz Wieland | 1958–1960 |
| Fritz Müller | Fritz Müller | 1960–1989 |

### Church Affairs

The Church Affairs Working Group (German: Arbeitsgruppe Kirchenfragen) was tasked with implementing the SED's church policy of State atheism, gathering information about the stances and finances of and potential oppositional movements in the GDR's churches. 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 Department for State and Legal Affairs) and became its own department in November 1954. Despite being renamed to "Church Affairs Working Group" in 1957, it retained full department rank.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Willi Barth | 1954–1977 |
| Rudi Bellmann | 1977–1988 |
| Peter Kraußner | 1988–1989 |

### Culture

The Culture Department (German: Abteilung Kultur) formulated the SED's cultural policy and controlled their implementation through the Ministry of Culture, the mass organization Cultural Association of the GDR and publishers. It had the aim of developing a "socialist intelligentsia", promoting socialist cultural creation and pushing back against what the SED perceived as "bourgeois art" and ideology.
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. The resulting Culture Department was briefly merged with the Department for General Education in March 1957, splitting again at the end of the year.
| Department Head | Department Head | Tenure |
| Otto Winzer | Richard Weimann | 1946–1947 |
| Fred Oelßner | Richard Weimann | 1947–1948 |
| Stefan Heymann | Richard Weimann | 1948–1949 |
| Egon Rentzsch | Egon Rentzsch | 1950–1953 |
| Hans Rießner | Hans Rießner | 1953–1957 |
| Siegfried Wagner | Siegfried Wagner | 1957–1966 |
| Arno Hochmuth | Arno Hochmuth | 1966–1971 |
| Hans-Joachim Hoffmann | Hans-Joachim Hoffmann | 1971–1973 |
| Peter Heldt | Peter Heldt | 1973–1975 |
| Ursula Ragwitz | Ursula Ragwitz | 1975–1989 |
| Lothar Bisky | Lothar Bisky | 1989 |

### Foreign Information

The Foreign Information Department (German: Abteilung Auslandsinformation) was primarily responsible for the promotion of the GDR abroad. Until the mid-1970s, the department mainly agitated for the GDR's international recognition. After that, the focus shifted to the peace movement as well as foreign agitation and propaganda, which aimed, among other things, at distancing itself from the West Germany. The department also oversaw the League for Peoples' Friendship of the GDR and the foreign editorial office of ADN.
The department originated in the Agitation Department, being spun off as an independent working group in March 1963 that was elevated to a department in March 1967.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Werner Lamberz | 1963–1966 |
| Manfred Feist | 1966–1989 |
| Reiner Kalisch | 1989 |

### Friendly Parties

The so-called Friendly Parties Department (German: Abteilung Befreundete Parteien) controlled the National Front (previously the Democratic Bloc) and its constituent bloc parties, working to ensure the "leading role of the party".
The department originated in the Department for State Administration (which later became the Department for State and Legal Affairs), 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.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Irene Köhler | 1952–1969 |
| Waldemar Pilz | 1969–1985 |
| Karl Vogel | 1985–1989 |

### General Department (1946–1984)

The General Department (German: Allgemeine Abteilung) was primarily responsible for 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 Department for International Relations as interpreter/translator sector. This was preceded by working group head and chief interpreter Ilse Stephan being dismissed by Erich Honecker for allegedly being at fault for tensions with the Soviets.$^{:89}$ Stephan hanged herself shortly afterwards.$^{:90}$
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.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Else Richter | 1946–1949 |
| Martha Golke | 1949–1972 |
| Werner Albrecht | 1972–1981 |
| demoted to working group ||
| Ilse Stephan | 1981–1984 |
| integrated into the Department of International Relations ||

### Health Policy

The Health Policy Department (German: Abteilung Gesundheitspolitik) was concerned with development of the health care system, the training and further education of medical personnel (together with the Physician Commission at the Politburo) and the medical care of the population. In addition to the Ministry of Health, 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 Department for Economic Policy in 1950. In 1952, the responsibility for health policy went into the Department for Labor, Social Security, and Health, which in turn became the Department for Trade Unions, Social and Health Services in 1955. The Health Policy Department was spun off again as an independent department in 1959.
| Department Head | Department Head | Tenure |
| Hugo Gräf | Hans Horst | 1946 |
| Hugo Gräf | Hugo Gräf | 1946–1949 |
| integrated into the Department for Economic Policy |||
| reestablished |||
| Fritz Schellhorn | Fritz Schellhorn | 1953–1956 |
| Fritz Rettmann | Fritz Rettmann | 1957–1959 |
| Werner Hering | Werner Hering | 1960–1981 |
| Karl Seidel | Karl Seidel | 1981–1989 |

