And the Last Bit of Trust Fades Away … 1. In the thirty years
since its founding, the GDR has overcome many of the material
and political consequences of the Second World War. By building
up productive, modern industries and making considerable
improvements in the area of agriculture, the GDR created the
material foundation that constitutes the prerequisite for the
step-by-step development of a free, socialist social order. In
contrast to the FGR, the old system of class rule was not
restored in the GDR. Here, that form of rule was abolished once
and for all after the victory of the Allied forces over the
Hitler dictatorship in 1945, and it was done with the approval
of the vast majority of the people. Through the elimination of
private ownership of the means of production, the material basis
of capitalism was removed and the decisive foundation for the
development of socialist production conditions was created. 2.
The reconstruction of a country devastated by war demanded great
sacrifices by the workers and