Block parties
In the GDR until 1989 the parties CDU, DBD, LDPD and NDPD, which were joined in the Democratic Block together with the SED. CDU and LDPD (both founded in 1945) initially remained independent; the founding of the DBD and NDPD was initiated in 1948 by the Soviet occupation forces and by the SED. From 1949/50, the CDU and LDPD also submitted ideologically to the SED. The block parties were represented in the government and the parliament of the GDR, but politically they were as good as completely without influence.
