The SED was created in april 1946 in the Berliner Admiralspalast when the Soviet Union forced the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) members and the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) members who lived in the Soviet-occupied parts of Germany and Berlin. After 1990, the party reformed itself as the Party of Democratic Socialism (later in 2005, the Left Party.PDS). It is still somewhat popular in parts the former East German territory, frequently winning seats at state and local elections. In the September 2005 Bundestag election the PDS was in coalition with WASG (Electoral Alternative for Labour and Social Justice), which was formed by Oskar Lafontaine who left the SPD. The PDS and WASG joined together in 2007.
A famous SED poster read: "To learn from Stalin means to learn how to win". Later, the word "Stalin" was replaced with "the USSR". When Gorbachev was president of the USSR the famous slogan was abandoned, as the SED did not believe there was anything to learn from his ideas about perestroika.
At first the SED had a branch in West Berlin, but in 1962 the West Berlin branch was separated from the SED proper and became a "separate" party called the Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin ("Sozialistische Einheitspartei Westberlins" – SEW) but with the same ideas as the parent party.
Between the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and the election in March 1990, the old Social Democratic Party was re-established as a separate party, while the rest of the SED lost a lot of members and renamed itself the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) at a special party meeting in December 1989. By becoming the PDS the party survived the reuniting of East Germany and West Germany, and eventually started growing again, managing to get representatives elected to the Bundestag.
On December 1, 1989 the SED was forced to give up its 40 year monopoly of power when the State Council (Volksammer) revoked the clause in the constitution of the GDR that guaranteed the SED to be the sole legal party in East Germany. Its leader and all of the politburo resigned three days later and the party was finally dissolved on December 16, 1989.
"(known as "First Secretary" from 1953 – 1976)"
These three party leaders were also the equivalent of the Prime Minister or President in other countries; they really led the government as well as the main, legally powerful party, which was not often the case in other Communist countries.
Buck the World
Buck the World is the second album by American rapper Young Buck. It went on sale on March 27, 2007. Its title is a play on the expression "Fuck the World".
Production included Dr. Dre, Jazze Pha, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Polow Da Don, and Lil Jon amongst others. Guest appearances included 50 Cent, Chester Bennington (from Linkin Park), Young Jeezy, Bun B, Trick Daddy, and Lyfe Jennings amongst others.
The first single was "I Know You Want Me" produced by Jazze Pha, who also made a guest appearance on the track. The second single was "Get Buck", produced by Polow Da Don. The third single, "U Ain't Goin' Nowhere", was released on May 18, 2007.
Samaveda
Samaveda is third in the usual order of the four Vedas, the ancient core Hindu scriptures. It is the second oldest Veda . It is written in sanskrit
Johannes Rau
Johannes Rau (16 January 1931, Wuppertal – 27 January 2006, Berlin) was a German politician of the SPD. He was the eighth President of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1 July 1999 until 30 June 2004 and minister president of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1978 to 1998.
He was born in Barmen, Wuppertal. His family was Protestant, and he was active in the Confessing Church, a part of the German Protestant Church which was against Nazism.
Rau left school in 1949 and worked as a journalist and publisher.
Rau was a member of the All-German People's Party (GVP), which was founded by Gustav Heinemann, who also became a president of Germany. This party only existed from 1952 until 1957.
In 1958 Rau and Heinemann joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SDP), where he was active in the Wuppertal branch. He served on the City Council (1964-1978), where he was as chairman of the SDP Group (1964-1967) and later as Mayor (1969-1970).
In 1958 Rau was elected a member of the "Landtag" (state parliament) of North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1967 he became chairman of the SPD group in the Landtag, and in 1970 Minister of Science and Education in the cabinet of Minister President Heinz Kühn. He founded five universities in North Rhine-Westphalia during the 1970s. He also started Germany's first distance learning university at Hagen (modelled on the "Open University" in Britain).
In 1978 Rau became Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, where he remained until 1998, winning four elections for the SPD, which became biggest party in the Landtag each time and gained an absolute majority three times, in 1980, 1985, 1990 and finally 1995. From 1995 onwards, Rau led an SPD-Greens coalition in NRW.
In 1987 Rau tried to become chancellor of Germany for the SPD, but lost to Helmut Kohl's Christian Democrats (CDU). In 1994 Rau tried for the first time to become Federal President, but lost to Roman Herzog.
Rau twice served as President of the Bundesrat in 1982/83 and 1994/95, and was deputy for the Federal President. In 1998 Rau stepped down from his positions as SPD Chairman and Minister President, and on 23 May 1999, was elected Federal President by the Federal Assembly of Germany to succeed Roman Herzog (CDU). On 1 July 2004, he was succeeded by Horst Köhler.
In 2000 Rau was the first German head of state since the Holocaust to address the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in German. Some Israeli delegates to walked out, but Israeli President Moshe Katsav supported and praised him for bridging the gap between the two states.
Following a long history of heart disease, he died a few days after his 75th birthday.
Johannes Rau was a practising Christian. He was sometimes called , "Brother John", to make fun of his strong Christian belief; but, he sometimes used this term himself.
On 9 August 1982 he married the political scientist Christina Delius (born 1956). Christina Rau is a granddaughter of Gustav Heinemann, former President of Germany. The couple had three children: Anna Christina, born 1983, Philip Immanuel, born 1985 and Laura Helene, born 1986.
After leaving office, Rau lived with his family in the federal capital Berlin. However, they also kept a house in Wuppertal.
Johannes Rau died on 27 January 2006 in Berlin of heart disease.
Peridot
Peridot (pronounced "pair-uh-dot" or "pair-uh-doe") is the gem quality version of the mineral olivine. The name of the gemstone is believed to come from either the Arabic word "faridat" meaning "gem" or the French word "peritot" meaning "unclear." Peridot is one of the few gemstones that comes in only one color. The darkness of the green depends on how much iron there is. The color varies from yellow-green to olive to brownish green. Olivine is a very common mineral, but gem-quality peridot is rather rare. Peridot is the birthstone for the month of August.Peridot is believed to bring good health,restful sleep and peace to relations by balancing emotions and mind.
Archivist
An archivist is a professional who collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to information determined to have long-term value. The information maintained by an archivist can be any form of media (photographs, video or sound recordings, letters, documents, electronic records, etc.).
As Richard Pearce-Moses wrote,
""Archivists keep records that have enduring value as reliable memories of the past, and they help people find and understand the information they need in those records.""