Volkskammer

People's Chamber

Volkskammer
German Democratic Republic
State Arms of East Germany
Type
Type
History
Founded7 October 1949 (1949-10-07)
Disbanded3 October 1990 (1990-10-03)
Preceded byReichstag (Nazi Germany) 1933–1945
Länderkammer (East Germany) 1949–1958
Succeeded byBundestag
Leadership
President
Vice President/Deputy President
Seats400
Elections
First election
15 October 1950
Last election
18 March 1990
Meeting place
Palace of the Republic
Palace of the Republic, Berlin
Constitution
Constitution of East Germany

The Volkskammer (German: [ˈfɔlkskamɐ], "People's Chamber") was the supreme power organ of East Germany. It was the only branch of government in the state, and per the principle of unified power, all state organs were subservient to it.

The Volkskammer was initially the lower house of a bicameral legislature. The upper house was the Chamber of States, or Länderkammer, but in 1952 the states of East Germany were dissolved, and the Chamber of States was abolished in 1958. Constitutionally, the Volkskammer was the highest organ of state power in the GDR, and both constitutions vested it with great lawmaking powers. All other branches of government, including the judiciary, were responsible to it. By 1960, the chamber appointed the State Council (the GDR's collective head of state), the Council of Ministers (the GDR's government), and the National Defence Council (the GDR's collective military leadership).

In practice, however, it was a rubber stamp parliament that did little more than ratify decisions already made by the SED Politburo. By the 1970s and before the Peaceful Revolution, the Volkskammer only met two to four times a year.[1]


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  1. ^ Pötzl, Norbert F. (18 March 2020). "Letzte DDR-Volkskammer-Wahl vor 30 Jahren: Sieg der D-Mark". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 9 November 2023.