### International Politics and Economics

The International Politics and Economics Department (German: Abteilung Internationale Politik und Wirtschaft) (mostly named "West Department" until May 1984) was mainly tasked with influencing West German politics. It controlled the SED's West German affiliates, namely the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and, after its 1956 ban, the German Communist Party (DKP) as well as the Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin (SEW). Additionally, it coordinated with the West German SPD, especially on issues of disarmament.
For the longest time, the West Department existed alongside several other, often short-lived West-focused institutions in the Central Committee apparatus, for example a transient KPD Work Office (1951–1971, mostly dormant since 1960), the clandestine Trafficking Department and the West Commission at the Politburo of the SED, which led to disputes over jurisdiction. In 1965, the Politburo West Commission was converted to a purely advisory board, making the West Department the deciding institution.
The Institute for International Politics and Economics (IPW), founded in July 1971 as the main successor of the State Secretariat for West German Affairs and meant to research supposed imperialism in West Germany, was also controlled by the West Department despite nominally being an institution under the Presidium of the Council of Ministers. Its directors were Herbert Häber (1971–1973) and Max Schmidt (1973–1990), both former deputy department heads of the West Department.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Alfred Zeidler | 1948–1949 |
| abolished in favor of West Commission at the Politburo ||
| Paul Verner | 1953–1958 |
| Arne Rehan | 1959–1965 |
| Heinz Geggel | 1965–1973 |
| Herbert Häber | 1973–1985 |
| Gunter Rettner | 1985–1989 |

### International Relations

The International Relations Department (German: Abteilung Internationale Verbindungen) was, together with the Foreign Policy Commission at the Politburo, concerned with coordinating the SED's foreign policy, especially the relations with the 140 communist, socialist and social democratic parties.$^{:36}$ In addition to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the department oversaw the Institute for International Relations in Potsdam and the officially non-state Solidarity Committee of the GDR, the country's main vehicle for development aid. By the 1980s, it had about 100 employees.$^{:37}$
The department was originally created in 1949 as a merger of the Department for International Cooperation and the Foreign Policy Department. It was named Department of Foreign Policy Issues from 1952 to 1953 and Department of Foreign Policy and International Relations from September 1953 to 1963, when it reverted to its original name.
Within the Central Committee apparatus, the department's employees held a particularly privileged position in regards to travel and access to foreign literature.$^{:37}$ The department's employees had a higher educational background than most party functionaries and were regarded as rather hostile to Erich Honecker.$^{:35–38}$ The department was additionally unique in that its employees were not allowed to be recruited by the Stasi as IMs.$^{:37}$
An overview of the department's work is given in the 1993 book Die zweite Etage: Funktionsweise eines Machtapparates (English: The Second Floor: Functioning of a Power Apparatus) by Manfred Uschner, who originally joined the department as an instructor, later serving as personal assistant to Hermann Axen, the Central Committee Secretary responsible for the department, and as secretary of the Foreign Policy Commission at the Politburo.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Grete Keilson | 1948–1952 |
| Peter Florin | 1953–1966 |
| Paul Markowski | 1966–1978† |
| Egon Winkelmann | 1978–1980 |
| Günter Sieber | 1980–1989 |
| Bruno Mahlow | 1989 |

### KPD (1951–1971)

The KPD Work Office (German: Arbeitsbüro der KPD) 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 establishing the SED in the western occupation zones. Though the Politburo decided to dissolve it in November 1960, it only formerly ceased to exist in February 1971, to a lesser extent still directing the illegal KPD and the founding of the DKP in the mean time. The office's responsibilities overlapped with the several other West-focused institutions in the Central Committee apparatus such as the West Department, leading to disputes over jurisdiction.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Karl Schirdewan | 1951–1952 |
| Erich Glückauf | 1952–1959 |
| Max Spangenberg | 1959–1971 |

