Ministry of Construction

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The Ministry of Construction was the highest administrative body for construction in the GDR . It was founded as one of fourteen ministries on October 7, 1949 by the Provisional Government of the GDR as the Ministry of Construction and existed until October 2, 1990 (at that time as the "Ministry of Construction, Urban Development and Housing").

Ministry of Construction of the GDR in Berlin, 1987 ( Breite Strasse )

Forerunner of the building authority

In front of the Ministry for Construction in the Soviet Zone of Occupation, the main administration (HV) Steine ​​und Erden, which had existed at the German Economic Commission (DWK) since June 1948 (or the HV Bauwesen, established in May 1949), took care of structural issues . However, these were not the legal predecessors of the Ministry of Construction. The HV Stones and Earths was completely transferred (as the Main Department (HA)) and the HV Construction was largely transferred (as HA Industrial Buildings) to the Ministry of Industry.

Tasks of the Ministry of Construction

According to the Construction Act of September 1950, the main tasks of the Ministry of Construction were:

  • Guidance, control and supervision of urban planning.
  • Encourage the development of new building materials and the use of advanced working methods and construction methods.
  • Development of standards and types related to the construction industry to promote mechanization and industrialization.
  • Support the activist and competition movement.
  • Ensuring the training of civil engineers and architects as planned.

Restructuring in 1958

With the "Law on the Perfection and Simplification of the Work of the State Apparatus in the German Democratic Republic" of February 11, 1958, the SED had the goal of reducing the growth of central government administration of industry and construction. At the same time, regional and local administrations should be strengthened. The restructuring involved, among other things, a reduction in the number of permanent positions in the ministry, so in future one should concentrate on solving fundamental questions in the construction industry. It was renamed "Ministry of Construction".

Head of the Ministry

From October 1949 to October 1953 the Ministry for Development was headed by Lothar Bolz from the NDPD . After that exercised Heinz Winkler , (CDU) from November 1953 until his accidental death in June 1958, the post of minister of construction (or construction) from. His successor was Ernst Scholz (SED), who held the ministerial office until 1963. He was followed by his previous deputy Wolfgang Junker (SED), who held this position for 26 years. In November 1989 he resigned with the Willi Stoph government . In January and February 1990 Junker was on suspicion of abuse of office in custody and committed on 9 April 1990 suicide .

After the victory of the Alliance for Germany in the Volkskammer election on March 18, 1990, the physicist Axel Viehweger was Minister for Building, Urban Development and Housing in Lothar de Maizière's cabinet . After the results of the Volkskammer examination committee and the allegations of cooperation with the Ministry for State Security under the code name “Jens Grabowski” and the recommendation contained therein to resign on September 28, 1990, he resigned from his office.

Dissolution of the Ministry

In 1990, numerous positions in the ministry had to be cut before German reunification . Of the approximately 4,500 employees, almost 90% were laid off or outsourced to other institutions. The numerous research institutes assigned to the ministry, such as the GDR Building Academy , were either dissolved or transferred to other legal entities. The housing combinations , which are also the responsibility of the Ministry, were taken over by the Treuhandanstalt .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ documentarchiv.de
  2. ^ "Law on the construction of the cities in the German Democratic Republic and the capital of Germany, Berlin" on wikisource.org
  3. ↑ verassungen.de: "Law on the Perfection and Simplification of the Work of the State Apparatus in the German Democratic Republic"
  4. ↑ License to print money . In: Der Spiegel . No. 27 , 1991, pp. 32-34 ( online - 1 July 1991 ).
  5. ↑ deutsche-einheit-1990.de