Waldsiedlung

Waldsiedlung was the secure housing zone for the leaders of the German Democratic Republic in Bernau bei Berlin, Brandenburg from 1960 to 1989. Waldsiedlung housed the most senior party members of the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany in relative luxury near Wandlitz, 30 kilometres north of East Berlin, with surrounding areas off-limits to all ordinary citizens.

The German Democratic Republic was established in 1949 as a communist state from the Soviet Zone of Occupation. The GDR was de facto ruled by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany , whose leadership lived in mansions on the upscale Majakowskiring in the Pankow district of East Berlin. After the events of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the SED party leadership decided to build themselves a secure residential zone in a more remote location than their mansions on the Majakowskiring. Construction of Waldsiedlung began in 1958, two years later after an SED resolution, in a remote wooded area belonging to the city of Bernau bei Berlin in Bezirk Frankfurt around 30 kilometres north of East Berlin. The housing complex was constructed through an agency subordinate to the Ministry for State Security and was completed in 1960. Waldsiedlung was occupied by senior politicians and their families under the protection of the Stasi's bodyguard department, and relocating residences there became mandatory for all Politburo members.

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