### Party Organs

The Party Organs Department (German: Abteilung Parteiorgane) was primarily responsible for keeping records of the party membership and party cadres, receiving party information and controlling the lower Bezirk, district, workplace and local party organizations. The department played an important role in the SED's Stalinization in the 1950s. In the 1980s, the department was notably the only one located on the same floor as the Politburo.$^{:108f.}$
The department was originally created in 1946 as Organization Department and renamed Organization Instructor Department in 1950.
On 15 January 1952, the department was merged with several others to form the Leading Organs of the Party and Mass Organizations Department (German: Abteilung Leitende Organe der Partei und der Massenorganisationen) (LOPMO). This "super department" was responsible for the SED's party organs and cadres, all bloc parties and all mass organizations, including the one for women (Democratic Women's League of Germany), youth (Free German Youth) and the Free German Trade Union Federation. All of these responsibilities were eventually spun off again and the department was again renamed Organization Department, briefly named Department for Leading Party Organs and eventually Party Organs Department.
| Department Head | Department Head | Tenure |
| Walter Beling | Josef König | 1946–1950 |
| Paul Verner | Paul Verner | 1950–1952 |
| Heinz Glaser | Heinz Glaser | 1952–1953 |
| Willi Elstner | Willi Elstner | 1953 |
| Fritz Kleinert | Fritz Kleinert | 1953–1957 |
| Kurt Schneidewind | Kurt Schneidewind | 1956–1958 |
| Johann Raskop | Johann Raskop | 1958–1959 (acting) |
| Werner Guse | Werner Guse | 1959–1960 |
| Horst Dohlus | Horst Dohlus | 1960–1986 |
| Heinz Mirtschin | Heinz Mirtschin | 1986–1989 |

### Propaganda

As "propaganda" in communist terminology mostly meant "elite education", the Propaganda Department (German: Abteilung Propaganda) 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 department additionally oversaw the Propaganda Commission and the Urania.
The Propaganda Department was originally created in 1946 as Advertising 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 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. An independent Propaganda Department existed from 1961.
| Department Head | Department Head | Tenure |
| Fred Oelßner | Fred Oelßner | 1946–1947 |
| Fred Oelßner | Richard Weimann | 1947–1949 |
| Kurt Hager | Kurt Hager | 1949–1952 |
| Kurt Schneidewind | Kurt Schneidewind | 1952–1954 |
| merged into Department of Science and Propaganda |||
| Kurt Hager | Kurt Hager | 1954–1955 |
| Johannes Hörnig | Johannes Hörnig | 1955–1957 |
| merged into Department of Propaganda and Agitation |||
| Horst Sindermann | Horst Sindermann | 1957–1960 |
| demerged |||
| Kurt Tiedke | Kurt Tiedke | 1961–1979 |
| Klaus Gäbler | Klaus Gäbler | 1979–1989 |

### Public Education

The Public Education Department (German: Abteilung Volksbildung) was responsible for the entirety of the GDR's education system, from preschool to vocational training, and the controversial Jugendwerkhof system, special reorientation camps for disorderly youth that were accused of widespread abuse.
The Public Education Department was originally created in 1946 as Department for Culture and Education, but near the end of 1957, the cultural policy tasks were separated again and transferred to the Department of Culture.
From the 1970s onward, the Public Education Department was unique in the sense that it was the only department where the responsible Central Committee Secretary could not issue legally binding orders to the respective Ministry as the minister Margot Honecker was the wife of General Secretary Erich Honecker. This effectively neutered the department.
| Department Head | Department Head | Tenure |
| Otto Winzer | Richard Weimann | 1946–1947 |
| Fred Oelßner | Richard Weimann | 1947–1949 |
| Stefan Heymann | Stefan Heymann | 1949 |
| Egon Rentzsch | Egon Rentzsch | 1950–1953 |
| Isolde Oschmann | Isolde Oschmann | 1953–1954 |
| Werner Neugebauer | Werner Neugebauer | 1955–1956 |
| Hans Rießner | Hans Rießner | 1957 |
| Werner Neugebauer | Werner Neugebauer | 1958–1962 |
| Lothar Oppermann | Lothar Oppermann | 1963–1989 |

