East Germany

**East Germany**, officially the **Germanic People's Republic** (Germanisches Völksrepublik), is a country in central Europe, bordered by West Germany to the west, Bohemia to the south, and Poland and Russia to the east. It is a member of the Moscow Accord.

## History

### Eastern Occupation Zone

The Volkstaat was founded in the wake of the Second Weltkrieg, formed from the territory held by the Russian forces in the eastern German Empire, from which three reconstruction zones would be established between the Russian State, the Commune of France, and the Union of Britain. Authority from these three states would be gradually transferred to local factions before gaining sovereignty under national protection.

Reconstruction under the Moscow Accord's occupation zone would be brutal. Russian troops committed mass killings, among numerous other atrocities, in the eastern occupation zone in what many have described as a genocide. Within the chaos, reconstruction collaborationists were appointed by the Russian government, primarily from both defectors of the former Imperial army, lower-ranking members of the Deutsche Vaterlandspartei, and other former Imperial bureaucrats.

The original French plan was to permanently divide Germany among these zones. However, that plan was altered in the midst of a diplomatic breakdown between the Moscow Accord and the Third International, leading to the Volksrepublik being proclaimed rather than an independent Prussian republic. Shortly after, the pro-Britain North German Confederation and the pro-French South German Union had united into the German Confederation.

### Foundation

Theodor Oberländer, who had led the Savinkovist minority wing of the DVP in the 1940s, would be appointed by the Russian occupation forces to reorganize varying factions into a new ruling party. Replacing the Hugenberg wing of the party, former pro-war members of that wing, especially monarchists, would be purged before more directly useful members were reincorporated into the system. Oberländer would, at Savinkov's discretion, form a "Völksrepublik", launching numerous land reforms and forcing a mass exodus of non-compliant junkers.

The DVP would reorganize itself into the National-Democratic Party of Germany, or NDPD, appropriating republican symbols and presenting itself as the "democratic alternative" to a syndicalist West. In reality, the "Oberländer doctrine" that would establish the party's ideology would be far from it.

## Ideology

### Oberländer-Doktrin

While called the "Oberländer Doctrine", the official description for the party's ideology, Prussosocialism (Preußensozialismus), would actually be ghostwritten by Adolf von Thadden, a friend of Oberländer who would later become Chancellor. Parts of this doctrine are heavily inspired by the writings of Oswald Spengler and his essay "Preußentum und Sozialismus",

The state's authority, and the basis for its ideology, is derived from the volkskörper: a metaphorical body politic of the Germanic volk, the foundation of whom are found in the common people of the lower classes. This is realized in its political form through the adoption of a Spenglerist corporatist system to consult state policy. The state, in turn, is organized into a strict, powerful hierarchy with wide-ranging authority.

To avoid tyranny, according to the Doctrine, the authority within the state must be an "enlightened" executive who can democratically lead a qualified, technocratic legislature elected by and for the volkskörper, adhering to what is called the "Frederickian Model". Despite its allusions to enlightened monarchism, however, Prussosocialism is vehemently anti-monarchist, as the Doctrine purports that the monarchy and aristocracy of Germany had been deeply corrupt, having "sold out" the lower classes of the volkskörper over time, and that land distribution itself must be reformed in the interests of the volk.

Officially, the state purports itself as the successor state to the revolutionary German Empire of 1848, and bases its aesthetics off of a mixture of appropriated Romanticist nationalism and völkisch organic nationalism.

## Important People

* Theodor Oberländer, President of the Republic
* Adolf von Thadden, Chancellor of the Republic
* Otto Ernst Remer, head of the military
* Heinrich Müller, head of the Stasi
* Rudolf Hess
* Henning von Tresckow
* Reinhold Wulle
* Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach
* Wilhelm Adam
* Vincenz Müller
* Horst Fischer
* Waldemar Kraft
* Franz Seldte
* Hans Modrow
* Karl Ritter, film producer and director responsible for numerous propaganda films
* Hans Severus Ziegler, one of the main cultural ministers of the Volksrepublik, responsible for the censorship policy
* Kurt Georg Kiesinger, head of a reformist clique

## OLD LORE I'M KEEPING FOR REFERENCE

Factions in East Germany are based not necessarily through ideology, but through loyalties and interest groups, with different personalities and faces within the political structure of the nation.
Remer had organized the fractured factions in the former Empire into a single far-right collaborationist party, the National People's Party (Nationale Volkspartei), or the NVP, comprised of the former aristocratic Deutschkonservative Partei (DkP) and the national populist Deutsche Vaterlandspartei (DVP), as well as former officers of the Imperial Army.

### Remerist

Remerists are the backers of the founder and current leader of the Volkstaat, Otto Ernst Remer. A compromising balancer of the Volkstaat's interest groups, Remer has created a cabinet with an ideological face, but a technocratic body. Though Remer is a former officer, his main loyalties in government are towards the DVP, from whom he has derived much of the political system and identity of the new administration. Remer combines staunch Savinkovist loyalties with the sympathies of the völkisch movement and the legitimacy of the military.

### Völkisch

The völkisch movement, also known as the Folkists in English, are mostly members of the former DVP. Purely ideological and staunchly National Populist, the völkisch movement has split within the NVP between two internal groups, however, both groups share a similar policy of national and ethnic supremacy as well as anti-semitism, supporting efforts to relocate Jews in East Germany to the Russian State.

##### Mielkegruppe

Considered the left-wing of the völkisch movement, the Mielkegruppe, sometimes called the Left Group views the current status of the Junkers in the German economy as disastrous, and wish to create a planned, centralized economy as a solution to the state's issues; bringing them closer to the Russian State in both state and economic policy. Erich Mielke, head of the secret police, is the leader of the group, from which the name is derived.

##### Hessgruppe

The right wing of the völkisch movement, sometimes called the Right Group, while Savinkovist in their loyalties, are nationalist in their stance towards Moscow, vying to gain more autonomy for the east, and are more willing to align with the idiosyncratic militarists and conservatives in their ambitions. Rudolf Hess is considered the leader of the group from which his name is derived.

### Militarist

Militarists represent former officers loyal to the Emperor who had gained positions in the occupation zone under the guise of anti-syndicalism. Many of them support the Volkstaat not out of necessarily a belief in National Populism, but rather out of a hatred of syndicalism and a desire to reunite Germany. As a result, they are considered one of the more reform-minded factions, if only out of a lack of ideology. Henning von Tresckow is considered the *de facto* leader of the Volkstaat's militarists, and is one of Remer's potential successors.

### Conservative

The Conservatives are members of the landed aristocracy, primarily those within the former DkP who had managed to hold power and carve up eastern Germany under their thumb in the aftermath of the war. They are small in number, primarily due to the anti-monarchist purges that took place in the occupation zone, but hold significant influence due to their vast wealth and popular support. They do not officially support a restoration of the monarchy, if only out of survival's necessity, but support the restoration of junker estates, reversing land reform, and privatizing state-owned corporations, restoring a market economy. Adolf von Thadden is considered a *de facto* leader among the conservatives.

### Reformist

Finally, a small group within the NVP advocates for reform within the party and "human-centered nationalism" under prominent politician Kurt Georg Kiesinger, an opportunist orator who seeks to reduce censorship of the press within East Germany and thaw relations with the Frankfurt government, advocating for a single country to be formed within two systems.