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Head of state of the German Democratic Republic

The president of the German Democratic Republic (Präsident der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik) was the head of state of the German Democratic Republic, commonly known as East Germany, from 1949 until 1960. The office was created by the Constitution of 1949 (Section V). The president of the Republic was elected by the People's Chamber (Volkskammer) and the Chamber of States (Länderkammer), the two chambers of parliament. The office was mostly ceremonial in nature. If necessary, the President of the Volkskammer acted as the president of the Republic. The sole incumbent was Wilhelm Pieck of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), elected on 11 October 1949 and re elected in 1953 and in 1957. Shortly after the death of Pieck on 7 September 1960, the Constitution was amended. The Law concerning the formation of the State Council of 12 September 1960 introduced a collective head of state instead of the presidency, the State Council of East Germany. In the last, pro Western phase of East Germany in 1989/90, the State Council was abolished; President of the People's Chamber Sabine Bergmann Pohl acted as interim head of state.

The president of the Republic was elected for a term of four years by a joint session of the Volkskammer and the Länderkammer, which was convened and presided over by the President of the Volkskammer. Any citizen who was at least thirty five years old was eligible for the post.

The president of the Republic might be recalled before the expiration of his term by a joint resolution of the Volkskammer and the Landerkammer. Such a resolution required a two thirds majority of the statutory number of representatives.

Whenever the president of the Republic was unable to attend to his office, he was represented by the president of the Volkskammer. If such incapacity is expected to continue for a protracted period, a substitute was to be appointed by (a specific) law. Whenever the presidency was terminated prematurely, the same rule applied until the election of a new president. President Pieck was already 73 years old when he won his first term in 1949. Although he served as co chairman of the SED alongside Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl from 1949 to 1950, he never played a major role in the party. Most of the power was held by Walter Ulbricht, First Secretary of the party from 1950. This changed after the abolition of the presidential office, since the leader of the SED was usually also head of state.

After Wilhelm Pieck had died in 1960, the presidency was abolished in favor of a collective body, the State Council. The State Council was elected in the same way as the president, by the Volkskammer, and initially exercised the powers of the presidency. In reality, the State Council was effectively represented by its chairman, and it was reduced to a ceremonial body by 1974, with its chairman deriving real power from leadership of the SED. With the Constitution of 1968, the last references to the presidency were eliminated. After the Peaceful Revolution, there were plans to reintroduce the office of the president of the Republic by constitutional law from 1990 onward, which did not happen in the course of German reunification.