### Trafficking

The Trafficking Department (German: Abteilung Verkehr) was a clandestine department, organizing courier services and secretly transferring money appropriated by the Department for Financial Management and Party Businesses to the SED's West German affiliates in particular, the German Communist Party (DKP) as well as the Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin (SEW).$^{:120}$$^{:2301}$ The SEW received about 15 million DM yearly, the DKP 70 million DM. Between the 1956 KPD ban and the 1968 DKP founding, the department set up the Deutscher Freiheitssender 904, a clandestine radio station.$^{:65–69}$ The department had about 256 employees in 1968, not including the roughly 36 employees of the Phönix print shop.$^{:36}$ Since autumn 1953, the department's employees were armed.$^{:36}$
The department's relationship with the Stasi varied over time. The Stasi supported the department's work,$^{:31}$ for example providing its operatives with NVA passes to allow them to freely cross the inner-German border.$^{:31}$ However, it also exerted significant control over the department (among other things pushing through Julius Cebulla as deputy department head),$^{:32,97}$ to the dismay of early leading department officials in particular,$^{:32,99}$ who the Stasi found to be "uncooperative".$^{:45,93f.}$
Since 1971, the department answered directly to the General Secretary of the SED.
The department was originally created in September 1948 as "Department Stahlmann" after its first department head and had a more general intelligence focus. In the mid-1960s, the department consisted of the sectors cadres, assistance, shipment, carpool, guest houses, border and the Phönix print shop.$^{:34–36}$ The largest change in responsibility occurred in 1966, when the department was made responsible for overseeing the SED's secret companies in West Germany.$^{:37–40}$ The department's documents were destroyed during the Peaceful Revolution.$^{:2301}$
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Richard Stahlmann | 1948–1954 |
| Adolf Baier | 1954–1965 |
| Josef Steidl | 1965–1986 |
| Julius Cebulla | 1986–1989 |
| Gunter Rettner | 1989 |

### Science

The Science Department (German: Abteilung Wissenschaften) formulated the SED's policy on science and higher education policy and controlled their implementation through the party organizations at universities and scientific institutions. It oversaw the Ministry for Higher and Technical Education, the Academy of Sciences of the GDR and the Academy for Social Sciences at the Central Committee of the SED. By the 1980s, it had about 27 political employees.$^{:248}$
From 1946 to 1949, the implementation of the SED's science policy was the responsibility of the Advertising and Training Department and the Culture and Education Department, and from 1950 onward of the Culture Department of the Central Committee. In December 1952, the Secretariat confirmed the structural plan for a Science and University Department, which was merged with the Party Propaganda Department in 1954 to form the Science and Propaganda Department. In 1957, these areas were separated again.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Kurt Hager | 1952–1955 |
| Johannes Hörnig | 1955–1989 |

### Security Affairs

The Security Affairs Department (German: Abteilung für Sicherheitsfragen) set the SED's military policy and military doctrine. It controlled the GDR's so-called "Armed Organs", the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry for State Security (Stasi). Additionally, the department oversaw the mass organization Gesellschaft für Sport und Technik (GST). 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.$^{:53}$
The paramilitary Combat Groups of the Working Class, while formally under the Central Committee of the SED, actually received their orders from the First Secretaries of the Bezirk party leaderships.
The department also edited the list of citizens who were allowed to leave the GDR before being given to the General Secretary for final approval.
One of the most powerful, the department answered directly to the General Secretary of the SED for most of its existence.
For a time, the department worked under the Security Commission at the Politburo, which was replaced by the National Defence Council in March 1960, of which department heads Herbert Scheibe (1972–1985) and Wolfgang Herger (1985–1989) were members.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Gustav Röbelen | 1953–1956 |
| Walter Borning | 1956–1959 |
| Bruno Wansierski | 1959–1960 |
| Walter Borning | 1961–1972 |
| Herbert Scheibe | 1972–1985 |
| Wolfgang Herger | 1985–1989 |
| Peter Miethe | 1989 |

### Sports

The Sports Department (German: Abteilung Sport) was the SED's instrument for directing and controlling the areas of physical culture and sports. It controlled the party organizations of sports associations, the State Secretariat for Physical Culture and Sport, the National Olympic Committee of the GDR and the Deutscher Turn- und Sportbund (DTSB), the central mass organization for all sports. After the Peaceful Revolution, longtime department head Rudolf Hellmann was convicted 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.$^{:248}$ It thus had to rely more on cordial relationships with the DTSB and others, helped by overlapping personnel.$^{:248f.}$
In 1946, a part of the Culture and Education Department was initially responsible for sport. In 1952, it was incorporated into the newly created LOPMO Department as the Sports Sector (from 1953 Youth and Sport). In August 1955, the Secretariat of the Central Committee decided to separate the sports area from this department and create a sports sector in the Security Affairs Department. An independent sports working group with six employees was created for the first time in 1961, which was given the status of a department in the mid-1960s.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Franz Rydz | 1953–1959 |
| Rudolf Hellmann | 1959–1989 |

### State and Legal Affairs

The State and Legal Affairs Department (German: Abteilung Staats- und Rechtsfragen) was primarily responsible for establishing, then controlling the GDR's judiciary system, additionally overseeing the legislative work of the Volkskammer.
The department was originally created in June 1950 as a merger of the Department for Municipal Politics, 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, restructured again in 1959 to form the State and Legal Affairs Department.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Anton Plenikowski | 1950–1954 |
| Klaus Sorgenicht | 1954–1989 |
| Günter Böhme | 1989 |

### Women

The Women Department (German: Abteilung Frauen) formulated the SED's policy on women's issues, oversaw the work of the Women's Commission at the Politburo and controlled the Democratic Women's League of Germany (DFD), the mass organization for women. The DFD received the smallest budget of all mass organizations and was largely insignificant, even compared to other mass organizations. The Women's Department, women furthermore being mostly excluded from the SED's most powerful positions, was thus one of the least influential.
The Women's 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.
| Department Head | Department Head | Tenure |
| Elli Schmidt | Käte Kern | 1946 |
| Maria Weiterer | Maria Weiterer | 1946–1947 |
| Maria Weiterer | Marie Hartung | 1947–1949 |
| Käthe Selbmann | Käthe Selbmann | 1949–1952 |
| merged into LOPMO Department |||
| Fritz Kleinert | Fritz Kleinert | 1953–1955 |
| demerged |||
| Rosel Naumann | Rosel Naumann | 1955 |
| Edith Baumann | Edith Baumann | 1955–1959 |
| Hilde Krasnogolowy | Hilde Krasnogolowy | 1959–1961 (acting) |
| Ingeburg Lange | Ingeburg Lange | 1961–1989 |

### Youth

The Youth Department (German: Abteilung Jugend) 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.$^{:248}$
The department was originally created in 1946, but became part of the Organization Instructor Department in November 1949. The responsibility, combined with sports as sector Youth and Sports from 1953 to 1955, became an independent working group in January 1957, getting back its department rank in January 1961.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Paul Verner | 1946–1949 |
| Erich Hönisch | 1949–1950 |
| merged into Organization Instructor Department ||
| reestablished as sector ||
| Horst Schumann | 1952–1955 |
| Horst Klemm | 1955–1958 |
| Herbert Lautenschläger | 1958–1959 |
| Arno Goede | 1959–1966 |
| Gerhardt Naumann | 1966 (acting) |
| Siegfried Lorenz | 1967–1976 |
| Wolfgang Herger | 1976–1985 |
| Gerd Schulz | 1985–1989 |

## Economics departments
### Basic Industries

The Basic Industries Department (German: Abteilung Grundstoffindustrie) was primarily responsible for the parts of the GDR's economy that had to provide important inputs for intermediate and final production, including ore mining, raw materials, fuel and energy, additionally overseeing the core areas of the chemical industry and water management.
The department originated in the Department for Economic Policy, 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 Department for Metallurgy, Mining, Chemistry and Energy, short "Basic Industries Department".
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Eberhard Arlt | 1951–1953 |
| Paul Kraszon | 1953–1954 |
| Hans Zimmermann | 1954–1955 (acting) |
| Berthold Handwerker | 1955–1959 |
| Günter Wyschofsky | 1959–1962 |
| Karl-Heinz Schäfer | 1962–1965 |
| Hilmar Tröger | 1965–1969 |
| Horst Wambutt | 1969–1989 |

### Comecon (1974–1985)

The COMECON Working Group (German: Arbeitsgruppe RGW) was responsible for the GDR's economic involvement with other states in Comecon, additionally overseeing the working group of the same name at the Office of the Council of Ministers.
The working group was originally created in October 1974 from the International Economic Relations sector of the Planning and Finance Department. It reverted back to being a sector of the department in June 1985.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Horst Tschanter | 1974–1985 |

### Construction

The Construction Department (German: Abteilung Bauwesen) was primarily responsible for the construction and construction materials industry and supervised the Ministry for Construction (until 1958 Ministry for Reconstruction), the Construction Academy of the GDR in Berlin and the colleges of construction. The department's importance grew significantly from 1973 onward due to the massive housing programme by new SED leader Erich Honecker, aiming to eliminate the GDR's housing shortage by 1990 by building 3 million apartments. The department additionally oversaw the FDJ's "Druschba-Trasse" construction project, a section of the Soviet gas pipeline Soyuz.
The department was created in January 1953 as a spin-off of the Department for Economic Policy. It was very briefly abolished to again form a "super department" for economic policy in for a few months in 1957 and 1958.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Ernst Scholz | 1953 |
| Alfred Schwanz | 1954–1959 |
| Gerhard Trölitzsch | 1959–1989 |

### Light, Food and Bezirk-led Industry

The Light, Food and Bezirk-led Industry Department (German: Abteilung Leicht-, Lebensmittel- und bezirksgeleitete Industrie) was primarily responsible for the consumer goods industry as well as the parts of the GDR's economy that were managed by local authorities. The department consequently had importance for alleviating supply shortages.
The department originated in the Department for Economic Policy. In November 1952, the responsibilities went into the Department for Trade, Supply and Light Industry 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 Department for Light, Food and Locally Managed Industry, very briefly abolished to again form a "super department" for economic policy in for a few months in 1957 and 1958 and renamed to Department for Light, Food and Bezirk-led Industry in 1966.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Paul Sonnenburg | 1955–1961 |
| Gerhard Briksa | 1961–1972 |
| Hans-Joachim Rüscher | 1972–1986 |
| Manfred Voigt | 1986–1989 |

### Mechanical Engineering and Metallurgy

The Mechanical Engineering and Metallurgy Department (German: Abteilung Maschinenbau und Metallurgie) was responsible for the areas of mechanical engineering (general and heavy engineering, mechanical and plant engineering, tool, agricultural machinery, vehicle and aircraft construction as well as processing machinery construction), metallurgy and electrical engineering. The department was one of the most powerful owing to the importance of vehicle construction and mechanical engineering in particular to the GDR's economy.$^{:148}$ The department's importance only grew in the second half of the 1980s due to the massive investments aimed at established a semiconductor industry.$^{:75}$
The department was established in January 1953 as Department for Mechanical Engineering and Metallurgy, Mining, Chemistry and Energy and for a few year was a sector of the Department for Industry. In May 1958, the department was reestablished as Department for Mechanical Engineering and Metallurgy, the sectors of mining, chemical and energy forming a recreated, smaller Department for Basic Industries.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Heinz Thiele | 1953 |
| Friedrich Zeiler | 1953–1955 |
| Heinrich Müller | 1955–1957 |
| merged into Department for Industry ||
| demerged ||
| Friedrich Zeiler | 1958–1961 |
| Werner Weiß | 1961–1962 |
| Fritz Brock | 1962–1963 (acting) |
| Gerhard Tautenhahn | 1964–1986 |
| Klaus Blessing | 1986–1989 |

### Planning and Finance

The Planning and Finance Department (German: Abteilung Planung und Finanzen) managed national economic planning, including five-year plans, state budgets, financial policies, and economic analyses. It oversaw sectors such as industry, agriculture, trade, and foreign trade, making it the most important economic department.
The department was created in 1951 as a spin-off of the Department for Economic Policy and existed continuously since then with minor changes to its structure. The sectors for research and technology were spun off into a new Working Group, later Department for Research and Technical Development in 1958 and the sector for Comecon became an independent working group in 1974.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Wolfgang Berger | 1951–1953 |
| Helmut Sandig | 1954–1955 |
| Fritz Müller | 1955–1960 |
| Gerhard Schürer | 1960–1962 |
| Siegfried Böhm | 1963–1966 |
| Karl Hengst | 1966–1969 |
| Erich Wappler | 1969–1974 |
| Günter Ehrensperger | 1974–1989 |

### Research and Technical Development

The Research and Technical Development Department (German: Abteilung Forschung und technische Entwicklung) oversaw basic industrial research, invention, patenting, standardization, technical monitoring, information, documentation, and guided subordinate party bodies in scientific and technical institutions.
The department was originally created in 1958 as Working Group for Research, Technical Development and Investment Policy as a spin-off of the Planning and Finance Department. The working group got full department rank in 1967.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Hermann Pöschel | 1958–1989 |

### Socialist Economic Management

The Socialist Economic Management Department (German: Abteilung Sozialistische Wirtschaftsführung) was responsible for training future economic cadres, especially VEB and combine directors. The department oversaw the Central Institute for Socialist Economic Management at the Central Committee of the SED, founded in November 1965 and given promotion rights shortly afterward, for this purpose.
The department was originally created in 1965 as a working group, getting full department rank in 1967.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Günter Jahn | 1965–1966 |
| Carl-Heinz Janson | 1966–1989 |

### Trade, Supply and Foreign Trade

The Trade, Supply and Foreign Trade Department (German: Abteilung Handel, Versorgung und Außenhandel) 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 unique in that, since November 1961, it was the only economic department not overseen by the Secretary of the Central Committee for Economics (Günter Mittag for all but three years from 1962 to 1989), though he still held a great deal of influence over its work. The exception were questions about basic services, tariffs, rents and consumer prices.
The department was created on 5 November 1951 as Department for Trade and Transport as a spin-off of the Department for Economic Policy. In November 1952, it was reorganized for Department of Trade, Supply and Light Industry, before the responsibility for light industry went to the Department for Light, Food and Local Industry in March 1955.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Karl Gaile | 1951–1953 |
| Ernst Lange | 1953–1966 |
| Hilmar Weiß | 1967–1989 |

### Trade Unions and Social Policy

The Trade Unions and Social Policy Department (German: Abteilung Gewerkschaften und Sozialpolitik) was responsible for controlling the work and staffing of the mass organization Free German Trade Union Federation (FDGB) and its constituent trade unions, 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 did not, however, have control over the FDGB's day-to-day operations as both chairmen Herbert Warnke and Harry Tisch were members of the Politburo.$^{:53}$
The department was already set up in June 1945 in the Central Committee of the KPD as Department for Labor and Social Welfare. It was abolished in June 1950 and integrated into the Department for Economic Policy as labor and trade union sector, which was later transferred to the newly created LOPMO Department. In November 1952, the Politburo created a Department for Labor, Social and Health Services, which absorbed the labor and trade union sector in January 1957, creating the Department for Trade Unions, Social and Health Services. In 1959, this department was split into the Department for Health Policy and the department for the Trade Unions and Social Policy.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Rudolf Weck | 1946–1949 |
| Emil Paffrath | 1949–1950 |
| integrated into the Department for Economic Policy ||
| transferred into LOPMO Department ||
| reestablished as sector ||
| Fritz Schellhorn | 1953–1956 |
| Fritz Rettmann | 1957–1962 |
| Josef Steidl | 1962–1965 |
| Fritz Brock | 1965–1989 |

### Transport and Communications

The Transport and Communications Department (German: Abteilung Transport und Nachrichtenwesen) was responsible for areas of transport (Deutsche Reichsbahn, motor transport, shipping), traffic, postal services (Deutsche Post of the GDR) and telecommunications and was responsible for their implementation together with the central state institutions.
The department originated in the Department for Economic Policy. In November 1952, the Department for Transport and Communications was created from the former Transport Sector in the Department for Trade and Transport. It was renamed to Department for Railway, Transport and Communications. 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 Department for Transport and Communications since 1972.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Günter Mittag | 1953–1958 |
| Volkmar Winkler | 1958–1962 |
| Hubert Egemann | 1962–1987 |
| Dieter Wösterfeld | 1987–1989 |

## Internal departments
### Management of Party Enterprises

The Management of Party Enterprises Department (German: Abteilung Verwaltung der Wirtschaftsbetriebe) 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.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Eleonore Pieck | 1946–1949 |
| Emil Scheweleit | 1950–1958 |
| Walter Heibich | 1958–1963 |
| Günter Glende | 1964–1989 |

### Financial Management and Party Businesses

The Financial Management and Party Businesses Department (German: Abteilung Finanzverwaltung und Parteibetriebe) oversaw the party's finances and, together with the KoKo, controlled the vast amount of commercial venues of the SED. The SED was the richest party in Europe at the time, operating the printing house VOB Zentrag, which had a near-monopoly on printing, the film studio DEFA, the small exports company Genex, the real estate company OEB Fundament and many others, employing 40.000 in 1989.$^{:118f.}$ The department answered to the head of the Politburo's Office (from 1953 to June 1971 and since 1984) and was controlled by the Central Auditing Commission.
In 1989, the department consisted of the sectors financial planning and accounting, management and facilities, material planning and accounting, party operations and Fundament.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Rudolf Appelt | 1946–1947 |
| Walter Beling | 1947–1950 |
| Karl Raab | 1950–1981 |
| Heinz Wildenhain | 1981–1989 |
| Wolfgang Langnitschke | 1989 |

### Telecommunications (1957–1986)

The Telecommunications Department (German: Abteilung Fernmeldewesen) 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 back to a sector of the Office of the Politburo in 1986.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Heinz Zumpe | 1967–1975 |
| Heinz Lübbe | 1975–1986 |

### Office of the Politburo

The Office of the Politburo (German: Büro des Politbüros) supported the Politburo's work by preparing and keeping minutes of its meetings. The Office additionally prepared party conferences, meetings of the Central Committee and foreign trips of the General Secretary of the SED and held control over access to foreign literature, travel, classified documents, the Central Committee building and services associated with the Central Committee such as the government hospital in Berlin-Buch and the government's Transport Aviation Squadron 44.$^{:111f.}$
All of these organizational tasks, in particular its control over the Politburo's agenda and information flow, made it one of the most powerful Central Committee offices, further supported by the fact that longtime head Gisela Glende was married to Günter Glende, longtime head of the department for the Management of Party Enterprises, another powerful internal department.$^{:112}$
The Office of the Politburo was originally created in September 1953, when the Office of the Secretariat, previously the Office of the Central Secretariat (1946–1949) and the Office of the Small Secretariat (1949), was restructured. The General Department at the Party Executive of the SED-PDS existed briefly in December 1989 to dissolve the Office of the Politburo.
| Department Head | Department Head | Tenure |
| Richard Gyptner | Fritz Schreiber | 1946–1948 |
| Richard Gyptner | Alexander Lösche | 1948–1949 |
| Rudolf Thunig | Rudolf Thunig | 1949 |
| Otto Schön | Otto Schön | 1950–1968 |
| Gisela Glende | Gisela Glende | 1968–1986 |
| Edwin Schwertner | Edwin Schwertner | 1986–1989 |

## Department-level institutions
### Dietz

The Dietz Publishing House (German: Dietz Verlag) 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.
It was named after Karl Dietz, head of a small publishing house in Rudolstadt, the name deliberately being similar to the otherwise unrelated J.H.W. Dietz Publishing House, the SPD's publishing house with a tradition dating back to the 19th century.
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 (German: Organisationseigener Betrieb) (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, 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.
| Department Head | Department Head | Tenure |
| Fritz Schälike | Kurt Schöpflin | 1946–1948 |
| Fritz Schälicke | Fritz Schälicke | 1948–1962 |
| Günter Hennig | Günter Hennig | 1962–1989 |

### Einheit

The Einheit editorial team (German: Redaktion "Einheit") published Einheit, the theoretical journal of the SED, its topics ranging from the history of the German and international workers' movement to philosophical and economic problems. It was largely written by leading SED officials and senior staff members of central party institutes.
Einheit was generally published monthly (in 1951, occasionally fortnightly) and at special social events. Its circulation fluctuated between 96,000 and 250,000 copies over the years. It ceased publication at the end of 1989.
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".
| Department Head | Department Head | Tenure |
| Emmi Dölling | Max Seydewitz | 1946 |
| Klaus Zwilling | Klaus Zwilling | 1946–1950 |
| Gertrud Keller | Gertrud Keller | 1950–1951 |
| Hans Schaul | Hans Schaul | 1956–1972 |
| Manfred Banaschak | Manfred Banaschak | 1972–1989 |

### Neuer Weg

The Neuer Weg editorial team (German: Redaktion "Neuer Weg") published Neuer Weg, a biweekly journal for party functionaries of the SED, covering "party life". It provided functionaries with suggestions, arguments and support for their party work. Additionally, it published articles on the work of various party organizations as well as policy materials, such as selected documents from meetings of the Central Committee and resolutions of the Politburo and Secretariat. Its circulation fluctuated between 100,000 and 360,000 copies over the years. It ceased publication at the end of 1989.
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.
| Department Head | Tenure |
| Emmi Dölling | 1946–1949 |
| Rudolf Mießner | 1949–1956 |
| Fritz Geißler | 1956–1960 |
| Rudolf Wettengel | 1960–1973 |
| Werner Scholz | 1973–1989 |